Coach Mangus expects this to be the best Cross Country Season in the history of SSU Cross Country. This has been an outstanding recruiting year which will result in a number of new recruits challenging returning lettermen and earning spots in the top seven positions on both teams.

The nine meet schedule has old and returning challenges. New meets will be the Winthrop College Invitational in Rock Hill, South Carolina and the Pikeville College Invitational in Pikeville, Kentucky. The very tough "Legends" race will host it's 25 anniversary edition on Lake Erie in Oct. This will be a very challenging schedule. I expect us to improve from our 7th place finish in the American Mideast Conference. It will be tough, but a couple of runners have a chance to qualify for the NAIA national meet.

Coach Mangus has five returning letterman from the 1999 Women's Cross Country team that had the first winning season in SSU's history with a record of 31-27. They will be led by seniors Ericia Scheuffle (Olympia, WA), and Lindsey Liles (Sciotioville, OH); juniors, Kristy Porter (Beverly, OH), and Danielle Peckman ( Pomeroy, OH): and sophomore Holly Amlin (Waverly, OH).   A very talented class of new recruits will challenge for the top seven spots on the team. The new upperclassmen runners are Kimberly Howard and Polly Wilshire, both of Portsmouth. The new freshmen are Corrin Holbrook,  Renee Rymer, and LeighAnn Wallace, all from Eastern Brown High School in Sardinia; and Danielle Sims-Smith from Cincinnati.

The women's team is very deep in talent and all have lots of experience which should lead to an excellent season. The Bears will open the season at the Kentucky Christian Invitational where they finished second last year. They expect to win the opener.