Judson EaglesOfficial Site for the Judson Eagles
cross country
 
 
Women: Roster l Schedule l Times
 
NEW PROGRAM - New coach
The 2008 season marked a new program and a new coach for cross country. Rich Weinhandl was hired in December 2007 as the coach to restart cross country. In the coming months, he signed 17 new runners to start the program.
 

In the first year, both the men's and women's cross country teams competed well at all the meets they ran. The women finished the season fourth in the CCAC meet while the men were seventh. The best meet for both teams came at Illinois College where the women finished second and the men took fourth of 10 teams.

Rachael Dean led the women as she won two meets and had top 10 finishes in all the meets she ran except at the national meets. She was the medalist at Aurora University, the very first meet of the year, and at Indiana Wesleyan.

Matt DeBall, Dakota West, and Nick Sustersic helped the men in the first season. DeBall, before battling injuries, was the top runner for Judson at Aurora and Cedarville. West was the top runner for Judson at Illinois College while Sustersic led Judson in three different meets and was in the top 20 at Indiana Wesleyan.

New Runners
With the new program came new runners. Combined, Judson had 14 freshmen and three juniors. The men had eight freshman and one junior while the women had six freshman and two juniors. With 17 runners, 11 were from Illinois with the other six spread out throughout the United States.
 
First Meet
In Judson's first-ever cross country meet in over 12 years, both the men's and women's teams faired well. Rachael Dean won the women's race as the medalist and Matt DeBall finished in the top 30 on the men's side. Both teams finished seventh overall as there were 11 teams on the women's side and 14 on the men's side.
 
Dean Makes Her Mark
In her first year as a collegiate runner, Rachael Dean set the standard high for Judson cross country. In her very first meet, she was the medalist at Aurora University. She was also the medalist at Indiana Wesleyan. In the seven regular season meets she finished in the top 10.
 

She then also qualified for the NCCAA National Meet and the NAIA National Meet which was the first-time ever for both.

All-CCAC
By finishing ninth at the CCAC Championship Meet, Rachael Dean was awarded all-CCAC. She ran a 19:59.83 in the 5K and was the fourth freshman to place in the meet.
 
NAIA National Meet
Competing as the first, ever, women's cross country runner at the NAIA National Meet, Rachael Dean finished 61st of 327 runners at the meet. She had a time of 18:42 in the 5K race.
 
NCCAA National Meet
Running in the NCCAA National Meet as an individual, Rachael Dean showed that she can compete with the top Christian runners in the nation. She finished 30th of 139 runners with a time of 19:43.
 
NCCAA National Runner of the Week
Rachael Dean was named the NCCAA National runner of the week twice in the 2008 season. She won the award on September 15th and October 6th.
 
Sustersic Gains Award
By finishing in the top 20 at the Indiana Wesleyan meet, Nick Sustersic earned a top 20 award. He finished 17th to receive an award.
 
Top Men's Performance
The men's top meet came at Illinois College where three runners finished in the top 20 and the team finished fourth overall. Dakota West was the top runner with a season best 13th place finish. Nick Sustersic was 17th followed by Robert Altenburger in 19th.