2008 UT Tyler Cross Country Preview
August 19, 2008

The University of Texas at Tyler men’s and women’s cross country teams enter the 2008 season with very high expectations. The men’s team will be chasing after its fourth straight American Southwest Conference championship, while the women will be looking to improve on their third place finish at last year’s conference championship meet.

“We have more depth this year which should be very helpful in our quest to qualify for Nationals on the men’s side,” said head coach Bob Hepler.

Hepler, who enters his fourth season in charge of both programs, was equally as optimistic of his women’s team.

“We have our most talented team ever. We should compete for a conference title. Both teams have great attitudes and talent!”

On the men’s team, the Patriots will return five seniors this year: R.J. Cowan, Ben Donnan, Warren Brown, Bojan Kajtaz and Corey Kellam will all return to UT Tyler for their fourth and final season in 2008.

“These young men have brought great joy to my life,” said Hepler. “They make me want to coach. They plan to go out with their best year ever this season.”

The men’s team won its third-straight ASC title last season with the conference championship’s first-ever perfect score. The men then went on to Williamsburg, Va., to compete in their first NCAA Regional. Despite Cowan and Donnan finishing in first and second, respectively, the Patriots missed advancing to the National Championships by just one point.

However, Hepler has helped turn this negative into a positive for his team.

“This year, we are even more inspired because we came so close last year.”

The Patriot women have finished in third place at the ASC meet in each of the past two years. This year they are looking to improve on that by returning four of the five members of last year’s team who ran in the ASC Championships and NCAA Regionals, including ASC 3rd place individual finisher Sarah Hankla.

In order to better prepare his teams for conference, regional and national competition, Hepler has put together a schedule designed to challenge his runners. The 2008 line-up includes three Division I meets and a trip to Hanover, Ind., the site of this year’s National Championships, for a pre-nationals warm-up race. Also included in the schedule this season is an opportunity for the men to defend their title at the Texas Division III State Championships in Abilene and a lone home event on Sept. 6.

One advantage both Patriot teams will have this year is that both the ASC Championships and the NCAA Regional will be held close to home in Seguin, Texas. Texas Lutheran will serve as the host school for both events.

“Baylor, Arkansas and pre-nationals will have top runners from around the country,” said Hepler, the three-time ASC Coach of the Year. “This schedule was planned to prepare the men to do well at regionals and for the women to compete at conference.”

The 2008 season promises to be one of the best seasons in program history for UT Tyler cross-country. With both teams returning such a large number of runners from 2007, in addition to adding several fresh faces, the chances of both teams winning conference gold or beyond are better than ever.

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