Cross Country Looks to Run Through ASC
August 24, 2007

For the past two years, The University of Texas at Tyler men’s cross country team has dominated the American Southwest Conference. This season, as full members of the NCAA, the excitement level is even higher.

“Two years ago, it was enough to win the conference,” UT Tyler cross country coach Bob Hepler said. “That was really exciting. Last year, it was really anti-climactic. We had a good meet against McMurry, and they pushed us, but we got five of the top seven places and then saw McMurry go on to place top five in the region and get close to one of those top two spots that get you to nationals.”

“It was frustrating to know that we really had a shot to make and do well at nationals last year.”

On the men’s side, the Patriots return nearly their entire team from last year’s ASC championship squad. Hepler said last year’s champs are looking forward to moving up.

“This year with everyone back and the return of R.J. Cowan after an injury-shortened season, plus adding some talented freshmen to the mix, we’re really looking forward to the season.”

“The thing that’s really exciting about the men this year is they are coming into the season in shape. They’ve never done that before. For example Ben Donnan, who won conference and set three records at the ASC track meet, was running twenty miles a week last summer. This summer, he ran forty to sixty miles a week.”

“We have some people who are averaging eighty to a hundred miles a week. They came to school ready, it’s very exciting.”

For the women’s team, Hepler said he returns a very strong nucleus.

“We have four really solid runners in Jessica Beers, Heidi Stevens, Sarah Hankla, and Lindsey Moore. Those four have been putting in tons of miles over the summer, and out of our eight other women, we just need one to step up and we should be right there with McMurry, Mississippi College and Texas Lutheran.”

This year’s women’s team will also be helped by some runners transferring in from other sports, including former soccer players Kaitlyn Posey and Nicolette Weil.

“The other sports have helped us,” Hepler said. “UT Tyler is a very challenging school academically and what you find is as a lot of juniors and seniors progress, they have classes that conflict with the sports. They have no choice but to take these classes.”

“One of the advantages we have in cross country is we’re working out at six or seven in the morning when there are no classes. These are real athletes who have that competitive fire and may have run track or cross country in high school. We have two former soccer players who’ve joined us who are also 4.0 students. They’re very competitive.”

One more factor in the high expectations for this season is the coaching staff. Hepler returns one coach, and adds another with an outstanding resume.

“We have a couple of great assistant coaches in Wes Davis, who returns for us, and Rich Dyer, who is a former four-minute miler at USC. He brings a wealth of knowledge.”

The schedule begins for the Cross County team on Sept. 1 at Baylor University in Waco, and Hepler said he’s challenging his team from the opening gun.

“We start with Baylor and we’re actually going to go against Arkansas, which wins the title on a regular basis for Division I.”

The American Southwest Conference Championships will take place Oct. 27, in Abilene. UT Tyler’s only home meet of the season is set for Sept. 8

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