Nov. 18, 2002

Truman Men's Cross Country Heads To Nationals

Official NCAA Division II Championship Website

The Truman State University men's cross country team, ranked 22nd in the country, will head to the NCAA National Championships this weekend. The 10,000m race will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday at Brookside Golf Club in Ashland, Ohio.

The Bulldogs advanced to the meet after a third-place finish in the South Central Regional meet two weekends ago. Truman finished second in the MIAA meet earlier this year, falling short of another MIAA title by just one point.

Alan Heincker and Matt Helbig will likely lead the way for the Truman squad. Heincker and Helbig have finished first and second, respectively, for Truman in the last four meets the two runners have raced in. Andy Person finished third on the Bulldogs team at the MIAA Championships and South Central Regional. All three of those runners earned MIAA all-conference honors by finishing in the top 10 at the conference meet.

Other runners expected to compete for Truman this weeekend are Pat Boyle, Mike Nelson, Brad Peter and Aaron Wells.

It will be the third consecutive trip to the national meet for the Bulldogs squad. Last year, Truman finished fourth in the nation while in 2000, the Bulldogs came in 10th. This year's squad will be head coach Ed Schneider's 11th team to compete in the national meet. The team's best finish under Schneider was third-place which Truman achieved in back-to-back years in 1994 and 1995. The best showing all-time for a Bulldog team was finishing second nationally in 1964 under head coach George Herman.

Men's Cross Country | Truman Athletics