News & Views
The 2006 OWU Cross Country team. (OWU Photo)
Laying the Foudation
This fall Oklahoma Wesleyan University premiered its first cross country team. Made up of eight freshmen, three sophomores, and one senior, the team is young both in age and experience. Yet they have brought a level of enthusiasm, determination and commitment that foreshadows great things to come.
Last year, Coach Mark Miller came to Oklahoma Wesleyan from Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, South Dakota. In his first year at OWU, he set in place and expanded the track and field program. This year he has recruited a group of student athletes to lay the foundation for a cross country team. Research and recruiting started early last spring. The greatest challenge in building a program was getting the word out. Miller met and spoke with students who lived within an hour of the university but were unaware of its presence. He sent questionnaires to prospective students within a four state radius and spent hours upon hours on the phone visiting with students and parents.
Finally a team began to form. “I was looking for someone who would benefit the university and also the university would benefit them,” Miller said.
Miller wanted more than just gifted athletes. He looked specifically for three qualities: committment to the university, committment to the program and committment to Christ. He found them.
“They know how to support and encourage one another,” Miller said with a smile. “They always seem to have fun. They are just a great bunch of student athletes.”
After the team was formed the work began. The athletes have been diligent in their training, focusing on three key components: mileage, hill work and speed endurance. They average 40 to 45 miles per week in preparation for their meets. “They are young. They are learning how to run and how to pace themselves,” Miller said. “I would like them to look back on this season, see where they started and where they finished as individuals and as a team.”
Kirk Taylor, a sophomore, is running on a team for the first time in his life. He grew up in nearby Ramona, Oklahoma and always wanted to run in high school. This year he was given the opportunity. He runs the men’s 8k, which is a distance of 5.2 miles. He hopes to bring his time down to 30 minutes by the close of the season. He likes the fact that “there’s no bench in cross country.”
What you don't see is Coach Miller running in front of the golf cart. (OWU Photo)
Freshman, Tera Hughes is one of the more experienced runners on the team, having run cross country for five years for the Bartlesville Public Schools. Unfortunately, Hughes was injured a few weeks ago during a meet. Her fractured shin has kept her from running these last three weeks, but she hopes to finish out the season at the Conference and Regional meets.
Miller said that Hughes and the other more experienced runners do an excellent job of encouraging their teammates “to perform better no matter what their time is.”
This is a young team of runners but, “age doesn’t affect ability,” as Hughes said. She has been amazed by the heart and determination of her fellow teammates.
Cross country is a sport for individuals, but it takes five individuals to compete as a team. “The better you perform as an individual the better you will score as a team,” Miller said.
They have improved dramatically from the beginning of the season in their times and performances.
“As a team everyone gets along,” Miller said. “They’ve accepted each other with their differences and also the knowledge they have gained in running and training, the do’s and the dont’s.”
This camaraderie has been encouraged by small team outings for pizza or ice cream as well as team devotionals the evening before a meet. Over fall break the athletes organized their own camping trip with no suggestion from their coach. They simply enjoy the time together and it has been apparent throughout the season.
The team has competed in several runs, but Saturday, October 28th was their first team competition: the Midland Collegiate Athletic Conference Meet in Lawrence, Kansas. They competed against seven teams in their conference. Their last meet, the Regional Meet, will be held in Winfield, Kansas Saturday, November 4th. In the regional competition there are 16 teams competing. “We should be able to hold our own,” said Miller.
Miller hopes that as the program grows in the next couple of years the team will be contenders for a conference championship. He would like to see them place in the top ten at the conference level and in the top five at regional’s. As his athletes improve and gain more knowledge, experience and discipline he would like to take individuals to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Competition (NAIA). Eventually he intends to take the entire team.
The Cross Country girls show off their driving skills. (OWU Photo)
Miller has always enjoyed running, and God has developed cross country into a burning passion in his life. “I don’t know what I would do without it. Ten years from now I still see myself in cross country and track and field. Five years ago I would not have seen myself at Oklahoma Wesleyan starting a cross country and track and field program,” said Miller. “It challenges me and makes things difficult at times, but God didn’t say it was going to be easy.”
Miller hopes that his athletes will be able to look back on this first season as a positive experience, seeing the immense progress they made in a matter of three short months. He would like them to see how cross country can help them to be disciplined in their life, not just in running but in their time with God and “living close to him.”
“We would hope they were Christian kids, but if not, by the time they leave they would be right with Christ. We want them to enjoy what they do,” Miller said. Above all he hopes that his athletes will learn to give all the credit to Christ for the gifts and abilities that he has given each and every one of them.