- loh" /. RUde/iffe - Public R~IQfio"$ Offiu - lohn I. Rude/iffl! 1. 1983 Men's Cross Country Team. FrOllt row: Tucker· trai/l er. Flake. Neal. KampersciJroer. Cash. Halbert. Back row: Sitton.graduate assistmll . Berry . Carter. Pi/l so n . Bates . Way/Ie . Lloyd·coach. 2. At th e sOUl1d of tile gUll , tile n mners are off a ll there mile journey. 3. AI Bares st raillS to finish ill front of tlte lolll! BraWl! Universit y rumler. 4. Darry l Halbert Leads a group of nmners Ollt of tile woods during the Harding Booster In vitational Meet. 5. As lames Pinson nears tile midway poin l of the COllrse during tile AIC mId Distri ct 17 Championsh ip Meet . Dr. Ga /Ills is Ille re to cheer for Ilim. 1983 AIC Men's Cross Country Records HARDING UNIVERSITY 31 Arkansas Tech University 47 Ouachita Bap ti st Uni versity 80 University of Arkansas-Monticello 116 Arkansas Coll ege 135 College of the Ozarks 148 Henderson State Universit y 162 University of Central Arkansas 232 Hendri x Coll ege 256 Pace Setting Al Bates, an accounting major from Nashville, Tennessee, ha s been a vital runner in the Bisons' cross country title defense over the past two years. Bates attended high school at Nashvi ll e Christian where he finished 3rd in the National Jun io r Olympics in 1981 in the 3000 meters. During his junior year he finished second in the state in the two mile run, and his sen ior year he was sta le champ in the two mile race. AI Bates pHS/II'S himself to his limit il! Iryillg to pass til(' rill/ill''' fro lll lohll BrowlI Ullit't'rsity. From the 'very first meet Bates ever ran, Coach Ll oyd knew he was going to be good. "He is tremendous and he is going to be a great asset to the team, " said Coach Lloyd. How right he was. In 1982 Bates' freshman year, he was always near the front of the pack at the fin ish li ne . In one of hi s fi rst major cross country meets, the Notre Dame Invitational, he finished 44th ove rall out of 200 runners. Bates continued his front se tting pace at the Arkansas Intercollegiate Confe rence Championship Meet by fin ishing 5th with an impressive 26:48 over the tough five mile course. Bates trained hard over the summe r, but, when the first cross country meet of the 1983 season came, he had a thigh in jury that hindered him. As the season progressed. so d id Bates. By the time the conference champ ionships came , he was almost fu ll st rength. Bates broke the 25 minu te mark with a time of 24:59 which placed in 3rd place overall and a trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin, the site of the NAIA Cross Country Nationals. He fini shed 33rd out of a field of 250 runne rs. Bates' major goals that he hoped to reach in future years, were to be number one in the conference and NAIA All -Ame rican. During his senior year, he hoped to finish in the top ten at the NAIA Nationa ls. The futu re looked very promising fo r Bates and the Harding Bisons . - David D. Wall Men's Cross Country 65
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