Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head To Legends Race
September 06, 2002 | Men's Cross Country
Sept. 6, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Bowling Green State University cross country teams will head to West Lafayette, Ind., to compete in the Great American Legends meet Saturday (Sept. 7).
Action is slated to get underway at 10:00 a.m. locally (11:00 a.m. BG time) at Purdue's Varsity Cross Country Course. The women's race will be six kilometers in length, while the men will run an 8K race.
Along with the Falcons and host Boilermakers, the following schools will send both men's and women's squads: Illinois, Marquette, UIC, IUPUI, Wright State, Butler and St. Joseph's (Ind.). Louisville and Cleveland State will send contingents of women's runners.
In its first year, the Great American Legends cross country meet at Purdue University is the brainchild of Boilermaker head coach Mike Poehlein.
Aiming to pay homage to some of the pioneers of the sport of distance running in the United States, the event will undoubtedly become one of the featured cross country meets in the country.
"A meet like this is something that has never been done, and is something that is more than appropriate," says Poehlein. "From the response we have received, other schools obviously are in favor of the idea, as well."
In the inaugural meet, the Great American Legends pays tribute to Bob Schul, the gold medal winner in the 5000m run at the 1964 Olympic Games held in Tokyo, Japan. By winning the event, Schul became the first and only American to win the 5K on the Olympic stage.
"It was a very thrilling moment and I actually had shivers up and down my spine," says Schul about winning the gold and stepping to the medal platform. "My parents and my wife were in attendance and all the well wishers who had sent telegrams were in my thoughts."
Poehlein says that the Great American Legends will continue to improve and become a premier event in NCAA cross country.
"In the future, we would like to make this an all-day event, including a banquet," says Poehlein. "We recognize that other sporting events have more of a festival-like atmosphere and that a cross country meet is a 'get in town, run, and get out of town' event.
"We would like to make the awards presentation more of a production and give the athletes, coaches and fans a reason to stay around for a longer period of time. This has the potential to become a very special event."
Future legends who will be honored by the meet include Steve Scott, Jim Spivey and Peter Snell.
Scott won the silver medal at the 1983 World Championships in the 1500m. He still holds three American records, notably in the mile with a 3:47.69 in 1982. Scott is also the American record holder in the indoor 1500m (3:36.0 in 1981) and the indoor mile (3:51.8 in 1981).
Spivey competed in Olympiads in 1984, 1992 and 1996. He is the American record holder in the 2000m with a 4:52.44 set in 1987. Spivey won a silver medal in the 1500m at the 1987 Pan-American Games and a bronze medal in the same event at the 1987 World Championships.
Snell claimed Olympic gold in the 800m at the 1960 Games in Rome. He set former world records in the 800m and mile in 1962, then in the 1000m and mile in 1964. Although running for New Zealand at the time, Snell has since become a U.S. citizen.
Portions of this release courtesy of Purdue University's athletic web site - purduesports.com
