Bears Look to Continue Winning Ways

The 2000 Men's Cross Country team established a new school record with 49 wins and fifteen new top ten best ever times.  The Bears won meet championships at the Kentucky Christian Invitational, The Pikeville College Invitational, and they won the Shawnee State Invitational for the first time. Coach Mangus expects this year's team to be even stronger with the top seven runners returning and a very good recruiting class joining them. Competition should be tough for spots on the travel squad.

The nine meet schedule is very challenging. The schedule includes trips to the Forest Festival Invitational at Davis & Elkins College; The "Big Blue" Invitational sponsored by Bluefield State College at Camp Creek, West Virginia; the Greensboro Invitational in Greensboro, North Carolina; and of course the famous 26th annual "Legends" course in Ashtabula, OH. It also includes the Kentucky Christian College Invitational, the Rio Grande Invitational, the Wilmington Fall Classic and our own Shawnee State Invitational. The American Mideast Conference/Region IX championship will be held at Rio Grande and we are looking for a strong finish to the season. With the changes in the qualifying process, several runners have a chance at qualifying for the National NAIA Cross Country Meet.

Coach Mangus has five lettermen returning from last years squad. They are sophomores Nathan Burchett (Minford, OH), Billy Sember (Minford, OH), Eric Stephan (Sardinia, OH), Adam Tolle (Seaman, OH) and John Williams (Minerva, OH).  Red-shirt freshmen Brett LeMaster (Cable, OH) and Dave Abbott (West Union, OH) ran in most meets last year as "at-large" entries and gained some valuable experience.  Newcomers include upperclassman Trent Hyland (South Webster, OH) and five freshmen: Ian Barnes and Blake Jones from Western Brown High School, Nick Liberator from Canton McKinley High School, Andy Little from Portsmouth High School.

"This is a very deep and talented men's team. It will be quite a battle for the ten spots on the travel squad as most everyone has the potential to run 28:00 or better! A whole new set of the ten fastest SSU Cross Country times should be set this year! We should begin the season with a win and new course record at the Kentucky Christian Invitational," said Coach Mangus.