Friday, November 1
Lake Charles, LA
TBA
Abilene Christian
at
at Southland Conference Championships
Photo by: Jeremy Enlow
Cross Country greats honored by Southland as Wildcats prepare for championship return
10/30/2013 11:24:00 AM | Cross Country
ABILENE – Wildcat legends Wayne Badgley, Paul Chandler and Bruce Johnson along with their head coach Bill McClure Tuesday were named to the Southland Conference's All-Time Cross Country Honor Roll as part of its year-long 50th Anniversary commemoration.
The announcement comes prior to the Southland's 50th Men's and 29th Women's Cross Country Championships, to be held Friday at the Ward 3 Rec Complex in Lake Charles, La. Races begin at 8:30 a.m.
Abilene Christian was the Southland's foremost program for the better part of a decade as McClure's men won seven consecutive championships from 1964-1970. McClure's 1965 squad, led by Johnson and Badgley, set a team-winning championship best of 19 total points, and in 1966, his Wildcats finished 14th at the NCAA Championships.
Johnson won the inaugural 1964 meet and followed that with the 1966 individual title, while Badgley claimed top individual honors in 1965.
Chandler was the last ACU student-athlete to win a Southland Conference title in 1971, as the Wildcats' would soon depart for the Lone Star Conference where they continued to dominate the sport at the NCAA Division II level. The men's team captured a staggering 26 Lone Star Conference crowns from 1980-2010 and consecutive NCAA Championships in 2006 and 2007, while ACU's women's team collected 15 titles from 1983-2007.
Unfortunately, the halcyon days of the Wildcats' cross country program came to an abrupt end in 2011 as the men had its 20-year winning streak snapped with a runner-up showing following by a seventh-place showing in 2012. The Wildcat women experienced even more difficulty as they went from fourth in 2011 to ninth in 2012.
Wildcat senior Chloe Susset is one of the program's few remaining links to ACU's championship years and represents their best shot at winning an individual championship. However, it's going to be difficult for her or any other Wildcat to finish first as they'll be competing against a field of 13 schools that features regionally ranked Lamar, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Central Arkansas, plus the defending men's and women's champions from McNeese State and Stephen F. Austin.
A two-time Southland Conference Runner of the Week, Susset has the most championship experience of any Wildcat on either roster. She placed sixth at her first Lone Star Conference meet in 2009, came in third in 2010, and was the runner-up in 2011 with a time of 21:51. Susset's decorated junior year also included a 6K regional championship (21:37.90) and appearance at the national meet in Spokane, Wash.
A native of Clery Vexin, France, Susset missed all of last fall, but had an incredible final track and field season, during which she earned all-America citations in the outdoor 1500m and indoor mile and scored in five events at the Lone Star Conference Championships.
At the conference indoor meet, Susset was second in the mile and fourth in the distance medley relay, leading the Wildcats' to their first and only indoor team championship. Several months later she won her fourth-consecutive steeplechase crown (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) on top of placing eighth in the 800m and fourth in the 1500m.
This cross country season, Susset has seemingly picked up where she left off in 2011, winning races hosted by McMurry and Incarnate Word and finishing among the top 15 at the prestigious Cowboy Jamboree. She also placed second at the Red Raider 5K in Lubbock and was among the top-40 runners at the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind.
Behind Susset is a talented pack of freshman, almost all of who are making the trip to southern Louisiana this weekend. This list includes Diana Garcia Munoz, who was second to Susset at all five regular season meets and captured top-10 showings at McMurry, Texas Tech and Incarnate Word. Another freshman, Madeline Jordan, started the season with a seventh-place finish at McMurry and 17th-place showing at Texas Tech before suffering an injury. Her status for this weekend is still being decided.
The rest of the women's championship roster includes Landa Dowdy, sisters Alexandria and Michaela Hackett, Kim Lamadrid, Stephanie Melo and Savanah Silva.
ACU's men's roster features seniors Erik Forrister and Gary Duncan, plus Daniel Block, Chad Caton, Jesse Coates, Taylor Ochs and Reid Rivers. Forrister, a former Lone Star Conference Men's Academic Runner of the Year, has led his team to the finish line at all five of this season's meets. He recorded his best 8K of the fall two weeks ago at pre-nationals with a time of 26:26.7.
As a sophomore in 2011, Forrister just missed earning all-conference honors by one spot after placing 16th at the Lone Star Conference Championships with a season-best 8K of 26:25. He was 26th at last year's LSC Championship in Lawton, Okla.
Information from Southland.org was used in this release.
The announcement comes prior to the Southland's 50th Men's and 29th Women's Cross Country Championships, to be held Friday at the Ward 3 Rec Complex in Lake Charles, La. Races begin at 8:30 a.m.
Abilene Christian was the Southland's foremost program for the better part of a decade as McClure's men won seven consecutive championships from 1964-1970. McClure's 1965 squad, led by Johnson and Badgley, set a team-winning championship best of 19 total points, and in 1966, his Wildcats finished 14th at the NCAA Championships.
Johnson won the inaugural 1964 meet and followed that with the 1966 individual title, while Badgley claimed top individual honors in 1965.
Chandler was the last ACU student-athlete to win a Southland Conference title in 1971, as the Wildcats' would soon depart for the Lone Star Conference where they continued to dominate the sport at the NCAA Division II level. The men's team captured a staggering 26 Lone Star Conference crowns from 1980-2010 and consecutive NCAA Championships in 2006 and 2007, while ACU's women's team collected 15 titles from 1983-2007.
Unfortunately, the halcyon days of the Wildcats' cross country program came to an abrupt end in 2011 as the men had its 20-year winning streak snapped with a runner-up showing following by a seventh-place showing in 2012. The Wildcat women experienced even more difficulty as they went from fourth in 2011 to ninth in 2012.
Wildcat senior Chloe Susset is one of the program's few remaining links to ACU's championship years and represents their best shot at winning an individual championship. However, it's going to be difficult for her or any other Wildcat to finish first as they'll be competing against a field of 13 schools that features regionally ranked Lamar, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Central Arkansas, plus the defending men's and women's champions from McNeese State and Stephen F. Austin.
A two-time Southland Conference Runner of the Week, Susset has the most championship experience of any Wildcat on either roster. She placed sixth at her first Lone Star Conference meet in 2009, came in third in 2010, and was the runner-up in 2011 with a time of 21:51. Susset's decorated junior year also included a 6K regional championship (21:37.90) and appearance at the national meet in Spokane, Wash.
A native of Clery Vexin, France, Susset missed all of last fall, but had an incredible final track and field season, during which she earned all-America citations in the outdoor 1500m and indoor mile and scored in five events at the Lone Star Conference Championships.
At the conference indoor meet, Susset was second in the mile and fourth in the distance medley relay, leading the Wildcats' to their first and only indoor team championship. Several months later she won her fourth-consecutive steeplechase crown (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) on top of placing eighth in the 800m and fourth in the 1500m.
This cross country season, Susset has seemingly picked up where she left off in 2011, winning races hosted by McMurry and Incarnate Word and finishing among the top 15 at the prestigious Cowboy Jamboree. She also placed second at the Red Raider 5K in Lubbock and was among the top-40 runners at the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind.
Behind Susset is a talented pack of freshman, almost all of who are making the trip to southern Louisiana this weekend. This list includes Diana Garcia Munoz, who was second to Susset at all five regular season meets and captured top-10 showings at McMurry, Texas Tech and Incarnate Word. Another freshman, Madeline Jordan, started the season with a seventh-place finish at McMurry and 17th-place showing at Texas Tech before suffering an injury. Her status for this weekend is still being decided.
The rest of the women's championship roster includes Landa Dowdy, sisters Alexandria and Michaela Hackett, Kim Lamadrid, Stephanie Melo and Savanah Silva.
ACU's men's roster features seniors Erik Forrister and Gary Duncan, plus Daniel Block, Chad Caton, Jesse Coates, Taylor Ochs and Reid Rivers. Forrister, a former Lone Star Conference Men's Academic Runner of the Year, has led his team to the finish line at all five of this season's meets. He recorded his best 8K of the fall two weeks ago at pre-nationals with a time of 26:26.7.
As a sophomore in 2011, Forrister just missed earning all-conference honors by one spot after placing 16th at the Lone Star Conference Championships with a season-best 8K of 26:25. He was 26th at last year's LSC Championship in Lawton, Okla.
Information from Southland.org was used in this release.
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