By: Bethany Vonseggern
With long strides and high jumps, the Griffons have officially added Cross Country and Track and Field teams to the athletic roster at Western.
Up until 2016, Western was one of only two schools in the MIAA conference that didn’t have track and field, which made it an easy decision for Athletic Director Kurt McGuffin to add the program.
The Griffons Track and Field program will not only provide another athletic opportunity for students but will increase enrollment. Since the recruitment process started back in September of 2016, around 85 students have been recruited using only 18 scholarships. The scholarship amounts are $45,000 for the womens and men’s team, which fits in the range of other Western sports, other than football.
McGuffin has hired on Coach Marc Bierbaum and Assistant Coach Cody Ingold to head the Griffons Cross Country and Track and Field athletes. Bierbaum and Ingold, long time friends and fellow track and field athletes, are thrilled to be working on this program together.
Ingold describes the process of leading this new team and putting all the hard work in as a dream. Bierbaum gushingly agreed, adding that there are no words that can fully describe the feeling you get from building a program.
“We are very excited,” Bierbaum said. “It’s significant to be first; there are not a lot of words for that. Overall, I would say that we are bordering or have surpassed my expectation [of recruitment] thus far.”
Bierbaum and Ingold never skip a beat and spend countless hours traveling, making phone calls and giving tours all to prospective athletes. In addition to recruiting at a local level, they have both traveled to Nebraska, Iowa and even Texas to find their ideal athletes.
Bierbaum says they are looking for serious and seasoned athletes that have the potential to hold their own and compete. Track and field is looking for students who will start off competitively, placing Western on the charts in the conference then working up to going to nationals.
“The MIAA conference is hard,” Bierbaum said. “It’s a challenging conference, you need to be prepared.”
“I’m not in this business to try to embarrass anybody, which is something I talk about with these kids,” Bierbaum adds. “I don’t want to put someone in a situation where they don’t succeed. We are very clear about what they’ll be up against and what the road in front of them is. Some kids we tell them this and they opt out of the team.”
Bierbaum and Ingold are also keeping in mind the future of the program as they recruit, realizing that this year mostly freshman will make up the team. In a few years, as those students graduate, there will be a gap in the program. The coaches have stated they will work hard to even out the team so there will be an equal functioning team where all classes are represented.
Although Western does not have a track to practice on local high school, St. Joseph Christian has offered their facility in the mean time. The cross-country team will set up to practice on the north side of campus.
Moving forward the next few years McGuffin does not think budget cuts will effect the new program and will focus on fundraising efforts to assist with the build of a new track facility.
“In a perfect world, I would like to have a field on campus in the next 3 years,” McGuffin said. “It just takes that one donor to take us up over the hump to get started.”
Coach Bierbaum also has high goals for the Cross Country and Track and Field program.
“If we can in the next 5 years make a name for ourselves and find that niche for us in that conference will reach my expectations,” Bierbaum said. “If we are sending some kids to nationals, fighting in the top half every year and we put ourselves in the position to try to win the conference title then we are doing what we need to do.”