USI MCC Season Outlook

2004 Men's Cross Country Outlook

Coming off a GLVC championship in 2003, the University of Southern Indiana men’s cross country team is ready to take the next step and make it to the NCAA II National Championships, which will be held on USI’s home course this November.

Head Coach Mike Hillyard, the 2003 GLVC Coach of the Year for both the men and the women, will look to a solid group of runners to get the Screaming Eagles to nationals for the first time since 1997.

Returning for his senior season is All-GLVC and All-Region performer Doug Schwartz. After a stellar 2003 season and a strong outdoor track campaign this past spring, Schwartz will be a solid number one for the Eagles in 2004.

Schwartz, who competed at the NCAA II Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 5,000 meters, also will be a favorite to win the GLVC individual championship.

Junior Jesse Davis will push Schwartz for the number one spot in the lineup and is a superb number two runner for the Eagles. Like Schwartz, Davis competed at the 2004 NCAA II Outdoor Track and Field Championships and also is among the favorites to take home the GLVC individual championship this fall.

Davis earned All-GLVC honors in 2003 after finishing as USI’s top runner—third overall—at the GLVC Championships last year.

The race for USI’s number three runner will be a strong one as the USI coaching staff believes a number of runners could challenge for the spot week in and week out.

If preseason workouts are any indication, though, junior Rob Garwood should have the inside track. Garwood placed among the top seven for the Eagles in five races last year and finished 20th at the GLVC Championships last fall. He finished fourth in the 10,000 meters at the GLVC Outdoor Track and Field Championships last spring and had a strong summer workout program to prepare him for the upcoming season.

Another runner that can compete for the third spot is junior David Tyler, who surprised everyone at last year’s GLVC Championships. Tyler finished 13th at the conference championships last fall and posted USI’s fastest 10,000-meter time (31 minutes, 54.64 seconds) in the spring.

Senior Will Siemers (Bensenville, Illinois) will challenge for the top five in 2004, after earning All-GLVC honors the past two seasons. The former NJCAA All-American, finished eighth a the league meet last fall.

Rounding out USI’s top seven will be junior Jake England (Valparaiso, Indiana) and senior Zach Toothman (Tell City, Indiana). England struggled at the GLVC Championships last fall; finishing 54th and loosing his hold on a spot in USI’s top seven. However, if he can run to the potential that lifted him to a 23rd-place performance at the 2002 GLVC Championships, England should be a strong candidate for USI’s top seven.

Toothman has shown steady improvement throughout his career at USI, finishing 44th at last season’s league meet.

USI will start the season September 4 with a meet at cross-town rival University of Evansville before taking part in the Indiana Intercollegiate September 17.

The Eagles will host the Stegemoller Classic, which is expected to have between 15 and 20 teams for both the men and women’s races, for the first time in two years on September 25.

Two weeks later, the Eagles will have an opportunity to run on the host course for the 2004 NCAA II Great Lakes Regional Championships when they compete in the Border Wars in Edwardsville, Illinois.

This year’s GLVC Championships will be hosted by Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Kentucky, and will be an 8k course, as opposed to the 10k course it has been in recent years.

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