Kyle Gonoude wasn’t at 100 percent when the DeSales men’s cross country team competed in the NCAA Division II Mideast Regional Championships, yet he still played a key role in the Bulldogs’ strong finish to 2017.

Gonoude has been a steady piece to DeSales’ success this past fall season. He’s been a consistent top-five scorer for a Bulldogs team that cracked the top five at the MAC Championships in late October.

After a historic career at Salisbury High School in which he set numerous records and collected many accolades, it’s no secret the effect he’s had at DeSales.

“I improved throughout the year and ran well at our championship meet,” Gonoude said. “I ran into some foot problems before regionals, so I wasn’t able to perform very well, but my team ran very well and picked up my slack. We were expecting to finish 15th but placed 12th, which was awesome.”

Gonoude ran a 27:35.30, good for a 130th-place finish, as DeSales took 12th place out of 51 teams. His teammates junior Gabe Lamm (39th), freshman William Summers (67th), junior Kyle McCann (83rd) and freshman Hailemichael Geiger (129th) placed for the Bulldogs. Two of the four are Lehigh Valley runners that Gonoude has been familiar with in Lamm and Geiger.

“The team had a totally different feel this year,” Gonoude said. “We are all closer. I don’t know if I’d say I’m taking on a bigger leadership role. I’m just more experienced and you could say wise, so I try to suggest to the younger guys what they should do if they are having a problem.”

Lamm set a personal best time at the regional meet, as did many of the Bulldogs on November 11 at Dickinson College.

“At regionals we ran phenomenally,” Gonoude said. “All our guys either hit personal records or came close. We did much better than we thought we would. It was a good way to end the season.“

Two weeks prior to their run at regionals, Gonoude ran one of his best races at the MAC Championships. His 24th place finish in 27:48.40 was the third-fastest Bulldog to cross the finish line. Lamm, Summers, McCann and Nick Cauley rounded out the top five scorers as DeSales placed fourth.

The fourth-place finish for the Bulldogs, however, fell a bit short of their goal. He expected an even better finish as Messiah, Stevenson and Eastern all finished above the Bulldogs.

“We unfortunately did much worse than we thought we would at MACs,” Gonoude said. “We didn’t run well as a team throughout the year, and some of our best guys were beat up by the time MACs rolled around, so we really had to battle. We left it all out there on the course that day, but the conference just keeps getting better and better.”

The cross country season may be in the books, but Gonoude’s junior athletic season isn’t over quite yet. He’s going to be participating in indoor and outdoor track and field over before embarking on his final college cross country season next fall.

Indoor track begins on December 9 with the Fast Times Meet at Lehigh University. Outdoor starts in mid-March at the William and Mary Tribe Invitational.

“I’d like to score some points for my team at MACs…I haven’t scored points at MACs for track yet,” Gonoude said. “I would like to run the mile leg in the [distance medley relay] for indoors, and do the 1500 and steeplechase for outdoors.

“I am very excited for the upcoming seasons. We are very talented and just need to stay healthy.”