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The Union University men's cross country team is returning all but one runner from last season, including all three all-conference runners Alex Bett, Edwin Kurgat and Zach Covington. Union captured their seventh straight TranSouth Conference Title last season and look to win again, in their final season in NAIA and TranSouth competition. The Bulldogs also advanced to the NAIA National Meet as a team for the third time in school history.
Union returns seven runners from last season. Union has just one newcomer on the team in, freshman Lucas Peiser. Peiser will look to step in and provide an immediate impact on Union's championship hopes.
Union returns three seniors including Covington, Bett and Joel Wellum to lead this experienced team. All three have been award winning runners during their time at Union. Bett earned the TranSouth Runner of the Year award for the second time in his career and was named conference runner of the week twice last season.
Two juniors Drake Ott and Logan Smith are back for their third seasons as runners for Union. Both contributed to Union's team success in returning to the national meet last season.
Caleb Creel and Kurgat return after successful freshman seasons last year. Kurgat was named conference runner of the week twice and was selected as the TranSouth Newcomer of the Year as a freshman.
Union head coach Gary Johnson says, "We are looking forward to our final season in the TranSouth Conference and hope to go out with our conference winning streak in tact. Our team recognizes the challenge of winning multiple championships and want to complete our NAIA affiliation with a conference championship and a trip to the national championship meet. We don't ever assume this will happen and look forward to the challenge of defending our crown against a quickly improving conference."
Johnson adds about the men's program, "Our men's team returns seven runners from the 2010 TranSouth championship team and will add Lucas Peiser, an Arkansas state high school cross country champion, to our squad. This group of guys is a special group to work with. I look forward to watching them as they try to achieve great things together and return to the NAIA national championship for our last time."
