AU XC has emerged from virtual unknown to DII powerhouse
The 2020 Peach Belt champion AU Jaguars are: on bottom row (L to R), Hans Troyer, Jacob Poston and Brennan Silliman; and on the top row (L-R), Chandler Kennedy, Carlos Rodriguez, Hunter Kimball and Kai Brickey. (photo by David Troyer, special to the Bell Ringer)
By Carlos Rodriguez |
Sports editor
When arriving at Augusta University back in 2003, Coach Adam Ward had only the women’s cross-country team to help coach. Fast forward 17 years later into his tenure with the Jags, he’s in his 11th season coaching the men’s cross-country team and recently won his fifth men’s conference title in the past decade.
The year prior to Ward’s arrival, Augusta’s men’s cross-country team was cut. The team competed in the Peach Belt Conference from 1991-2002, struggling to find success within the conference. In those 12 seasons, at the PBC Championships the team placed second to last four times, and last place seven times.
Ward originally moved to Augusta to be closer to his then fiancé and worked at a local fitness center. He was always interested in coaching and wanted to get a feel for college athletics, which led him to contacting AU softball coach Melissa Brocato, who at the time was also the compliance director.
“I reached out to her about helping her in compliance,” said Ward. “I helped her out for a little, then she got me in touch with the cross-country coach Buck Harris, who was also the assistant men’s basketball coach.”
He helped out Harris that 2003 fall semester as an assistant coach for the women’s team. The next year, Harris left Augusta, and that allowed Ward to move up and become the next head coach.
All NCAA schools are required to have at least a men’s and women’s team compete during each season: fall, winter and spring. Augusta didn’t have a men’s team competing during the fall which meant they needed to fix that. In 2009, the athletics department announced that the men’s team would be reinstated the next year, which meant Ward had to start recruiting for his first men’s team at ASU.
WARD GETS BUSY RECRUITING
After finding out the news, Ward had to start recruiting fast for the next season and managed to land 12 men with six of them being local products.
“We were just trying to find guys that wanted a chance in college,” said Ward. “We didn’t even try to recruit the fastest kids. I was just looking for the hardest working, grittiest kids we can find and we found a really good group in all of those guys.”
Matthew Johnson was one of the freshmen apart of the first recruiting class. Johnson, a Buford native, starred at Buford High and looked at different schools before committing to join the Jags.
“After visiting Augusta and meeting Coach Ward, I knew immediately that is where I wanted to be,” he said. “His passion for the sport and for coaching was so evident on my recruiting visit and I knew that he was going to help me reach my full potential as a runner.”
Dustin Ross was the only out-of-state runner, coming all the way from Rifle, Colo., where he saw great success during his career at Rifle High School. Ross found out about the program through a former teammate who was already on the women’s team.
In the Jags first season, the team competed in five regular season meets, winning one of those meets and finishing second at another. At the Peach Belt Conference Championship the men placed fifth. Dustin Ross and Robert Blackwelder finished ninth and tenth respectively, earning them all-conference honors, becoming the first men to achieve those honors.
“I was a little arrogant my first college season, I was used to winning everything in high school, so I figured this would continue in college,” said Ross. “My first year had some successes and failures, but it taught me to rely on my teammates and to be the best I can be for my teammates.”
In 2011, the Jaguars won two of four regular-season meets and won the PBC Championship, edging UNC Pembroke. That marked the first-ever conference championship for either cross-country team. Ward also picked up his first PBC Men’s Coach of the Year award.
“It was definitely a surprise,” said Ward. “I won’t say it’s something we didn’t think we can make a run at it. I think if I’m honest I told everybody after the championship was over, what we did that year was probably three years ahead of what I thought we could’ve been.”
BRANDT QUALIFIES FOR NATIONALS
Then 2012 was another great year, filled with regular-season competition throughout the southeast. The team finished runner up in the conference championship, losing to Columbus State. At regionals the team finished fifth, but junior Jaiden Brandt was able to qualify individually for the NCAA Division II National Championship after finishing fourth, receiving an automatic bid and becoming the first Jaguar male runner to make an appearance at nationals.
Although the team didn’t qualify, Jaiden had several teammates make the trip to Joplin, Mo., to cheer him on and see him finish 83rd overall.
“Although I was the first individual to qualify on the men’s side, it was truly a team effort to get there,” said Brandt. “Day in and day out being in a program where the team worked hard together allowed me to improve more than I ever could have on my own.”
The year 2013 was the team’s first season competing as GRU Augusta after the school’s name change. That season the team not only won the PBC Championship again, but won off a tiebreaker with Columbus State in which both teams finished with a score of 47 with the Jaguars having the advantage as they avenged the defeat by the Cougars the year before. The team had four earn all-conference selections, including Dustin Ross who earned his fourth All-Conference honor which made him the first male to achieve that at Augusta.
Shane Huckeba was a key difference maker in the tiebreaker win because he finished a spot ahead of the Cougars fourth runner giving the Jags the 3-2 win in the tiebreaker. The tiebreaker is determined off the matchups of the top five finishers on each team.
“That feeling was just straight satisfaction,” he said. “It was such a tight race. I outkicked a CSU runner in the last 100 meters.”
Preston Jones, who joined the team during the 2012 season when they suffered the defeat by Columbus State, believed the team changed some things in order to have a better outcome the following season.
“I thought it was a wakeup call and we all really put aside our egos and just focused on running well and consistently,” said Jones. “I thought we had the most connected group that year (2013) and it paid off.”
THE 2013 JAGUARS MAKE NATIONALS AS A TEAM
That same season the team took a bigger leap, qualifying for the national championship for the first time in school history. They finished third at the Southeast Regionals, automatically qualifying them for nationals in Spokane, Wash.
The first-ever men’s team to nationals consisted of five seniors: Adam Aldridge, Jaiden Brandt, Shane Huckeba, Matthew Johnson and Dustin Ross along with sophomore Preston Jones and freshman Nick Del Guercio. Qualifying as a team was a goal the seniors had since their arrival to Augusta and they were able to successfully check the goal off a whiteboard they had in their apartment.
“Qualifying for nationals in 2013 was a dream come true, it was our dream since 2010,” said Adam Aldridge. “We put everything we had into the regional meet to qualify just a few points ahead of the next two teams.”
In Spokane, the team didn’t have the best performance as they finished 31st. Jaiden Brandt had the highest finish for the Jags finishing 67th, improving on his performance at nationals from the year before.
After a down year in 2014, the 2015 team bounced back finishing as runner up at PBCs and fifth at the regionals. The school also had another name change switching to what it’s known as today, Augusta University.
Junior Del Guercio, who was runner-up at the conference championship, individually qualified for the national championship after placing seventh at regionals. Del Guercio finished 193rd at the nationals in Joplin, Mo. That year he also became the first Augusta runner to win conference runner of the year.
“I had a lot of momentum going into the 2015 season coming off a great track season,” said Del Guercio. “I felt fitter than I had ever been and was more focused than I had ever been. I really just felt like I could beat anybody I went up against on any given day and that confidence carried me all the way to nationals.
After finishing third at conference and fifth at regionals in 2016, the team brought in three freshmen heading into the 2017 season, Chandler Kennedy, Hunter Kimball and Jacob Poston who would all contribute to the Jags success in the years to come and help out a hungry group of upperclassmen in 2017.
That year the team won their third PBC title with the help of six runners earning all-conference honors to finish with a low score of 23, making it the Jaguars’ best conference score total in school history.
This team made more history after a third-place finish at regionals punched their second ticket to the national championship in Evansville, Ind. At the time, Dylan Forrester posted the best finish in school history at nationals finishing 65th. The team improved its performance from 2013 with a 23rd-place finish.
“Everything just kind of clicked, we worked hard, the guys were hungry, they were ambitious, everyone just wanted to win,” said Ward.
A BIG FRESHMAN CLASS PAYS DIVIDENDS
In 2018, the team brought in nine freshmen who were set to fill some big shoes that were left behind with the graduating class from the prior year. The team finished runner-up at the PBCs, only losing to UNC Pembroke by four points.
At regionals, the team was able to finish third, qualifying for the third time in school history and second year in a row. The team defeated UNC Pembroke that day after losing to them weeks prior.
“In a longer race our guys stepped up and ran better,” said Ward. “I was extremely proud of what they did.”
The 2018 NCAA Division II National Championship was hosted by Pittsburgh, Pa., where conditions were nothing like they are in Augusta. With a wet and muddy course, it was bound for slower times and more of a tactical race. With the unfavorable conditions the Jags had a sub-par day, finishing 28th. Despite the overall team performance, sophomore Hunter Kimball was able to find his groove, finishing 55th overall, setting a new school record for best individual finish.
Heading into the 2019 season, the Jags added transfers Chase Kennedy from Kennesaw State and Jacob Burgamy from Campbell University to go along with a strong returning group of sophomores and juniors.
Like the 2017 team, this team had a historic year smashing records set by that team. They went on to defeat Flagler College and win their fourth PBC title after setting a PBC and school record for nine runners gaining All-Conference honors.
They set another school record for finishing second at regionals which once again punched their ticket to Sacramento, Calif., for the national championship. This marked their third straight year advancing. And, in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the Jaguars won yet another Peach Belt title, Poston was named conference co-runner of the year after finishing second in the PBC meet and AU got as high as third in the national poll for Division II schools during the four-event season. Because of the pandemic, all AU seniors will get an extra year of eligibility. Only Kimball had decided not to return in 2021 as he has a military commitment.
(Editor’s note: Carlos Rodriguez, a sophomore communication major, is a member of the AU men’s cross-country team.)
The 2011 Augusta State University men’s cross-country team poses after it won the PBC championship. Team members include: On the top row (L-R), Kari Viola, Jaiden Brandt, Dustin Ross, Adam Aldridge, Matthew Johnson, Robert Blackwelder, Jimmy Spencer, Shane Huckeba, Clay Holton and Coach Adam Ward; on the bottom row (L-R), Barrett Duncan, Bryce Conway, Danny Kottkamp, Mason Walker and Sean Kramer. (photo courtesy of AU Athletics)
Contact Carlos Rodriguez atcarlosjr521@gmail.com.
