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BEARS
HOPE FOR RETURN TO LOUISVILLE
The 2003 Men's Cross Country season was,
as projected, a very special season.
It was the best season in SSU Cross Country history with a
record 132 wins against some of the strongest competition in
the nation. The Bears
were ranked as high as 16th in the NAIA Cross Country polls and
finished 22nd in the final poll.
SSU made it's first ever team appearance at the NAIA
National Cross Country Championships. Shawnee State won five meet
championships and finished 2nd at the American Mideast
Conference/NAIA Region IX Championship Meet.
John Williams, Larry Gardner, and Craig Arnett all earned 2nd
Team All-American Mideast Conference recognition. The squad recorded fourteen of the 25 fastest times ever run
at SSU.
The 2004 Cross Country Bears face another upgrade in
competition with a very challenging 11 meet schedule. It includes the Tiffin/Heidelberg Invitational, the Hanover
College Invitational, the Winthrop University Invitational, the Rio
Grande Invitational, the All-Ohio Meet, the Wilmington College Fall
Classic, the Southeastern Classic, the AMC/NAIA Region IX
Championships at Seaton Hill University in Greensburg, PA, and
the NAIA National Championships in Louisville, KY.
Thirteen runners, including six of the top seven runners
return from last year's squad.
Leading the way are seniors Eric Stephen (Sardinia, OH),
Blake Jones (Georgetown,OH), and co-captain Brett LeMaster (Cable,
OH). LeMaster holds
three of the top 25 times ever recorded at SSU. The juniors
consist of co-captain Craig Arnett (Waverly, OH), Caleb Arnold
(Enon, OH), Dirk Hollar (Minerva, OH), and John Marcus Murray,
(South Charleston, OH). Arnett
holds one and Hollar two top 25 times. Larry Gardner
(Carrollton, OH), Kris Jones (Johnstown, OH), Scott LeMaster (Cable,
OH), Josh Murray (South Charleston, OH), Andy Little (Portsmouth,
OH) and David Walker (Galloway, OH) all return for their
sophomore seasons. Gardner already holds three top 25 times
including the fastest ever run by an SSU freshman. His 99th place finish at NAIA Nationals is the best ever for
a Shawnee State Runner. Walker, LeMaster, and Murray all appear on
the Bears’ list of Top 25 Times.
“This is a very strong, experienced group of runners,”
said SSU Coach, Larry Mangus. “These
young men know what kind of work it will take for us to return to
the National Rankings and the National Meet.
Their experience will be invaluable for the incoming
freshman.”
The very strong freshman class consists of Lee Boerstler
(Trimble, OH), Zack Brink (Hilliard, OH), Jeremiah Morrow (Grove
City, OH), Corey Snyder (Canton,OH) and Sean Worley (Yakima, WA).
Boerstler, Brink, and Snyder all ran in the State of Ohio Cross
Country Championships. Worley ran on the West Valley High School
Cross Country team that won the Washington State Cross
Country Championship. “Top
to bottom, this is the best recruiting class we’ve brought to
Shawnee State,” said Mangus.
“Everyone of them has the talent to compete for a spot on
the travel team. Their adjustment to college running will play a big part in
the team’s overall success this year.”
“This is a very large talented group of runners with
unlimited potential,” said Mangus.
"We’ve had a taste of National competition the last
two years and we definitely want more!” “There will be
strong competition for places on the travel squad and the top
seven spots overall. If
any squad can break the records set last year this is it!
Once again we have very high expectations for this season,
but they are expectations I fully believe we can meet.”
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