Nov. 19, 2003
Men's Cross Country Head To Their Fourth-Straight Nationals
The Truman men's cross country team will compete this Saturday at the NCAA Division II Championship meet at SAS Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina. The Bulldogs will be racing against 23 of the best teams in the nation on a 10,000 meter course, starting at 11:00 a.m. (eastern).
The Bulldogs advanced to nationals after a second-place finish in the South Central regional race. Truman trailed only Abilene Christian in that meet. Earlier this season, Truman finished second in the MIAA championship, missing the title by only one point to conference rival Missouri Southern. The Lions and Central Missouri will also represent the region at nationals.
Senior Alan Heincker (Dittmer, Mo./Grandview) will be the first runner in school history to race in four consecutive national championships. Heincker has led the team in every race he has run this year and was second at the MIAA competition and third at regionals. Junior Andy Person (Wildwood, Mo./Laude) is Truman's number two runner. He was also all-conference with a fifth-place finish at the conference meet and he finished ninth at the regionals.
Other runners expected to compete for Truman in the championship are junior Ryan French (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Linn-Marr Marion), sophomores Eli Klimek (Platte County, Mo./Platte County) and Aaron Wells (Runnells, Iowa/Southeast Polk) and freshmen Pete Schaefer (Fenton, Mo./SLUH) and Jason Simpson (Liberty, Mo./Liberty). French, Klimek and Wells all finished together in the top 20 at the regional meet, helping the Bulldogs secure their second-place finish.
Saturday will be the fourth consecutive trip to nationals for the Truman squad. Last year the Bulldogs placed 14th in the NCAA meet. Head coach Ed Schneider will be sending his 12th squad to the national competition. Under Schneider, Truman's best finish was a third-place showing in back-to-back years in 1994 and 1995. The best result all-time for a Bulldog team was finishing second nationally in 1964 under head coach George Herman.