By Michelle Menner
Almost four semesters ago, four Green Terror runners were profiled by then Free Press sports editor Laura Hutton. Cody Crutchley, Dan White, Kevin Bowman and Tim Eggars were runners who all were promising talents on the team. Some had speed and determination, while others struggled to overcome illness or injury. However, that was then and this is now.
Best known for his speed is junior Cody Crutchley. The beginning of his athletic career here is marked with many personal bests, and today he continues his success. In March, Crutchley placed thirteenth in the Men’s 800 meter run with a time of 2:03.5 at the Centennial Conference at Ursinus.
He says his greatest accomplishment so far was in 2007 at the Outdoor Conferences at Haverford College when he was a member of the 4×800 relay team.
“Our coach kept telling me and the three other members… that we would run a 7:51 which would crush the school record by about six seconds and would mean that all four of us would have to run sub two minutes for an 800 meter,” Crutchley said. “Needless to say, we were all very skeptical, but come race day we ran 7:51 and put our names in the record books.”
In February, the team placed fifth at the DuCharme Indoor Track and Field Invitational at Dickinson. Crutchley had a satisfying fifth place finish in the one mile run with a time of 4:40.
“The mile requires a runner to think about pacing unlike a sprint but have the balls to break loose of pacing to push the envelope so to speak…[that] was my first mile of the indoor season since I normally just focus on the 800,” Crutchley added. “But I was very satisfied with my time but plan to hit much faster times when I devote more time to this event in the spring.”
Crutchley sees a great future for Green Terror runners. “I look forward to bringing aboard some incoming runners next year and passing on the torch so to speak to a new generation of McDaniel runners who I hope will be tracking down the records we have created,” Crutchley said.
Dan White was a contender for most improved at the beginning of his sophomore year, but then he was plagued by a knee injury that sidelined him for almost the next three seasons. After undergoing surgery he started running again this past cross country season.
“After a full season of cross country and my first ever indoor season, I feel like I am in the best shape I have ever been in and hope to continue to improve,” said White.
White developed a lifting program to help him overcome his occasional knee pain and attributes the program to his running success.
At the DuCharme Indoor Invitational, White took sixteenth place in the one mile run with a time of 4:50; a personal record.
White is most proud of the team’s 21st place finish at the NCAA Mideast Regional meet in November.
“Our 21st place finish…is one of the highest places our team has finished in school history,” White said.
These great achievements are due in part to what White sees as the team’s “strongest aspect.”
“We are all pretty close with each other and I think team camaraderie and friendships are the best thing a D3 runner can take out of a sport,” said White.
Junior Kevin Bowman was hit with mononucleosis at the start of the cross country season when he was a freshman, but he returned in fighting form with a number of great achievements.
For his junior year though, Bowman is not running because of a knee injury that happened last summer while he was training for the cross country season.
“My best talent as a runner is being chronically injured. I got a overuse injury in my knee … and I am still dealing with it, I even had surgery on it in September, had three months of rehab … but the pain returned,” Bowman said.
White said, “Kevin Bowman has the most potential out of all of us runners on the team and if he can get healthy from his IT band injury he could still come back and do some major damage in our conference.”
Although he is no longer a part of the McDaniel running program, junior Tim Eggars also knows what it’s like to deal with chronic injury. A shin injury early in his athletic career prevented Eggars from fully developing as a runner.
“I had a serious injury my first week as a Green Terror. My performance and passion never was the same,” Eggars said.
Eggars was still able to run during three cross country seasons and two seasons of indoor and outdoor track, but his injury never left.
“The injury always haunted me just when it seemed I was over the hump and could continue with my career,” said Eggars.
Even though his athletic career came to an end, Eggars still values the friendships he made while he was a part of the team.
Whether these student athletes are still running or not they all mentioned the importance of the friendships they’ve made while on the team.
Crutchley said, “The bonds I have created with my teammates, the lessons I’ve learned and the feelings of success I have experienced running at the collegiate level are unsurpassed.”