In full transparency, the following is a press release submitted to SOURCE media via its wire service.
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GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA – Abigail Colledge, a resident of Ashland, has been named to the Bob Jones University Bruins women’s cross country team roster for the 2021-22 academic year.
Colledge is a senior majoring in nursing at the University.
The Bob Jones University Bruins men’s and women’s cross country teams are ready for the upcoming season as the teams released their 2021 season schedule.
The Bruins come into the season as defending national champions after the women’s team captured their first national championship last season while the men won their fifth in a row.
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“We’re very confident this racing schedule strategically fits us well,” Bruins Head Cross Country Coach Ken Roach said. “This schedule offers us quality courses and great competition. I trust our team trained well over the summer offseason which will set us up to have another great season.”
The Bruins battled through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic last season which shortened the number of events for the team. Still, both teams were able to get stronger as the season went on as each was able to win the NCCAA South Region Championship before ending the season on a high note with a national title.
Both squads graduated key seniors this past season but each has a core group of returners and a talented incoming freshman class to help the team once again contend for the NCCAA DII national title.
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This offseason, the Bruins also had a coaching change as Landon Bright, the founding coach of the program and five-time National Coach of the Year stepped down to pursue a coaching opportunity at his alma mater Point Loma Nazarene University.
Ken Roach served as an assistant coach for the track & field season and was hired to replace Coach Bright as the head coach of the cross country and track & field programs. Coach Roach has extensive experience in the running community in South Carolina and has deep connections with high school and collegiate programs across the state. Before joining the Bruins, Roach served as the head coach of cross country and track & field at Spartanburg Methodist College. While there, he helped lead the Pioneers to four straight NJCAA National Championship appearances.
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“We are coming into this season as the defending national champions so we know we will have a target attached to us,” Coach Roach said. “I know we will respond well and it will be a really fun season with this group. We will need to unite around our collective goals and step consistently and purposely towards that target.”
The Bruins will begin the 2021 season today, September 3 as the team hosts the Bruins XC Night Classic at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.
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MassBay Community College