Reese Landis hasn't competed in a cross country meet since 2023 – as a senior at nearby New London High School.
The Ashland University redshirt freshman couldn't have imagined it would take nearly three full calendar years to run in a cross country race after taking fourth place at the Ohio Division III state meet, but she is ready to compete – and enjoy it.
"I think, honestly, it's just going to be going out and having fun," Landis said. "This will be my third (collegiate) season. I had to sit out for a little more than a year. Transferring to Ashland has been really great, and I'm honestly just trying to enjoy it, and be grateful that I'm even able to run right now.
"This cross country season is go out and have fun, yet also I do have these big goals in my head. I've been working hard this summer, and want to use everything I have and use that full potential, but also not put too much pressure on myself to reach those."
Injury has kept Landis from running in cross country collegiately to this point, but the 2026 Eagle opener, Sept. 4 at Wright State's Mike Baumer Classic, is scheduled to be her return engagement.
Coming from a nearby high school, AU was not on Landis' radar. She first enrolled at Colorado-Colorado Springs.
"I was pretty dead set on wanting to kind of explore the world a little bit more, and get out and venture," she said. "It got really hard (with the injury), but I am still go grateful for my experience at UCCS. I do love my family here at Ashland now."
Said Ashland head coach
Jacob Sussman, "She had her sights set big. She had a very good offer out there. Being closer to home and family, and having a little bit of a safety net, became more important to her as she was there."
Landis came to Ashland prior to the spring semester, and competed in indoor and outdoor track and field in 2026. She ran in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters indoors, and 5,000 and 10,000 meters outdoors – and made an impression on Sussman.
"The biggest thing is just her ability to push herself," he said. "She was injured for a year-and-a-half at her previous institution, and came in off of those injuries looking for something a little bit new.
"She came in, threw herself into her training groups, and her main goal, with talking to her individually, was just to help push her teammates. Which she did successfully, and it, in turn, pushed her."
"It was my first-ever collegiate season competing, which is crazy," Landis said. "Indoor was, honestly, just learning to race again, and getting comfortable in that atmosphere."
"I was truly grateful to have Suss, because he truly is a very supportive coach. No matter what's going on in life, he always wants to help out."
Looking ahead to this fall, Landis and the Eagle women are looking to make moves both in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and in the Midwest Region.
"There really is potential for the women's team to show up at conference and put down some great times and score really, really well," she said. "They're all working so hard, and it's just awesome to see how hard they're pushing, because we do have these big goals in mind. We can make big jumps this year in our team scoring."
