2008 FALL SPORTS GUIDE 43

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1 2008 FALL SPORTS GUIDE 43

2 2008 CROSS COUNTRY SCHEDULE DATE MEET NAME LOCATION TIME * Sat. Sept. 6 Baker Maple Leaf Invitational Baldwin City 10:00 a.m. Fri, Sept. 12 Friends University Night Invite Wichita, Lake Afton 6:00 p.m. Sat, Sept. 20 Missouri Southern Stampede Joplin, Mo. 9:00 a.m. Sat, Oct. 4 Oklahoma State Jamboree Stillwater, Okla. 8:00 a.m. Sat, Oct. 11 Fort Hays State Tiger Invitational Hays 9:20 a.m. Sat, Oct. 25 NAIA Mid-States Classic Winfield 10:15 a.m. Sat. Nov. 8 KCAC Championships (Bethany Hosts) Lindsborg TBA Sat, Nov. 22 NAIA National Championships Kenosha, Wisc. TBA * Time denotes start time of the women s race. The men s race will follow shortly afterwards. Schedule subject to change without prior notice 2008 CROSS COUNTRY OUTLOOK Kansas Wesleyan s cross country teams head into the 2008 season looking to continue the successes they have experienced the last few years. Second year coach Jeff Barker has the teams ready to again compete for the KCAC Championship. On the women s side, the Coyotes lost five of their top seven runners from a year ago, including NAIA All-American Jolene Mick. Despite the losses, a solid recruiting class will help Wesleyan remain near the top of the conference. Sarah Williams returns to lead Wesleyan, as does junior Kara Walker, but Barker must look to several newcomers to fill in the spots. He does feel that the women s team is very solid in the top three positions. We are still trying fill the four and five spots; however, one through three, I feel we will be very strong and will be very competitive, Barker said. Sarah Williams has high expectations this season. Her major goals are winning the KCAC individual title and being an All-American at the National Championship Meet. She will be our leader on the course and we will look to her experience to guide us into the post season. Barker also feels that Walker and newcomer Shanda Anderson will consistently be the top three runners this season, but others have a chance to find their way to the top as well. We have some very athletic girls joining our team in Angela Gomez and Brittany Brown, Barker said. They will definitely be difference makers later in the season. I look for them to make huge improvements late this fall. On the men s side, Barker feels that this may be one of the best teams in over a decade for KWU. He has assembled a group of nine dedicated individuals that will push conference power Southwestern at the conference meet in November. This is a very exciting time for our program. We have a great group of guys who love running daily, he said. Leading the way for the men will be Southern Indiana transfer Jeremy Davies. Also looking to fit somewhere into the mix are returnees Paul Minneman and Seth Schooley, which Barker will turn to for experience and leadership. He also expects junior college transfers Michael Rascon and Jose Silva to make an immediate impact for the team. With good health and great training Jeremy Davies will lead our team, Barker said. Paul Minneman and Seth Schooley have bought into our training and are great examples of hard work on and off the course. Mike Rascon and Jose Silva are junior college transfers that should make an immediate impact. It will take some time and patiences early on but come November we will be fit and able to compete at a high level, Barker said. It is a major goal for our program to establish well respected distance running program in cross country and track. This season we are looking to finish no worse than second for the men and women, along with several national qualifiers on both teams, Barker said. 44 KANSAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY COYOTES

3 CROSS COUNTRY COACHING STAFF HEAD COACH JEFF BARKER Jeff Barker enters his second year as cross country coach at Kansas Wesleyan University. Barker came to Kansas Wesleyan from Calumet College at St. Joseph (Ind.), where he was most recently the head distance track coach and assistant cross country coach. He also held a similar concurrent position at Andrean High School in Merrillville, Indiana. Before being named head distance coach and assistant cross country coach at Calumet, Barker was named the program s first head cross country coach in June, By August of that year, he had recruited 10 student-athletes, including a national qualifier for the NAIA Championships that season. Barker earned degrees in Criminal Justice and Human Service and Social Work from Saint Joseph s College in Rensselaer, Ind., after excelling at Bishop Noll Institute High School. At Saint Joseph s, he was named a team captain and recruiting leader in the season. At Bishop Noll Institute, he was named the Athlete of the Year, while earning several individual honors, including Honorable Mention All-State honors in 1998, and he was the LAC Conference Champion in 1998, setting a course record of 15:50 for the 5K race. He went on to earn LAC Champion honors in the 3200m and was the IHSAA Sectional Champion in the 3200m. Barker is committed to building his programs based on the recent success in both cross country and track at KWU. One of my favorite quotes is If what we did last year still looks good this year, then are we really doing what it takes to get better?. We are going to work very hard to develop a program that cross country/track athletes want to be a part of daily. Once the program has purpose, the passion will grow, and the athletes will love being a part of something truly special. GABE RUSSELL ASSISTANT COACH Gabe Russell is in his first year as an assistant coach ch for Kansas Wesleyan University. Russell has been involved with the Coyote athletic department for several years, playing many different sports at KWU, including soccer, track and cross country. Before Kansas Wesleyan, Russell attended Quivira Heights High School, graduating in Russell recently graduated from Kansas Wesleyan in Spring 2008 with a bachelor degree in Business Administration. JOLENE MICK STUDENT ASSISTANT COACH Jolene Mick begins her first semester as a student assistant coach for the KWU cross country teams. Mick joins the coaching staff after two stellar years competing for KWU in cross country and track. In 2006, Mick set a new 5K record for cross country, and qualified for the NAIA National Championships, and later became KWU s first ever NAIA All- American in cross country that year. After taking a semester off from KWU, Mick returned in the fall of 2007, and again qualified for the NAIA National Championships. Mick is a native of Osborne, Kan., and ran track and cross country at Cloud County Community College for two years before KWU. She is currently working towards completion of her Sociology degree while assisting with the cross country team FALL SPORTS GUIDE 45

4 2008 COYOTE CROSS COUNTRY ROSTERS WOMEN S ROSTER NAME YEAR HOMETOWN PREVIOUS SCHOOL Shanda Anderson Jr. Marquette, Kan. Butler CC (Kan.) Brittany Brown Sr. Bakersfield, Calif. Bakersfield College (Calif.) Marylou Casillas Sr. Oak Hills, Calif. Victor Valley College (Calif.) Lisa Friedrich Fr. Wamego, Kan. Wamego HS Angela Gomez Sr. Glendale, Ariz. Phoenix College (Ariz.) Angela Padilla Sr. Riverside, Calif. Mt. San Antonio College (Calif.) Kara Walker Jr. Salina, Kan. Beloit HS Sarah Williams Sr. Lucerne Valley, Calif. Victor Valley College (Calif.) MEN S ROSTER NAME YEAR HOMETOWN PREVIOUS SCHOOL Jeremy Davies Jr. Portage, Ind. Southern Indiana Tyler Jensen Jr. Ellsworth, Kan. Ellsworth HS Jason Kinder So. Garnett, Kan. Allen County CC (Kan.) Robert McClung Jr. Surprise, Ariz. Phoenix College (Ariz.) Paul Minneman Jr. Solomon, Kan. Solomon HS Michael Rascon Jr. Tucson, Ariz. Pima CC (Ariz.) Seth Schooley Sr. Clay Center, Kan. Clay Center Community HS Jose Silva Jr. Glendale, Ariz. Phoenix College (Ariz.) Joel Wallace Jr. Salina, Kan. Pratt CC (Kan.) Gerald Lilly A Family of Financial Services Auto - Home - Life - Commercial Insurance D. KENT LAMBERT Brooke Insurance 2310 Planet Avenue Salina, Kansas Proud Supporter of Kansas Wesleyan Athletics (785) BFS 46 KANSAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY COYOTES

5 Shanda Anderson Marquette, Kan. Butler CC (Kan.) Brittany Brown Bakersfield, Calif. Bakersfield College (Calif.) Marylou Casillas Oak Hills, Calif. Victor Valley (Calif.) Lisa Friedrich Freshman Wamego, Kan. Wamego HS Angela Gomez Glendale, Ariz. Phoenix College (Ariz.) Angela Padilla Riverside, Calif. Mt. San Antonio (Calif.) Kara Walker Salina, Kan. Beloit HS Sarah Williams Lucerne Valley, Calif. Victor Valley (Calif.) Jeremy Davies Portage, Ind. Southern Indiana Tyler Jensen Ellsworth, Kan. Ellsworth HS Jason Kinder Sophomore Garnett, Kan. Allen County CC (Kan.) Robert McClung Surprise, Ariz. Phoenix College (Ariz.) Paul Minneman Solomon, Kan. Solomon HS Michael Rascon Tucson, Ariz. Pima CC (Ariz.) Seth Schooley Clay Center, Kan. Clay Center Community HS Jose Silva Glendale, Ariz. Phoenix College (Ariz.) Joel Wallace Salina, Kan. Pratt CC (Kan.) 2008 FALL SPORTS GUIDE 47

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