By Alex Landolfi
College of Southern Nevada’s Cross-Country program quickly emerged as premier teams in the NJCAA. At the recent national championship meets, the men’s team secured 21st place, while the women’s secured 25th: both finishing the season nationally ranked.
A large part of the Coyotes’ successes this year is attributed to the Head Cross Country Coach Bryan Astudillo’s impressive 2023 recruiting class.
The men’s team featured six freshman runners and one sophomore while the women’s team featured four freshmen and three sophomores.
Astudillo said, “Our freshmen made an immediate impact in making our men’s team this year the best men’s team we’ve had in our young program. Our women’s impact was more on the learning side as they spent this season learning how to properly train and race resulting in big personal records.”
Freshman runner Noah Highsmith praised the team’s performance at nationals. “The men’s team performance was great. We ended the season nationally ranked but for the race itself at nationals, I think we did well.”
Sophomore Dennis Speaks said, “I believe the season went well. In many of the polls that were released for national rankings we were unranked, and we finished at the national championship 21st in the nation. We broke the school record for the fastest average team time and had many more amazing achievements along the way.”
A lot of the Coyotes’ success this year stems from dedicated off-season work. The team’s grueling training schedule included early morning practices from 4:00 to 5:00 a.m. and running upwards of 50 miles a week while also participating in weight training.
Highsmith highlighted their training as part of what disciplined the team. “This affected the team’s success by instilling discipline within our squad, as most of us don’t get up that early.”
Continuing to run at the collegiate level is a rarity after high school, with only about 9% of women’s runners and 8% of men’s runners being able to achieve this, according to Scholarship Stats, which tracks odds.
Astudillo said, “What I look forward to the most is consistency. The consistency of being able to provide our local student athletes the opportunity to earn a degree while not building any debt, while also having the opportunity to be one of the 7% of athletes in the country that get to call themselves collegiate athletes.”
Another goal for Astudillo is to build more recognition for his program throughout Las Vegas. The team actively participates in volunteer work. “We have done a good job in the running community in getting our name out by volunteering in a lot of youth competitions,” Astudillo added.
Moving forward, Coach said, “We have a very bright future next year. Our men’s team will continue building on what we did this year. We return seven-of-our-eight top runners next year while adding three-to-four solid newcomers.”
Regarding the women’s team Coach Astudillo said, “We have a few incoming freshman girls that will make an immediate impact on the team and I’m hoping that combining that talent with what the girls this year learned, can make it a very successful season.”
Coyote Student News at the College of Southern Nevada 