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Catching up to BU’s swiftest cross country runners
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
Most folks know that Baylor is a perennially strong track school. But even when BU’s runners aren’t bounding around the oval, they’re still pretty swift.
Baylor’s cross country programs have produced plenty of success over the years. Most recently, BU’s women have become an every-year NCAA meet contender. The Baylor men, meanwhile, boasted one of the Southwest Conference’s top programs up until the league’s disbanding.
If you were staging a fantasy cross country meet, you’d certainly fare well with the following names on your roster. Each team consists of seven runners, but remember — only five can score.
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
Bill Adams (1977-79): Adams is the only BU runner to qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships more than once as an individual, reaching that stage in both 1976 and ‘77.
Tyler Cooper (1988-92): As a senior in ‘92, Cooper helped guide Baylor to its first-ever Southwest Conference title. He also qualified for the NCAAs individually that year, finishing 67th overall in a time of 32:17.
Jeff Cunningham (1990-94): Cunningham was an intregal part of BU’s 1994 SWC title team that also became the first BU squad to qualify for nationals. He finished 81st nationally at that meet.
Todd Harbour (1978-81): One of the school’s all-time best distance runners, Harbour qualified for the NCAA Championships in Wichita, Kan., as a senior. He also was a two-time SWC indoor champion in the mile and won four straight SWC titles in the 1,500 meters outdoors.
Brian Keim (1993-95): In 1993, Keim darted to an overall victory at the SWC meet, becoming BU’s first conference champion in 22 years. A year later, Keim finished third at the SWC meet in helping propel the Bears to their second conference title in three years. He competed in two NCAA meets, one as an individual and the other as part of BU’s qualifying team.
Kyle King (2002-04): Tall and angular, King used his long strides to become the first BU runner in nearly a decade to qualify for nationals in 2002.
Pete Morales (1970-73): Morales was BU’s first runner to win a conference title and first to reach the NCAA meet in 1971.
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
Erin Bedell (2005-present): An all-region performer as a freshman back in 2005, Bedell finished 30th at that year’s NCAA meet. This year she finished 37th, yet managed to become the fifth Lady Bear runner to attain an All-American designation.
Karin Ernstrom (1997-2000): Ernstrom competed in three NCAA meets, finishing 22nd at the 1999 event to achieve All-America status.
Sally Geis (1991-93): At the 1992 SWC meet, Geis broke away from teammate Catherine Hall at the one-mile marker to win the women’s 5,000-meter race and lead Baylor to its third straight title. A year later, she repeated as SWC champion, and so did the Lady Bears.
Lauren Hagans (2005-08): A former walk-on, Hagans earned a scholarship by the time she left, finishing 35th at the 2007 NCAA meet, her fourth straight trip to nationals.
Natalie Nalepa (1988-91): Opposing runners had a tough time catching Nalepa, who won back-to-back SWC titles in 1990 and 1991. Her senior year, she also finished fifth at the NCAA meet, which is still a school record for the best individual finish. Nalepa was inducted into the Baylor Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.
Sherri Smith (1998-99): After Nalepa, no BU runner has ever performed better at the NCAA meet level than Smith, who finished 20th in 1998 with a time of 17:24.61.
Lisa Stone (1988-91): A key member of BU’s first-ever conference championship team in 1990, Stone finished second to Nalepa at the SWC meet. Stone also performed well on the national stage, finishing 49th (BU’s top finish) in 1989 and 41st in 1990. Like Nalepa, Stone is a member of BU’s Athletic Hall of Fame, earning enshrinement in 2003.
Coach: Steve Gulley. Certainly Todd Harbour has built the BU women’s team into a very strong program nationally. But Gulley gets the nod as BU’s all-time coach for having led BU’s women to four straight conference titles from 1990-93 and for having guided the BU men to two SWC crowns in three years in 1992-94, plus the program’s only team NCAA meet berth.
- Introducing the all-time Baylor football team
- Baylor soccer's all-time squad
- The Best of Quarter-Miler U
- Nothing but aces for Baylor golf
- Baylor baseball's field of dreams
- Catching up to BU's swiftest cross country runners
- Introducing BU's all-time volleyball all-stars
- BU's all-time tennis teams
- These Bears could ball
- Baylor softball's all-time lineup
- BU women's hoops dream team
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment | Categories: Baylor's all-time teams
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By Joe Ratliff
January 5, 2009 5:20 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Walter Reyna, 67-68 is another to be considered, even though he didn’t go to nationals since Baylor couldn’t afford to send us then.
By Chad Neely
January 5, 2009 8:37 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I had the opportunity of running with several of these runners and feel Brian Keim was definitely the most consistent and the key component to the success in the early 90’s and gets my nod for the best male runner. As for the women, even though there’s no doubt that Natalie Nalepa had the most talent, no male or female runner could ever match the heart of Sally Geis. Also, one person that should be on the list would have to be Damian Rosado. His consistency and performance was second to none during his short period of time at Baylor. He inspired his teammates to excel through his actions and led others not only in running but was instrumental in leading several other runners to the lord and his charity work in the community couldn’t be matched!
By Harib Alsac
January 5, 2009 10:24 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
“Pete Morales (1970-73): Morales was BU’s first runner to win a conference title and first to reach the NCAA meet in 1971.”
Morales is also the first runner to be listed on the BU media all-time top 5000 meter performers list, while never having actually completed a 5000 meter race.
By Brian Keim
January 6, 2009 12:15 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I agree with Neely. Rosado definitely was overlooked. His razor-sharp elbows and “get-some” mentality cleared the way for the Baylor pack to take down the SWC foes of the early 90’s. If only he could have counted laps in track …
FGTSB
By Harib Alsac
January 6, 2009 4:01 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Also overlooked was a runner instrumental to the success of the women’s distance program in the late 90’s. Although never given the opportunity to actually compete on race day, this individual paced Baylor’s top women through nearly every workout from 1996-2000. Recognition must be given to Jay Belmarez.
By Todd Copeland
January 6, 2009 4:43 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
A correction to how you have the truly inimitable Jeff Cunningham listed. His years running cross country for Baylor were 1993-95, not 1990-94.
Also of note is that after he “went rogue” and took his training into his own hands — which involved vomit-inducing intervals around Pecan Bottoms in Cameron Park — he became the only law student in the Baylor Law School’s history to break 15 minutes in the 5,000, which he did at the Michael Johnson Classic.
He also was the champion of the McGregor Founders Day 5k — soundly defeating some of the Waco area’s finest recreational runners — and he once knocked down a few elite female runners in the approach to a water station at the Houston Marathon, afterward helping to pace eventual champion Gwyn Googan.
When his running and extracurricular accomplishments are considered as a whole, Cunningham was truly nonpareil.
By Jeff Cunningham
January 7, 2009 8:02 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Minor point to correct…since he won’t do it.
Re Adams: “Adams is the only BU runner to qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships more than once as an individual”
Re Keim: “He competed in two NCAA meets”
NEITHER TRUE.
Keim is the ONLY runner in BU History to run in three consecutive NCAA Championships. He individually qualified as a sophomore in 1993, with the team in 1994, and as an individual in 1995. On the XC course, dude was the best.
By Keith Hensley
November 4, 2009 11:18 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Brian Keim, from Escondido, California, led the contingent of Californian runners to represent Baylor during the ‘90’s, with the likes of David Monk, Jonathan Lee, Andrew Morgan, Jenny Hammel, Nancy Dollar, and his sister, Melissa Keim.