History

Beaver School Annuals - Cross Country

Cross Country Conference History

Cross Country National History

Cross Country 1964 - 2007
Beavers men's cross country began in 1964 with four runners led by coach Myron Lempe. In 1965 the team finished third in the conference under coach Dave Hanson. The team was not active for three years until 1969 when coach Wiley Wilson resumed the program. Wilson led the men's team for 28 years. In 1983 Coach Wilson began the women's program.

Coach Wilson led the men to three conference titles and two District 12 titles. Individually, Coach Wilson had four men (Gary Myhre '73, Mike Jore '74, Mark Morrison '76 and Damon Brady '90) and one woman (Brenda Mihalicz '87) earn conference titles. Morrison also won the individual district 12 crown in 1976. During Wilson's tenure he had three men's teams earn trips to the NAIA National Championships with the team finishing 17th in the nation in 1973. Fourteen times Coach Wilson took at least one male or female to the national championships.

Wilson retired after the 1996-97 academic year and both programs were then led by Dave Zittleman for the next four years. During this time Zittleman's 1999 men's team won the conference and Region 3 championships. The 1999 team was led by Brad Tighe who would eventually earn NAIA All American honors four times. At the NAIA nationals in 1999 the team finished 12th and Coach Zittleman was voted Coach-of-the-Year by his peers. Zittleman's 1998 team also competed at nationals finishing 21st overall. In 1997 and 2000 individuals represented the Beavers with Tighe finishing second overall in 2000.

In 2001, the Beavers found new leadership from Scott Simmons. In his three year tenure Simmons would lead the Beavers to two men's national championships (2002 & '03) and one conference and region title (2002). 2003 would be a highlight for the women's program when the team qualified for nationals and finished 15th overall and their first All American - Genevieve Binsfeld.

Stu Melby would take the helm in 2004. The women won their first conference and region titles and returned to the national championships where they would finish 10th. Binsfeld would earn three more All American honors by finishing 7th, 2nd and in 2006 winning the individual national crown. Also, in 2006 freshman Phoebe Garcia would earn All American honors by finishing 27th. Binsfeld would finished her career going undefeated and winning the conference and region titles four times.