At the turn of the millennium, Azusa Pacific was already established as a national track & field power. However, the Cougars’ strength as a program has been fortified with the development of its cross country program into a perennial national title contender. Since 2000, Azusa Pacific has posted 11 top-10 NAIA finishes in women’s cross country, including the program’s first-ever national title in 2008. In similar fashion, the men’s program registered top-10 national finishes in six of the past 10 seasons, finishing as national runner-up in 2008.

“One of the biggest reasons the program has developed has been more of an emphasis on the distance program,” said Preston Grey, who last week was introduced as Azusa Pacific’s track & field women’s head coach as he continues into his eighth year as the cross country head coach. “(Former cross country coach) Bill Reeves took that and developed It, and there were a number of athletes along the way who helped push that along. One generation to the next has passed that along and carried that tradition along.”

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For those of you who don’t know, I was a Resident Advisor for the last two years in University Village. It was an AMAZING experience and with all the things I have done around campus, I feel I grew the most from it. I absolutely LOVED Res-Life and my residents (shout out to all those reading right now!). There’s something about seeing them struggle and lending them that helping hand, and then hearing “Oh Em Gee, you Saved my Life!” that just makes me feel amazing! I love helping and having the chance to be people’s hero. Maybe it was all those comic books and super hero tv shows that I watched as a kid.

Read more on My Crazy, Busy, Action Packed, Glorious Semester Part 2…