Men's Cross Country
RICHMOND, Va. – The Vincennes University Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams closed out their 2024 season Tuesday morning with a strong performance at the 2024 NJCAA Half Marathon Championships. Both the VU men’s and women’s teams earned seventh place finishes as a team in the 13.1 mile race hosted at Dorey Park in Richmond, Va. The day began with the women’s race, which saw the Trailblazers again paced by freshman Sarra Belgacem (Tunis, Tunisia) who’s time of 1:32:10.2 placed her 27th overall.
RICHMOND, Va. – The Vincennes University Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams had a great day Saturday afternoon at the 2024 NJCAA Division I National Championships hosted at Pole Green Park in Richmond, Va. Both of the VU men’s and women’s teams finished higher than their National ranking heading into the Championship race with the VU men’s team finishing 14th overall and the Vincennes women’s team placing 19th overall. The day began with the women’s 5k race where the Trailblazers were once again led by freshman Sarra Belgacem (Tunis, Tunisia) who placed 64th overall with a final time of 19:27.7.
NORMAL, Ill. – The Vincennes University Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams successfully defended their Region 24 crowns last week at the 2024 NJCAA Region 24 Championships at Maxwell Park in Normal, Ill. The Trailblazers were competing as the only NJCAA Division I team at the Championships but were boosted by freshman Anis Abdaoui (Kairouan, Tunisia) who paced the field in the Men’s 8K race with a final time of 25:52 to claim the men’s individual Region Championship. “The Regional meet is always very different from the other races during the season,” VU Head Cross Country Coach Tyler Steigenga said. “It was a much smaller field than we are used to and this year it was only six days after our last meet. With the short turnaround and our goal being to be at our best for the National meet, our top five guys played things a little more conservative today. They were instructed to go out easy and keep things very relaxed through the first three miles and then speed up the last two if they were feeling good or maintain their pace into the finish.”
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Vincennes University Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams closed out the 2024 regular season Friday morning at the 2024 Angel Mounds Invitational hosted by the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville. The Trailblazers ended the regular season on a high note in a large field of four-year schools, including many NCAA Division I teams competing. The morning began with the Men’s 8k race, where VU freshman Anis Abdaoui (Kairouan, Tunisia) led the way for the Blue and Gold, finishing with a time of 25:18.2 and taking 31st place overall.
Terre Haute, Ind. and Louisville, Ky. – The Vincennes University men’s and women’s Cross Country teams pulled double duty this weekend as members of the VU men’s team took part in the Nike XC Town Twilight at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute Friday night, while the rest of the men’s and women’s teams headed to Louisville for the 2024 Live in Lou Classic Saturday. The weekend started with members of the men’s team taking the short trip to Terre Haute for a unique cross country race, racing under the lights at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course. Vincennes was paced on the day by freshman Stephen Hershberger (Fowler, Ind.) who finished with a time of 29:04.25 to place 148th overall.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Vincennes University Cross Country teams were eager to get back on the course Saturday morning, competing for the first time in over three weeks at the 2024 John McNichols Invitational at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute. The Trailblazers were part of a very large field of four-year schools, being one of only two two-year programs to compete in the event. “The team was looking forward to getting back to racing after three weeks off of competition,” VU Head Cross Country Coach Tyler Steigenga said. “This was the first 8k for a lot of the men and 6k for the women.”
CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Vincennes University Cross Country season got off to an interesting start Friday afternoon at the 2024 Walt Crawford Open hosted by Eastern Illinois University. High temperatures and a lightning delay forced changes to the schedule, which caused the men’s and women’s races to be run at the same time and the men’s race to be changed to a 5K race instead of the usual 8K. “The meet got pushed back an hour on Thursday due to the hot weather,” VU Head Cross Country Coach Tyler Steigenga said. “An hour before the women’s race on Friday, there was lightning in the area, so we had to take shelter inside. We waited about an hour and then all of the coaches got told that we were going to run the men and women together with both doing a 5K. It got a little chaotic as that gave everyone less than 20 minutes to get to the line in order to get the race in before more potential storms. To add to the chaos it was 90 degrees at the start, with a real feel of 98 degrees.”
VINCENNES, Ind. - John Meeks, an experienced athletics administrator with an academic ethos, is the new Vincennes University Director of Athletics. VU President Dr. Chuck Johnson proudly announced the appointment of Meeks on Wednesday, August 21, during a VU Board of Trustees meeting. Meeks is a former college basketball coach currently serving as the Director of Athletics at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, Washington. He will begin his role leading VU Athletics on Monday, Sept. 9.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The 2023-24 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Academic awards were announced Thursday, with Vincennes University well represented. First came the announcement of the 2023-24 Academic Teams of the Year, with teams needing to hold a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better to be honored. Nearly 1,200 teams were named across the NJCAA members colleges and sports, with Vincennes University being named twice.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The 2023 Vincennes University Cross Country season came to a close Tuesday with the running of the 2023 NJCAA Half Marathon National Championships at John Hunt Park. Members of the VU men’s and women’s Cross Country teams took part in the grueling 13.1 mile run and came away with an 18th place finish for the men’s team and an outstanding 10th place finish for the VU women’s team. The VU men’s team was led by freshman Cody Noel (Hebron, Ind.) who finished with a time of 1:16:45.9, finishing 56th overall out of 155 runners.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The Vincennes University Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams entered the NJCAA Division I National Championship meet Saturday morning ranked No. 24 and No. 21 respectively. Both teams were able to place ahead of these rankings Saturday morning at John Hunt Park in Alabama, with VU women’s team taking home 18th overall and the VU men’s team placing 23rd overall. The No. 24 VU men’s team got the day started with the Men’s 8K and were led by a very strong finish by freshman Cody Noel (Hebron, Ind.) who finished with a time of 26:22.5 to place 71st overall out of 208 runners.
CHARLESTON, Ill. – The No. 21-ranked Vincennes University Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams began their 2023 postseason Thursday afternoon with the 2023 NJCAA Region 24 Championships hosted at Eastern Illinois University. The Blazers were one of three teams competing Thursday but were again in a unique situation, being the only Division I team competing, with Heartland CC and Kaskaskia College both being Division II in Cross Country. The day began with the women’s 5k and the No. 21 VU women’s team more than held their own, with four of the Blazers’ six runners posting season best times.
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The No. 20-ranked Vincennes University Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams bounced back after a tough meet two weeks ago in Louisville with a solid performance Friday morning at the Angel Mounds Invitational hosted by the University of Evansville. The day began with the women’s race, which was one kilometer longer than the usual cross country races on VU’s schedule this season, running a 6k race Friday morning. The Trailblazers women’s team was led by freshman Adi Fuller (Evansville, Ind.) who put together a really good race in front of her hometown crowd.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Nationally ranked Vincennes University Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams were back in action Saturday afternoon at the Live in Lou Classic at Tom Sawyer State Park. The No. 12-ranked VU men’s team and No. 24-ranked VU women’s team were part of two massive races, including about 400 runners each. The Trailblazers men’s team got the day started and quickly suffered a setback with sophomore Isaac Stanford (Flora, Ill.) suffering an injury at the first start of the race and was unable to continue when the race was restarted.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Vincennes University men’s and women’s Cross Country teams looked to take advantage of near perfect conditions Saturday morning when the Blazers took part in the John McNichols Invitational hosted by Indiana State University at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course. VU was one of 18 teams participating in a very stacked field, which included 14 NCAA Division I teams, one NCAA Division II team and two NCAA Division III teams, with the Blazers being the only two-year team running. The No. 24-ranked VU men’s team got the morning started off in a big way with eight of VU’s 10 runners setting new PRs.
CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Vincennes University men’s and women’s Cross Country teams began their 2023 season Friday afternoon, taking part in the annual Walt Crawford Open hosted by Eastern Illinois University. The day began with the women’s 5k race, where VU more than held their own against a field of two NCAA Division I programs in Eastern Illinois and Indiana State. The Trailblazers women’s team was led by freshman Emily Barbosa (Sao Paulo, Brazil), who paced the VU runners to take 26th overall with a time of 21:21.3.
