East Central University Men's Cross Country

Sawyer enters his ninth season as head coach of the ECU mens and womens cross country programs.  Sawyer has created a strong tradition for cross country at ECU, leading both the mens and womens team to four Great American Conference titles in the first four seasons in the league.  The highlight so for as been 2012 when both teams claimed the title and Sawyer was named GAC Coach of the Year for both mens and womens cross country. The 2014 mens cross country team claimed their third GAC title in four seasons and set a new league record for the largest margin of victory at 33 points, earning Sawyer another GAC Coach of the Year honor.  The Tigers also finished 1-2-3-4 and 7 individually in the race, with junior Juan-Joel Pacheco Orozco leading the way.  Pacheco Orozco went on to earn a spot at the NCAA National Championship, where is placed 50 th overall. The 2013 season saw the mens team claim a runner-up finish at the 2013 GAC Championship, with junior Will Baldwin finished second overall and earning All-GAC First Team honors.  Baldwin was joined on the first team by freshman Bruce Bragg, Jr. and Ruganza Mugisha, while freshman Richard Mora and sophomore Arturo Nava were named to the All-GAC Second Team. The womens team was young in 2013 and placed fourth at the GAC Championship, with junior ReGina Germaine earned All-GAC First Team honors for the second-straight season after finishing seventh overall.   In 2012 the mens side several runners earned recognition, including Cale Eidson.  Eidson was an All-GAC First Team selection, a NCAA All-Central Regional pick, an USTFCCCA Division II All-Academic Team selection and CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team honoree.   Besides Eidson, freshman Arturo Nava was named the GAC Freshman of the Year and to the All-GAC First Team.  Two other male runners, Austin Christian and Johanthan Ogan were named to the All-GAC First Team.   The mens team went on to earn an 11 th -place finish at the 2012 NCAA Central Regional.   The womens title was the first in the GAC, with Samantha Bartlett, ReGina Germaine, Andrea McKinney and Colletta Maiyo all earning All-GAC First Team honors.  Katie Bruner and Minhuyen Nguyen were named to the second team.   In 2011, Sawyer led the mens team to a GAC title, second-place NCAA Division II South Central Regional finish and a No. 11 placing at the NCAA Division II National Championships in 2011.   He also guided the Ldy Tigers to a runner-up effort at the first GAC Womens Championships in 2011.   One of Sawyers male runners Armando Saldivar finished 26 th at the national meet, thus earning All-American honors. Five of Sawyers runners garnered all-region accolades and seven picked up All-GAC awards after placing in the top 10 of the conference championships. ECU swept the top three spots and placed four in the top five of the GAC meet.   Four of Sawyers female runners achieved all-conference status after placing in the top 10 and leading the Tigers to the runner-up finish at the GAC meet last year.   He spent the 2005 and 2006 seasons as a graduate assistant under former ECU head coach Susan Payne.   Sawyer had an outstanding career as a student-athlete at ECU as he was a four-time all-conference award winner while earning academic all-conference and Academic All-American accolades along the way.   He finished seventh in the 8k Lone Star Conference Championships as a senior in 2004 and ended up sixth at that same meet as a junior in 2003.   Sawyer, a native of Enid, earned his bachelors degree from ECU in 2005 and his masters in sports administration from ECU in 2006.