As head men鈥檚 cross-country coach, Landes oversaw teams that won four National Christian Colleges Athletic Association (NCCAA) championships and two ODAC championships, including the inaugural ODAC championship in 1976. Another coaching highlight came when Landes stepped in as head men鈥檚 basketball coach for the 1972-1973 season: 鈥淚t was the first year Lou Campanelli was at James Madison. They had scholarship players, and we hadn鈥檛 recruited at all. We beat them 72-71.鈥�

Landes finished his 16-year 91短视频 coaching career in 1983 with a 223-141 record. He also served as assistant professor of physical education from 1968-1982 and as supervisor of auxiliary services from 1984 until his retirement in 1998. He has fond memories of his time working with students in the classroom and on the playing fields. 鈥淭he kids were just a joy to teach and to coach, and they didn鈥檛 hold anything back. They always gave 100 percent, and I really appreciated that and 91短视频鈥檚 spiritual emphasis that I thought was important for the whole person.

Give to 91短视频’s new track & field complex in honor of Landes here:

She was a graduate assistant cross country and track & field coach for two years (2019鈥�2021) at the University of Florida, where she earned her MBA. She was a volunteer assistant coach at Georgia Tech from 2018鈥�2019 and of men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 cross country at 91短视频 in 2017. As a student-athlete at 91短视频, Chappell-Dick was one of 30 NCAA Women of the Year Honorees, a five-time NCAA DIII All-American and held school records in seven events.

鈥淚’m very excited to begin the next chapter of the Brown Women’s XC Program as the new head coach,鈥� Chappell-Dick said. 鈥淭he women on this team have always had a strong, inclusive culture. We have been fostering a new level of dedication to the pursuit of competitive excellence. Every woman on the roster plays an important role in both maintaining the supportive culture that they have built and challenging each other to pursue higher goals. Women who trust each other will fight for each other, and that’s our vision for this team.鈥�

Ryun tried 91短视频 for the first time last summer, moving his training camp from in Pennsylvania. He returned this summer and says he鈥檒l be back with his campers in 2015 and, he hopes, for many years to come.

鈥淭oday is the day, 48 years ago, that I set the world record for the mile in Berkeley, California,鈥� Ryun told an 91短视频 reporter on July 17. He sounded thoughtful rather than boastful, as he sat on the grass under a tree by the 91短视频 track patiently answering questions that he has probably answered a million times before.

It also happened to be the 48th anniversary of the day that somebody named Anne Snider approached Ryun after he had been signing autographs for a long time and asked for one for herself. He politely declined her request but held out the promise to comply at some future time, maybe even after he returned to his University of Kansas. He did learn that she happened to be visiting California and was enrolled at arch-rival Kansas State.

Lifelong partnership with Anne, close family

Somehow it all worked out. Three years later 鈥� a year before Jim graduated from university 鈥� Anne and Jim were married and on their way to a lifelong partnership. He uses 鈥渨e鈥� more often than not in conversation 鈥� referring to the two of them becoming born-again Christians in 1972, raising four children (and adoring their 12 grandchildren), entering the political arena when Jim represented Kansas鈥� 2nd district in Congress, and holding camps for runners (largely high school aged) since 1973.

鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to meet Anne 鈥� she鈥檒l be along soon,鈥� Jim said as the reporter was putting away her notepad. And Anne came along just then, walking jauntily north toward the outdoor track from their rooms in Cedarwood residence hall, accompanied by one of their sons, 41-year-old Drew, and his wife, who help direct the camps with mom and dad Ryun.

Anne turned out to be all of 5鈥�3鈥� alongside her 6鈥�3鈥� husband, but the outsized warmth of her personality lent support to her husband鈥檚 contention that she was indispensable to his successful runs for Congress, where he was a fervent “small government” Republican in the House of Representatives, 1996-2007.

Ryun’s conservatism

In 2006, the named Jim , an honor that ranks with Jim鈥檚 running awards, to hear him speak. 鈥淚 believe in small government, lower taxes, a debt-free nation, a strong military, a strong family, and less Social Security and Medicare.鈥�

Jim’s and Anne’s twin sons, Ned and Drew, share that worldview. Ned started a group called in Northern Virginia to train conservative activists and to lobby for conservative policies. Jim Ryun is chair of a kindred organization, the , which seeks to enlarge the number of uncompromising conservatives in Congress. Drew works in both his brother’s and father’s organizations. In short, conservative politics are where this family puts their energies when they aren鈥檛 doing running camps or Jim isn鈥檛 giving motivational speeches.

But last week, July 13-18, Jim and Anne were utterly devoted to the 58 runners under their care in the Jim Ryun Running Camp at 91短视频, including five from , along with their coach, 91短视频 junior Tyler Eshleman.

Eshleman was also the Ryun鈥檚 trouble-shooter and general go-to person on behalf of 91短视频 during the camp. 鈥淗e鈥檚 been great,鈥� said Jim. 鈥淚f I could take him everywhere with us, I鈥檇 love it.鈥�

Immediate results seen

The love was mutual. 鈥淢y athletes who attended are already spreading the word of the education, encouragement, and spiritual growth they experienced at the camp,鈥� said Eshleman. 鈥淭hey are setting better goals, and showing new enthusiasm for their sport. I can only hope more of my team will take advantage of this marvelous opportunity next summer.鈥�

, 91短视频鈥檚 cross country and track & field coach, was juggling competing demands on his time last week, yet he made a point of joining the Ryuns for their worship and learning sessions most of the week. 鈥淚 am grateful for how Jim and Anne integrate faith into their running camp. . .[as well as] their emphasis on using the gift of running to honor God, the giver of that gift!鈥�

In addition to the 91短视频 camp in the Shenandoah Valley, the Ryuns hold one each summer near the beach in San Diego, California, and a third in the mountains of Greeley, Colorado, totaling up to 250 campers. In 2014, camp fees were $650 for an individual, with discounted fees for coaches and runners who come as a member of a team. Campers must be at least age 13 to come, but the camp website 鈥� 鈥� states that there is no upper age limit.

The website also makes it clear that the camp has a Christian atmosphere. 鈥淲e believe well-rounded runners are those who are nurtured physically, mentally and spiritually,鈥� says Jim, which is why devotional sessions based on biblical passages are an integral part of the camp.

Stand-out athleticism

Another accomplished Olympian, pentathlon athlete , is always part of the training team at the Ryun camp. (Click for a Runner’s World article on his coaching.)

Jim Ryun was one of the most famous and admired athletes of his day 鈥� named in 1966 (at age 19) as Sports Illustrated鈥檚 and as , among many other kudos.

He still holds five of the six fastest mile times in U.S. high school history, all under 4 minutes, and 鈥渕ost of them on much slower track surfaces than today’s,鈥� . He won the silver medal for the 1500 m at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

Today, over 40 years after he set them, Ryun still holds the American junior (19 and under) records at 880 yd (1:44.9), 800 m (1:44.3), 1,500 m (3:36.1), and two miles (8:25.1).

Memories of Ryun鈥檚 running career, which ended in the mid 1970s, remain strong. In 2007, above such well-known figures as Tiger Woods, LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Growth expected at 91短视频 site

The Jim Ryun Running Camp grew by about 40 percent between its first and second years at 91短视频. Ryun says they turn away applicants at the 100 camper mark at each of their three sites, a goal likely to be reached at 91短视频 in the next two years at the rate things are going.

鈥淭here is no doubt that the Ryun Running Camp offers a great experience for the campers,鈥� said Lewkowicz, who plans to commit more time to the camp in 2015. 鈥淭o be able to spend a week with Jim Ryun, Jack Daniels, and the rest of the staff is worth the cost of registration alone. However, they work hard to ensure a great holistic experience for the camp attendees, integrating faith, team building, and fellowship, to the daily running and learning regimen. Any young runner would come out of the Jim Ryun Running Camp experience with a positive outlook on life and running.鈥�

Chappell-Dick was locked in a back-and-forth finish with Washington and Lee’s senior Lauren Schultz, with 91短视频’s rookie making the final pass to win by two seconds.聽 With her time of 24:53, Chappell-Dick not only won the ODAC Preview race, but also had 91短视频’s top time ever on the 6k course at Peakview.

Fellow freshman (St. Joseph, IL/St. Joseph-Odgen) took sixth place with her time of 25:36.聽 She also tied for the third-best clocking by an 91短视频 woman on the course.

A pack of three runners provided the Lady Royals’ final points.聽 (Quarryville, PA/Solanco) was 14th in 26:33, followed by (Harrisonburg, VA/Spotswood) in 26:38.聽 (Harrisonburg, VA/Broadway) was one more spot behind in 26:56, as the women took second out of nine teams with 52 points.聽 WLU grabbed the team crown with just 33 points.

(Goshen, IN/Goshen) was 35th for 91短视频 in 29:25.聽 (Matoaca, VA/Matoaca) crossed in 29:39 and Hannah Clemmer (Harleysville, PA/Christopher Dock) clocked at 30:06.聽 (Gap, PA/Lancaster Mennonite) crossed in 31:25.

The Lady Royals next run at the Lebanon Valley College Invite next Saturday in Annville, PA.

Nafziger, who missed last season with an injury after transferring from D-I George Mason, was running 150^th after the first mile, but his splits slowed as his Achilles acted up.聽 He finished with a time of 26:31.56 on the 8k course, taking 254^th out of 279 runners at the Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne, WI.聽 UW-Oshkosh was the host school.

Despite not finishing as high as hoped, Coach Jason Lewkowicz was still proud of his runner.

“Dan didn’t have the race that he wanted to today,” said Lewkowicz, “but I am so proud of how he persevered throughout this season through illness and injury to even get to this point of representing 91短视频 at the national championships. 聽The cold weather caused his injured Achilles to act up and keep him from being his best but there are no excuses. 聽We’ll learn from this experience, take some time to get healthy, and look towards having a strong track season.”

Ben Sathre from St. Thomas (MN) led at every split and won the individual title with a time of 23:44.27.聽 Lee Berube of SUNY Geneseo was second at 23:49.60.

Traditional power North Central (IL) won the team title easily with a total of 110 points.聽 Haverford was second with 172.

Nafziger finishes with a handful of honors from his first competitive season at 91短视频 as he was named an ODAC Runner of the Week, All-ODAC Second Team, and All-South/Southeast Region First Team.聽 This is the third straight year the Royals have had a runner at the NCAA D-III National Championships.

Nafziger shaved 15 seconds off his time from the ODAC Championships two weeks ago and to cross fourth Saturday at the meet hosted by Texas Lutheran in Sequin, TX.聽 With his time of 26:26.7, he was just 22 seconds behind winner John Kieffer on Centre College.

The finish also earned Nafziger All-South/Southeast Region First Team honors and he beat six runners who crossed in front of him at the ODAC meet.聽 He will now race on Saturday, Nov. 19, at the National Meet hosted by UW-Oshkosh.聽 Seniors Tim Smith of Roanoke and Sean Whitson of Virginia Wesleyan were second and third, respectively.

Coach Jason Lewkowicz said Nafziger is regaining his form after struggling with a midseason illness.

“I am thrilled for Dan,” said Lewkowicz.聽 “He has been through a lot this season and to put it all together on the big stage shows his toughness and determination.聽 He will represent 91短视频 very well next week in Wisconsin.”

was 91短视频’s next runner at the regional meet, taking 89^th in 29:02.1.

The Royals’ young core provided the rest of the team scoring, headed by freshman who was 126^th in 30:40.2.聽 Classmate was 156^th in 32:14.4 followed two spots later by in 32:18.9.聽 crossed in another ten spots with a time of 34:37.8.

As a team, Eastern Mennonite took 19^th out of 23 teams.聽 The men had 480 points ahead of Southwestern (TX) at 526 and behind Birmingham-Southern, which had 465.聽 ODAC opponent Lynchburg took the team title by a single point over Centre, 112 to 113.

91短视频’s Richy Bikko stretches before cross country practice Mon91短视频’s Richy Bikko stretches before cross country practiceday. (Photo by Nikki Fox)

Richy Bikko’s mind and body were arguing with one another, and the body was making a compelling case. It wanted to stop. It had been programmed to run for only 400 meters – 800 maximum – at a time. To finish this race, it would have to cover 10 times that distance, and it said there’s just no way a kid with no cross-country background could complete such a task.

But Bikko’s mind had a retort, one that began to sway the 91短视频 star. He thought about his family, God, everybody back in his native Kenya, as well as himself and “all the glory in life.”

Advantage: mind.

In Bikko’s first race as a member of the 91短视频 cross-country squad in September, he beat all his teammates and finished the five miles in 27 minutes, 52.40 seconds – good for only 59th place among 85 runners at the James Madison University Invitational, but a harbinger of better things to come.

The 5-foot-7 Bikko’s mindset, along with a ninth-place finish at the Division III South/Southeast regionals last weekend in Greensboro, N.C. (27:25), has helped him earn a spot at the NCAA’s D-III championships in Cleveland on Saturday.

Richy Bikko continues to impress in his first cross country season.

Bikko, a junior rookie, is the first Royals runner since Andrew Jenner in 2000 to reach the national meet.

“It’s pretty phenomenal and rare any time you get somebody running cross-country for a first time to be able to make it to nationals,” Matt Dougherty, head coach, said Monday.

Initially trying to prepare for soccer season, Bikko became an indoor track star during his senior year at Harrisonburg High School, and then he flourished in outdoor track shortly thereafter.

During his first two years at 91短视频, Bikko ran the 400-meter and 800-meter races during track season but chose to lift weights in his own time while some of his teammates did cross country in the fall.

A new voice, however, encouraged the sinewy Kenyan to run long-distance. A graduate of Houghton College in New York, Dougherty joined the Royals this year, replacing both the school’s cross-country and track and field coaches, and immediately supplied motivation.

“He said from the recent [track] people he coached, they’ve done cross-country and their times have really dropped,” Bikko said of his new coach’s advice. “That convinced me.”

Just like when Bikko did track to prepare for soccer back in high school, he became a cross-country star while merely trying to train for track.

Bikko placed 16th in his second-ever cross-country race, and then he won the third – the Royals Invitational on Oct. 3 – by a whopping 1 minute and 49 seconds.

“It’s been a really big surprise,” Bikko said. “I actually didn’t expect to get this far. I just did cross-country to improve myself for track.”

He kept improving, and in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championships on Halloween, Bikko finished in second place, behind only perennial small-college All-American Ricky Flynn of Lynchburg.

Everyone involved with 91短视频 running is surprised by Bikko’s instantaneous success, even though he had been so productive in track. But Bikko’s ability to drown out pain and soreness has allowed him to rely on his natural athletic gifts and transition to the more cerebral event.

Bikko’s cross-country teammate Cody Stutzman says, “Your mind has to say no to your body and push it beyond where it wants to be pushed. Richy definitely has the mental capacity to push himself.”

“It’s just as much of a mental sport as it is physical because you constantly have to be pushing forward and pushing your body forward to new levels,” track and cross-country teammate Cody Stutzman said. “It takes a lot of pain. Your mind has to say no to your body and push it beyond where it wants to be pushed. Richy definitely has the mental capacity to push himself.”

Bikko has embraced the fact that there are sacrifices he must make in order to become and stay a good athlete. When considering cross-country he was concerned about sacrificing what little free time he had left after classes, homework and his job working in the school’s cafeteria. Then he thought about how much faster he could become.

The optimistic runner has had to refrain from eating such favorite guilty pleasures as french fries and ice cream but notes that his body has been demanding less and less junk food as he cuts it out of his diet.

Bikko has a simple way of rationalizing. If he’s thirsty in a race, he tells himself that the quickest way to hydrate is to finish the race already.

It’s that type of mentality that has made him a star.

“I don’t think there’s any other way – if he didn’t have that positive mindset – in your first year, you wouldn’t go so far,” Dougherty said. “In the race on Saturday, it was faster than he had ever gone out in a race, feeling anaerobic, kind of like, ‘I’m not going to be able to hold this.’ The thought crossed his mind, but he’s able to turn it around right away, refocus on a task, like ‘No problem, I’ve got this. I’m going to recover.’

“And he did.”

Jeremy Webster didn

A number of 91短视频 student-athletes and varsity teams have been recognized for their achievements during the fall semester.

The 91短视频 women’s field hockey team finished the season 17-3 and made their first appearance in the NCAA “sweet 16” since 1999. The Lady Royals won the Old Dominion Athletic Association championship by knocking off undefeated Virginia Wesleyan in the championship game at Virginia Beach on Nov. 8. They were nationally ranked eighth nationally in the final National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFCHA) poll.

Senior Kristin Moyer (Souderton, Pa.) was named ODAC field hockey scholar-athlete of the year, ODAC player of the year, ODAC All-Tournament and first team all-ODAC. She also led the nation in scoring and points for the season in Division III and was featured in the Oct. 27 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine on the “Faces in the Crowd” page.

Moyer finished her career with 232 points. With 93 goals and 46 assists, she ranked second all-time at 91短视频 in goals scored and in the top ten for assists. She garnered NFHCA All-Region All-American honors as well as All-American honors for the second consecutive season. In addition, she was named All-State player of the year for the second-straight season by the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID).

Sophomore Jonalyn Denlinger (Lancaster, Pa.) was also named to the all-ODAC first team and to the All-Region All-American team and All-American third team by the NFHCA. Junior Lisa Ehst (Bally, Pa.) was named to the second team all-ODAC, sophomore Ashley Byler (Mill Creek, Pa.) and freshman Kristie Souder (Telford, Pa.) both earned honorable mentions. Stephanie Derstine (Telford, PA) was ODAC player of the week. Co-coach of the year was Brenda Bechler, a 1995 91短视频 graduate.

The women’s soccer team advanced to the ODAC semifinals. They lost a heart-breaking semi-final game to number-one seed Virginia Wesleyan on shootouts, 4-2. The regulation score was 1-1. Senior forward Ellie Lind (Durban, South Africa) was named first team all-ODAC. Lind ends her career with an 91短视频 record 76 goals and 31 assists for 181 points. Her 76 goals rank her second all-time in the ODAC and her point total is third all-time.

Freshman goalie Joy Shaiebly (Lancaster, Pa.) and junior back Kendra Martin (Narvon, Pa.) were named to the second team. Honorable mentions were awarded to senior Heather Bauman (Mechanicsburg, Pa.), junior Audra Baker (Lebanon, Ore.) and sophomore Sarah Buller (Goshen, Ind.). The team finished with a 10-7-1 record, winning ten games or more for the fourth consecutive year. Coach Greg Steffen captured his 50th career victory this past season and has 55 victories after the 2003 season.

The men’s soccer team made it to the ODAC quarterfinals. They tasted defeat only three times this year,finishing 8-3-6. They hosted Randolph Macon in an ODAC quarterfinal game and battled to a 0-0 tie after regulation and two ten minute overtimes. The Royals were eliminated by a 4-2 score in a shootout. Senior forward Clayton Suydam (Harrisonburg, Va.) was selected first team all-ODAC and Adam Shank (Harrisonburg, Va.) was honorable mention.

Even though the 91短视频 men