By: Brice Davis, Contributing Writer

Saturday, Nov. 10, the Indiana Wesleyan University men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the NCCAA Cross Country meet.

The Wildcat women finished seventh in a field of 35 teams. Azusa Pacific took home the women’s championship with a score of 80 points, while Roberts Wesleyan University and Malone University followed with scores of 102 and 110. IWU finished with a score of 263.

Knowing this would be the last collegiate meet for many seniors, the Wildcats wanted “to go out with an exclamation point,” as coach John Foss said.

“Going into Christian Nationals this past weekend, we had the mindset of putting it all out there on the course, of having no regrets and competing to the best of our God-given abilities,” said Kayla Ewert (jr).

Ewert was the first Wildcat to finish Saturday, followed by Emily Dean (sr), Natasha Greenwood (sr) and Angel Gaesser (fr).

Foss elected to rest many of his top runners including Alyssa Foss (jr) and Ethan Naylor (sr). Each qualified for the NAIA National and chose to take the week off to prepare.

On the men’s side of things, Oklahoma Christian University won the school’s first cross country championship with a score of 41 points, while Malone and California Baptist University followed respectively. IWU finished with a score of 301 points.

Ethan Laudermilch (sr) was the top finisher for the men’s team with a time of 26:51. Andrew Albert (sr) followed shortly with a time of 26:56.

“My plan was to relax the first few miles and then to treat the last three miles as if it was the NAIA National Race,” Albert said. “Although our times were a bit slow, it appears that both the women and men’s races were slow as a whole. This could be due to the multiple different factors such as the headwind on the course and tactics of the individual runners.”

The next test for the Wildcats will be the NAIA National Championship, which will be held Saturday in Vancouver, Wash. The women’s meet will take place at 1:30 p.m. and the men at 2:45 p.m. The race will feature the top seven Wildcat men and individual qualifier Foss.

By Michael Caley

Katie Smith (sr), catcher for the Indiana Wesleyan University softball team, and Tyler Keith (jr), golf player, each took home $2,500 scholarships at the 23rd annual Jack and Marge Colescott Athletic Scholarship Golf Tournament hosted by IWU.

The golf tournament raises money toward the athletic endowment at IWU, and has already raised more than $1 million through 23 years, according to the Athletic Department.

The Jack Colescott Scholarship is awarded each year to male and female IWU athletes who are from the Grant County area. The scholarship is given to the athletes who show excellence in all areas as a student-athlete. To be considered for the scholarship, an athlete must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.5. Each of IWU’s head coaches nominates a member of his or her team who is from Grant County and displays leadership skills and success both on and off the field. IWU Athletic Director Mark DeMichael and Jack Colescott review the candidates and select two recipients to be approved by a committee, which makes the final decision as to who receives the scholarship.

DeMichael had many great things to say about each of the recipients. Keith was very successful last year on the golf course and has already been successful this year as he earned medalist honors in the Wildcats’ first tournament of the year in Battle Creek, Mich.

“[Keith] has done a great job of adopting the philosophy of IWU athletics,” said DeMichael. “He sees the big picture.” DeMichael also pointed out that Steve Burns, men’s golf head coach, already has seen Keith grow as an athlete in a short amount of time.

DeMichael had nothing but great things to say about the female representative. He spoke extensively about Smith’s unselfishness as a teammate and how that has made her such a great role model and leader for her teammates.

Smith has now received the Jack Colescott Scholarship two years in a row, even in the midst of a head coaching change. Last year, the softball team earned a berth to the NAIA tournament by winning the Conference Tournament, which wasn’t expected.

“I can’t put into words how amazing last year was,” Smith said.

Part of what made Smith so impressive last year was her work ethic and dedication to her team; “I did all I could to play my heart out each and every game,” Smith said. She added there is not a single person who can refute that fact about Smith, and that is just part of the reason she was a Jack Colescott Scholarship recipient.

This year, Smith will be leading her teammates on the field in what is largely considered the most vocal position in the softball field. She hopes her team can duplicate the success of last season, and then some.

Keith is already off to a strong start this fall and will hopefully lead the golf team to more success as well.

One hundred six.

In just one year, Indiana Wesleyan University’s Intramural Flag Football program lost 106 players. Last year, 574 eager Wildcats came out hoping to run, pass and catch their way to league success. This year, the number is just 468, according to IWU Director of Campus Recreation Jilliane Bowser.

Bowser said underclassmen made up most of the program last year, which made the sharp decrease in numbers even more peculiar.

“Our numbers have been in the upper 500s to lower 600s for years, so I don’t know what happened. This is a random year,” said Bowser.

According to Nick Foster (so), a second-year flag football player, time constraints could be part of it.

“I think it has to do with schedules,” Foster said. “A lot of my friends [were] sophomores last year and now they are upperclassmen and their schedules are more busy.”

Even so, the numbers are still alarming, and have prompted change in the league format. The women’s league produced numbers similar to last year, but due to fewer men’s teams signing up, the men’s league has consolidated itself into one division of skill level, according to Bowser.

“We always have a pro league, which usually has at least six teams and is more competitive, but only four teams signed up for that league this year,” said Bowser. “In total, we only have 24 guys’ teams this year, compared to the usual 27 or 29.”

The decrease in numbers and combining of the leagues on the guys’ side has had some adverse effects, according to Kellan Mosher (so).

“The freshmen aren’t too happy playing against upperclassmen and losing pretty badly, and the upperclassmen like to take it more seriously,” Mosher said.

The problem of declining numbers is not due to a lack of advertising. Bowser said that campus recreation has done everything it usually does to promote flag football, putting up fliers around campus and on doors of resident assistants, as well as putting up a table in the mallway promoting all intramural sports. Despite all these tools, the role of RAs in promoting flag football as a unit activity could be key in the future.

“My RA was big on getting our team together for our unit. He said that our unit had done pretty well in the past few years, making it to the finals two years in a row,” Foster said. “It definitely builds a brotherhood with your unit when you play together.”

Mosher agreed:“There’s a great community aspect and it’s really fun, even if you’re not on a winning team.”

To get a taste of the fun, IWU is hosting the annual Backyard Brawl Nov. 3, where the winning intramural flag football teams, both men’s and women’s, from IWU, Taylor University, Huntington University, and Anderson University will face off against each other.

As of June 27 Indiana Wesleyan University athletics were no longer a part of the Mid-Central College Conference. IWU athletics are now a part of the Crossroads league.

If you didn’t know that MCC stood for Mid-Central College Conference, you’re not alone. According to Athletic Director Mark DeMichael, not a lot of people did.

“A lot of people didn’t even know what the MCC stood for,” DeMichael said. “Some people called us the Mid-Central Conference, some the Mid-Central College Conference, some the Mid- Central Collegiate Conference.”

The switch from MCC to Crossroads was “a branding and marketing” move, DeMichael stated. It was time for IWU to be a part of a premier conference with a mission.

“…Our Conference Commissioner, J.D. Collins, really felt like one of the first things we need to do is get a new name. We’ll get a new identity that would enable us to stand out from all the rest of the acronym conference names in the NAIA around the country.”

Men’s basketball head coach Greg Tonagel said he wholeheartedly agrees with the switch. “I think the new brand for the league is going to enhance everybody. It’s going to enhance our recruiting efforts, it’s going to enhance the competitive play, so in the end, I think we all become better at what we do.”

The move from MCC to Crossroads will not change any of IWU’s teams, schedules or tournaments. The only noticeable difference will be the new Crossroads title and logo.

The new league will consist of 10 schools: Bethel College, Goshen College, Grace College, Huntington University, Indiana Wesleyan University, Marian University, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, University of Saint Francis, Spring Arbor University and Taylor University.