• 10 THE BISON, Searcy, Ark. 72"143, Oct. 7, 1983 sports Coach pleasedwithcross country teams' progress The cross country teams have proven the idea that inexperience and other un– controllable factors do not always keep a team from becoming a viable contender. no Bison runner placed lower than twenty– second. Wayne and is pleased by the team's willingness to work, he said. .The mens' team in the early part of the season has proven to be one of the top contenders in the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference. In the opening Bison Booster Invitational meet, the Bisons, running against a field of eight teams and about sixty-two athletes, finished second to Arkansas Tech. In the Ouachita Invitational meet the following week, the Bisons were once agaip runner-up to Arkansas Tech, with LarryWayne finishing third with a time of 25:26. The women's teani has also demon– strated itself a definite contender. After placing second in the Bison Booster In– vitational, the Lady Bisons, haying two teams entered, encountered some dif– ficulty, as the 'A' team finished third behind Southwestern and Arkansas College while the "B" team placed a weak fourth with 91 points. Eddie Neal, the overall fifth-place fmisher, was the top Bison runner, while Coach Ted Lloyd has been rather sur– prised at the tt>.am's progress, he · said, although he thinks the team has been hampered a bit by injuries, poor playing conditions and a lack of experience and depth. Lloyd is impressed with all– conference runners AI Bates and Larry However, not all was lost that day, as Marci Crump placed first twenty-one secondS atiead of the nearest competitor. Marci Crump ofHarding takes the lead briefly in the Bison B003terInvitatiotuJIMeet. Women's cross country champ n~medAcademicAll-American Senior Marci Crum ~· - m ·ca Cross Coun -nilsyear Crump was the individual AIC ch~pionwi~a time of 18:43, making her the first Harding woman to ever go under the 19 minute mark. This vic~ry allowed her to go on to the NAIA National Meet in Kenosha, WiSe., where she placed lOO.th in a field of 250 , wi~a time of 19:51 for the 3.1mile course: Thisperformance distinguished her as the fu:st Harding woman to break the 20 mmute mark at Nationals. For her accomplishments, Crump was ebosen by the Lady Bisons as the most . valuable metnber of the team. Prior to this season, Crump lettered two Y~ under AIC Coach of the Year Ted Lloyd. During the 1982 and '83 seasons Crump was named All-AIC and All-:NAIA D~trict 17, and helped le,ad the Lady BJSOns to Ute runnerup berth in the.district meet both years. A. physical education major, Crump is a native of .Salado, Texas. She has a 3.70 grade pomt average for 100 semester hours and plans to graduate in August. Inaddition tocross-(l()untry, Crump was a two year member of Belles and Beauxes and the Chorale. She is in Regina social club and was named to the 1984Who's Who ~ong ~t_udents in AmericanColleges and Uruverstties. Accor~~ to Dr. Joe Pryor, Crum will also be eh~ible to_ioin Alpha Chi Na~enaJ Honor Soctetydurmg the spring semester "Marci is. an excellent competitor and an. ~~tan.ding individual," Coach Lloyd srud. She ~s the first cross country athlete from ~ding to make the Academic All– Amenca Team. " Lloyd appeared to be equally impressed by the Lady Bisons, although he is con– cerned that many of the team members have little or no competitive experience. At 4 p.m. today, the Bisons will host Arkansas College in a dual meet, and Lloyd expects the teams to have their hands full. In looking ahead to the district tour– nament next month, Lloyd said that both squads must work on "the little things" and concentrate less on the win-loss column. If the team's attitudes and priorities can be correctly fixed, Lloyd feels that "we'll be a very good team."
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