Northwest Missouri State University Men's Cross Country

Head coach Brandon Masters oversaw the program's first outdoor women's individual national champion as Hiba Mahgoub captured the 200m title at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Allendale, Michigan. Masters guided the Bearcats to 11 All-America performances at the 2021 outdoor championship meet - eight men and three women. In Allendale, Mahgoub earned a pair of All-America honors in the 200m and 400m races. Senior Quincy McSweeney also garned first-team All-America status in the 800m. The Bearcat men had its 4x400 relay squad of Caelon Harkey, Prince Griffin, Federico Crisco and Tyrell Maddox earn first-team All-America honors. Maddox and Harkey each tallied All-America status in the 400m. Dakota Schmidt notched his first collegiate All-America honor in the javelin. Freshman Reece Smith picked up first-team All-America honors in the 3,000m Steeplechase with a fifth-place finish. Smith was named the 2021 USTFCCCA Central Region Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year. This is the first time a Bearcat has earned the award during the outdoor season.  The Bearcat outdoor track and field squads combined to capture eight conference titles at the 2021 MIAA Championships held May 7-8 in Pittsburg, Kansas.   On the women’s side, Hiba Mahgoub claimed individual crowns in the 200m and 400m. Quincy McSweeney won the 800m. Delanie Dykes set a new school record in the 1,500m as she won the event in a time of 4:34.97.   Heading the men’s list was a double-winner Reece Smith. Smith captured the 3,000m steeplechase and the 5,000m. Caelon Harkey earned the MIAA title in the 400m. The men’s 4x400 relay finished the championship meet with a first-place finish from Harkey, Prince Griffin, Jevaughn Stanley and Federico Crisci.   Northwest added a trio of Drake Relays champions this spring when the Bearcats took a handful of athletes to the blue oval in Des Moines April 23-24. Mahgoub earned the 400m title with a time of :54.97. Quincy McSweeney garnered the 800m championship with a clocking of 2:12.74. Reece Smith tallied the 3,000m steeplechase crown with a time of 8:51.83.   The 2021 spring outdoor season saw the Bearcats set eight new school records under third-year head coach Masters. The Bearcat indoor track & field program was able to see its season through with the NCAA Division II Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, after having it 2020 meet canceled by COVID-19.   The Bearcat men produced 11 first-team All-America performers – tied for third most in the nation trailing only Grand Valley State (19) and Ashland (17). Northwest’s men that earned All-America honors included Omar Austin, Caelon Harkey, Abdelrahim Mahgoub, Gavyn Monday, Blake Morgan, Jake Norris, Reece Smith and R.J. Williams.   The Northwest women also secured two first-team All-America performances (Delanie Dykes, Jada Shanklin) and one second-team effort (Bailey Blake) in Birmingham.   Austin was one of eight Division II student-athletes to earn three or more first-team All-America accolades at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Birmingham. Austin tallied All-America status in the 200 meters, 400 meters and 4x400 meter relay.   Austin also captured MIAA championships in the 200m, 400m while teaming up with Harkey, Williams and Federico Crisci to win the 4x400 crown. Caroline Cunningham took home the MIAA title in the indoor mile. Masters guided the Bearcat cross country and track & field program to a tremendous season in 2018-19. Masters guided Northwest to 12 All-America honors in 2018-19. The Bearcats set 14 school records, tallied 36 national qualifying marks and produced 52 top-10 school performances. In addition, Northwest earned 16 academic honors from the USTFCCCA. In the previous five years before Masters's hiring, Northwest men's and women's track and field had averaged an eighth-place finish in the MIAA and a total of nine All-Americans had been achieved. The Northwest men's indoor track & field squad notched a second-place finish at the MIAA Championship meet hosted in the newly constructed Hughes Fieldhouse. Northwest narrowly missed out on a conference crown by six points. Northwest swept the region awards as Kevin Schultz was named the region's field athlete of the year and Omar Austin was honored as the region's track athlete of the year. The Bearcats tallied seven All-America honors and finished 17th at the 2019 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championship meet. Northwest posted four more All-America performances at the 2019 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championship meet. In May, Northwest was ranked No. 12 in the national USTFCCA rankings. Northwest would go on to finish 32nd at the championship meet and the women placed 46th. The Northwest cross country and track & field teams posted 121 Learfield Director's Cup points throughout the 2018-19 season. This accounted for 34.8 percent of Northwest's 347 Director's cup points in 2018-19. Both the men's and women's teams earned USTFCCCA team academic awards in 2019. Northwest Missouri State Director of Athletics Andy Peterson has announced the hiring of Masters as the head coach for cross country and track and field for the Bearcats on Aug. 8, 2018.   “I’m ecstatic that Brandon and his family have decided to join us at Northwest Missouri State and lead our Bearcat cross country and track and field programs,” Peterson said. “He has proven success as a head coach in developing student-athletes, not only as individuals, but as a team that performs both on the track and in the classroom. I’m excited for the holistic future of our track and field and cross country programs under Coach Masters’ leadership.”   “I’m truly honored to take on this challenge as the head coach at Northwest Missouri State,” Masters said. “This is a one of a kind opportunity to be part of opening the brand new 300-meter track in the state-of-the-art Hughes Fieldhouse. I know this track & field and cross country program has the potential to be great. I promise to bring leadership and a work ethic that will match the success already achieved by this school and athletic department. This team will be a family defined by hard work, a team-first culture, and a desire to be the best, together. I want to thank Andy Peterson and the administration for believing in me and giving me the support to make this program special. I am ready to get to work.”   Masters led an expansion of the track and field programs at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in the fall of 2015. He has served as co-head coach for the Mountain Lions in each of the previous two seasons. In 2017-18, UCCS won the women’s indoor RMAC title and the men’s indoor squad placed second at the RMAC championship.   Masters and co-head coach Ross Fellows captured Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference coach of the year honors in indoor women’s track and field in 2018. The Mountain Lions women’s indoor team placed 13th in the 2018 NCAA Div. II national championship meet.   One of Masters’ student-athletes, Skylyn Webb, became the first women's outdoor track and field student-athlete at UCCS to win a national championship. As national champion, Webb set a new meet and championship record in the 800m with a time of 2:02.47 while also qualifying for the United States Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Championships. Webb placed 15th overall at the U.S. Championships.   The Mountain Lions carried a 3.22 cumulative grade point average, while posting 24 NCAA Div. II national qualifying marks and notching 15 NCAA Div. II All-America awards in the 2017-18 season. Masters oversaw 11 all-RMAC indoor performances and 23 all-RMAC outdoor accolades. The Mountain Lions captured the RMAC freshman of the year, RMAC athlete of the meet and RMAC indoor track athlete of the year honors in 2017-18. The Mountain Lions set 25 school records under Masters’ direction. In 2016-17, Masters coached two All-Americans, who earned the status two times each, with a total of four national qualifiers over the indoor and outdoor seasons. Prior to coaching at UCCS, Masters was a successful coach at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Missouri. Masters spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Missouri S&T and was a part of back-to-back men’s outdoor Great Lakes Valley Conference team championships. Masters coached the GLVC men’s indoor and outdoor pole vault champion at Missouri S&T. The vaulter went on to a No. 12 finish at the national outdoor championships. He coached 10 student-athletes at the national championships in pole vault at Missouri S&T. Masters was an assistant coach at UCCS for four seasons before his position at Missouri S&T. He coached the Mountain Lion jumpers to four All-America performances, 106 All-RMAC performances, 10 conference champions, 14 All-USTFCCCA region selections and two USATF Junior National Qualifiers. Masters was a three-time All-American in the pole vault and a national qualifier in the decathlon at Emporia State. He earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors for the Hornets all four seasons. Masters was a graduate assistant at Emporia State in 1999 and was a member of the coaching staff that won the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association men’s and women’s outdoor team championships. The Hornets went on to finish fourth at the women’s outdoor national championships.    Masters and his wife, Gillian, are the parents of two boys, Logan and Dylan.    

Peterson competed for the Bearcats from 2005-10 and then served as a graduate assistant for the Bearcats from 2010-2011, earning her Master's Degree in Health and Physical Education. A multiple-time All-American and All-MIAA athlete at Northwest, she earned All-American honors in the Pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships as a junior and senior, and competed in the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the heptathlon and high jump both years and added the long jump to her NCAA schedule as a senior. She ended her collegiate career holding Northwest Track and Field records in the long jump, heptathlon, and pentathlon. She currently is in the Top-10 in ten events in the NW Track and Field Record book, and still holds the outdoor record with a mark of 197.5 in the long jump. During the summer of 2010, Peterson made the United States Bobsled Team. She completed the first two stages of qualifying and was invited to tryouts in Lake Placid, N.Y., where she bowed out to return to her alma mater to take her current position. Before her time at Northwest, Peterson prepped at Park Hill South High School, where she picked up all-state accolades in the long jump, triple jump and 4x100 meter relay. She is married to former Bearcat basketball player Andy Peterson, who also works in the Bearcat Athletics Department. The couple have one daughter, Ellie, and currently resides in Maryville. Tweets by @NWTrackField Emily Peterson enters her sixth year as the Assistant Men's and Women's Track and Field/Cross Country Coach.

Lorek has been the head coach of Northwest Missouri State's women's cross country team and women's track and field teams since the 2004-05 academic year. He gladly accepted the men's coaching duties of both programs when Rich Alsup retired in the summer of 2008 after 31 years of service. Since taking the reigns in Maryville, Lorek has accompanied numerous student-athletes to NCAA national championship track meets, half of which returned as All-Americans. Tyler Shaw (six) and Ben McKim (two) combined to earn eight All-America awards between 2009 and 2011. Alisha Samuel (three), Brandi Honeywell (one), Mary Wirt (two), Emily Churchman (two), Kate Walter (two), LeKiesha McKnight (four), Brittany Poole (one) and Chloe Wichmann (one) all came away with All-American honors on the women's side. Lorek has coached at least one NCAA championship participant on the women's side in all six years and has had two participants on the men's side in each of his first two years as general of the Bearcats. For the first time in program history thrower Kate Walter became the first Bearcat to provisionally qualify for four events at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, although she only earned a spot in the hammer, earning a third place finish. Northwest competes in arguably the best Division II track and field conference in the nation and Lorek has seen his squads shine on the league's brightest stage. Seven Bearcats have been crowned conference champions under Lorek, including Alisha Samuel (60-meter dash), Audrey Bailey (400-meter hurdles) and Kate Walter (hammer throw) who won two titles apiece. Under Lorek, the Bearcat women have had 29 student-athletes capture 82 All-MIAA honors in seven seasons. Nine have earned four or more All-MIAA awards including Hannah Henry, who garnered eight all-conference honors during her Northwest career. Eight Northwest men have combined for 16 all-league honors in two years. McKim and Shaw have earned five and four All-MIAA awards, respectively. For team success, look no further than Northwest Missouri State's 2009 women's cross country team which placed fourth at the MIAA championships - the team's highest finish in 11 seasons - and fifth at the NCAA South Central Regional meet. The success of the 2009 team was again trumped in 2011 when Angela Adams became the first Bearcat to claim the womens MIAA Championship. Adams was also a two-time All-Region runner in her four-year after placing 14th in 2009 and 2010 and earning a top 10 finish in 2011. Joining Adams as an All-MIAA runner, Anna O'Brien raced to an all-conference and all-region finish for the Bearcat women in 2007 as Kayli Hrdlicka and Katti Carroll earned All-MIAA honors in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Carrolls finish in 2011 joined MIAA Champion, Adams, with her top five finish the first duo to claim a spot in the top five since 1997, the last Northwest MIAA team title. Six Bearcats have earned All-MIAA cross country awards under Lorek, including Trevor Johannsen and Zach Layton, who placed ninth and 10th, respectively, at the 2008 championships, Lorek's first season with the team. Layton repeated his All-MIAA finish in 2010 and 2011 and was joined by TR Pursell who also earned back-to-back All-MIAA recognition. In 2011 Pursell and Layton were joined by Ryan Darling and Jacob Henry after top 20 finishes at the MIAA Championships for all-conference honors. Before arriving in Maryville, Lorek spent five seasons as the head men's and women's track and field coach at Western State College in Gunnison, Colo. He led the Mountaineers to a second-place finish at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships in 2002 and a third-place finish in 2004. His men's team placed in the top five at nationals in each of his last three seasons. Lorek was named Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Women's Indoor and Outdoor Coach of the Year in 2001 after winning the RMAC Indoor Championship that season. Prior to his time at Western State, Lorek spent two years as the head men's and women's track and field and cross country coach at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. He was an assistant at Butler University during the 1996-97 season. Lorek's resume also includes an 11-year stint at the University of Idaho where he led Vandals to school records in 23 of 33 events. He also served as an assistant at Idaho for two seasons and was a graduate assistant coach at the University of Illinois. The former 10,000-meter record holder at Butler University, Lorek competed in the USA World Cross Country Trials, USA National Championships and was a guest competitor at the Canadian World Team Trials. He took fifth at the Hungarian National Championships in the 10,000-meter run. Lorek currently serves as the president of DII Cross Country committee for the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Lorek and his wife, Shelly, reside in Maryville with their son, Benjamin. Scott Lorek Head Coach Scott Lorek has been the head coach of Northwest Missouri State's women's cross country team and women's track and field teams since the 2004-05 academic year. He gladly accepted the men's coaching duties of both programs when Rich Alsup retired in the summer of 2008 after 31 years of service. Since taking the reigns in Maryville, Lorek has accompanied numerous student-athletes to NCAA national championship track meets, half of which returned as All-Americans. Tyler Shaw (six) and Ben McKim (two) combined to earn eight All-America awards between 2009 and 2011. Alisha Samuel (three), Brandi Honeywell (one), Mary Wirt (two), Emily Churchman (two), Kate Walter (two), LeKiesha McKnight (four), Brittany Poole (one) and Chloe Wichmann (one) all came away with All-American honors on the women's side. Lorek has coached at least one NCAA championship participant on the women's side in all six years and has had two participants on the men's side in each of his first two years as general of the Bearcats. For the first time in program history thrower Kate Walter became the first Bearcat to provisionally qualify for four events at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, although she only earned a spot in the hammer, earning a third place finish. Northwest competes in arguably the best Division II track and field conference in the nation and Lorek has seen his squads shine on the league's brightest stage. Seven Bearcats have been crowned conference champions under Lorek, including Alisha Samuel (60-meter dash), Audrey Bailey (400-meter hurdles) and Kate Walter (hammer throw) who won two titles apiece. Under Lorek, the Bearcat women have had 29 student-athletes capture 82 All-MIAA honors in seven seasons. Nine have earned four or more All-MIAA awards including Hannah Henry, who garnered eight all-conference honors during her Northwest career. Eight Northwest men have combined for 16 all-league honors in two years. McKim and Shaw have earned five and four All-MIAA awards, respectively. For team success, look no further than Northwest Missouri State's 2009 women's cross country team which placed fourth at the MIAA championships - the team's highest finish in 11 seasons - and fifth at the NCAA South Central Regional meet. The success of the 2009 team was again trumped in 2011 when Angela Adams became the first Bearcat to claim the womens MIAA Championship. Adams was also a two-time All-Region runner in her four-year after placing 14th in 2009 and 2010 and earning a top 10 finish in 2011. Joining Adams as an All-MIAA runner, Anna O'Brien raced to an all-conference and all-region finish for the Bearcat women in 2007 as Kayli Hrdlicka and Katti Carroll earned All-MIAA honors in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Carrolls finish in 2011 joined MIAA Champion, Adams, with her top five finish the first duo to claim a spot in the top five since 1997, the last Northwest MIAA team title. Six Bearcats have earned All-MIAA cross country awards under Lorek, including Trevor Johannsen and Zach Layton, who placed ninth and 10th, respectively, at the 2008 championships, Lorek's first season with the team. Layton repeated his All-MIAA finish in 2010 and 2011 and was joined by TR Pursell who also earned back-to-back All-MIAA recognition. In 2011 Pursell and Layton were joined by Ryan Darling and Jacob Henry after top 20 finishes at the MIAA Championships for all-conference honors. Before arriving in Maryville, Lorek spent five seasons as the head men's and women's track and field coach at Western State College in Gunnison, Colo. He led the Mountaineers to a second-place finish at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships in 2002 and a third-place finish in 2004. His men's team placed in the top five at nationals in each of his last three seasons. Lorek was named Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Women's Indoor and Outdoor Coach of the Year in 2001 after winning the RMAC Indoor Championship that season. Prior to his time at Western State, Lorek spent two years as the head men's and women's track and field and cross country coach at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. He was an assistant at Butler University during the 1996-97 season. Lorek's resume also includes an 11-year stint at the University of Idaho where he led Vandals to school records in 23 of 33 events. He also served as an assistant at Idaho for two seasons and was a graduate assistant coach at the University of Illinois. The former 10,000-meter record holder at Butler University, Lorek competed in the USA World Cross Country Trials, USA National Championships and was a guest competitor at the Canadian World Team Trials. He took fifth at the Hungarian National Championships in the 10,000-meter run. Lorek currently serves as the president of DII Cross Country committee for the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Lorek and his wife, Shelly, reside in Maryville with their son, Benjamin.