Bears Hope to Build on Record Breaking Season

The 2002 Men's Cross Country Team had the most successful season in the program's history.  The Bears defeated 121 of the 132 teams they competed against, including nine NCAA Division I teams.  The Bears won five meet championships and finished fourth or higher in their remaining six meets.  SSU placed fourth in the AMC/NAIA Region IX Championship, just three point behind the third place finisher.  John Williams and Dirk Hollar became the first Bears to compete in the NAIA National Championship meet and the first to earn All-AMC recognition.  Sixteen of the 25 fastest times recorded at SSU were recorded in 2002.

The 2003 schedule features 11 challenging meets.  It includes the 6th Annual Shawnee State Invitational, the Hanover Invitational, the Centre College Invitational, Cedarville University's Friendship Invitational, the Greater Louisville Classic, the Greensboro Hagen Stone Classic, the All-Ohio Cross Country Championship, the Wilmington Fall Classic, the Gettysburg Invitational, and the AMC/NAIA Region IX Championship in Latrobe, PA.  The NAIA Championship will be held in Louisville, KY.

Eleven runners, including the top five, return from last year's squad.  Leading the way are seniors John Williams (Minverva, OH) and Adam Tolle (Seaman, OH).  Williams holds 14 spots on the Bears' Top 25 list.  Between the two of them, they have won five meet championships and had 31 top 10 finishes.  The junior class consists of Eric Stephan (Sardinia, OH), Nick Liberator (Canton, OH), Brett LeMaster (Cable, OH), and Blake Jones.  LeMaster holds 4 of the Top 25 times and Jones appears once on the list.  Dirk Hollar (Minerva, OH), Chad Danner Minerva, OH), Garrett Smith (Greenfield, OH), Craig Arnett (Waverly, OH), and David Walker (Columbus, OH) all return for their sophomore seasons.  Arnett and Hollar ran among the top 5 on the squad throughout 2002.  Hollar holds 3 spots on the Top 25 list and Arnett appears on the list twice.

New to the squad are sophomores Caleb Arnold (Enon, OH) and John Marcus Murray (South Charleston, OH) and freshmen Larry Gardner (Carrollton, OH), Scott LeMaster (Cable, OH) Josh Murray (South Charleston, OH), Brandon Phelps (Manchester, OH), Kris Jones (Johnstown, OH), and Luke Lyons (Ashland, KY). 

"This is the largest and most talented squad I have ever coached," said Coach Larry Mangus.  "It will be a war just to make the travel squad.  Our "B" team will beat a lot of other teams.  With our schedule it will be tough to match last season's success, but our goals are high and we are aiming for the stars!  I expect this to be a very special season for SSU Cross Country."