COLUMN: Upcoming fall season in SEMO is where local athletes thrive

Southeast Missouri State announced their cross-country schedule recently, with their lone home meet taking place at the Osage Centre on September 1.

On the whole, cross country represents a small piece of the athletic pie, but it is an opportunity to see local athletes run at the college level after thriving in high school.

The Redhawks cross country team featured three local runners last year, with more on the way. Clayton Eftink, a Notre Dame alum, will be entering his senior season while Cade McCadams, who just graduated from Jackson, will be making his Redhawk debut in September. Layla Fliege (Jackson) and Haley Smith (Notre Dame) will also look to improve on their times and contribute to a successful season.

The cross country team is an example of the athletics department’s effort to serve as a hub for the area’s finest athletes. The women’s soccer team and football team also feature athletes.

“I think we want the community to be proud of this place,” SEMO athletic director Brady Barke said. “We want the community to see this place as a great asset to it and a great place for student-athletes to be able to come and compete.”

The SEMO football team returned to the FCS Playoffs last season with a defense led by a member of Jackson’s 2020 state championship team. Bryce Norman and Logan Bruns are among the handful of local athletes on the 2023 team, which has their sights set on dominating the OVC-Big South alliance.

“When you find those student-athletes who actually care about this place and have pride in being here, they compete a little bit harder, they're more likely to stay and at the end of the day, you're probably going to be a little more successful with them,” Barke said.

SEMO women’s soccer is another team that has created a pipeline through Jackson and Notre Dame. The Redhawks enter the 2023 season with seven local players, including Kristin Anderson (Notre Dame) and Justi Nelson (Jackson), arriving as freshmen. Taylor Nelson, a Jackson native, earned the Lorberg Award as a senior, which recognizes a student's excellence in academics. The team will be holding their SEMO Soccer Academy High School/Elite ID Camps on Saturday, July 29, and Thursday, August 3 at the Cape Girardeau SportsPlex.

Cape Girardeau is fortunate to be one of the 300 cities to have a D1 University. It may feel different when you’re competing in the OVC and there is a clear glass ceiling as to how far a team can go. Success is defined differently in the mid-major ranks. A national championship is out of reach but winning the conference is enough of a victory for these athletes.

“It should be a place that people aspire to be able to go to and to be able to compete for,” Barke said. “Some of the success that we've seen has been about finding the right talent, not necessarily always the best talent but the right talent, because in the world of the transfer portal now, if a student-athlete doesn't have a connection to the institution and some reason that they want to be there more than somewhere else, chances are they're gonna go look for somewhere else.”