CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio — Ohio Christian University’s cross country teams have a couple of national contenders right in Circleville’s back yard.

Although it is a relatively new program by collegiate standards, and their roster is young and growing, that isn’t stopping two standouts from making a run at national recognition.

Runners Drake Dickerson (Lancaster, Ohio) and Brittany Lenz (Springfield, Ohio) have both qualified for nationals in cross country with hopes of making the top 40 and All-American honors this April in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Lenz qualified for the NAIA National Cross Country Championships for the women despite no formal running training in high school. Unlike Dickerson, who brings a wealth of running experience -having trained under the watchful eye of Jeff Koksal at Lancaster High School.

Dickerson also brings more race experience than Lenz, having qualified and ran in the NAIA Indoor Championships held earlier this spring in South Dakota in the men’s 1600-meter.

Both runners are coming off of all-conference finishes heading into the national championships.

OCU competes in the River Valley Conference. According to their coach, they have only been recognized as a collegiate program since 2012. That isn’t stopping Drake and Dickerson from thinking big; after all, their coach brings the type of experience and training program that could be expected from a much larger school.

Dr. Tim Sykes, the head coach for the girls’ and boys’ cross country and track and field teams, brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team. He ran at Rio Grande University before entering the coaching ranks and has had many memorable stops along the way that helped influence his coaching style.

Sykes’ more notable destinations along his coaching journey were his stints as assistant coach University of Oregon -a track and field and cross country juggernaut since the days of Bill Bowerman- and head coach at Western Kentucky University.

Coach Sykes has a vision for this team and what it can be. Not only for the student-athletes currently on his roster but for the ones that aren’t on campus yet.

“We have goals of growing in roster number and competitiveness. We have thirty total track and field and cross country men’s and women’s roster members. Our first [goal] is to recruit more overall student-athlete on the team, and then secondly, we want to become more competitive in our conference team standings and nationally, too,” says Sykes.

OCU men and women have had some individual success. They even have had individual qualifiers for the NAIA Nationals and crowned some All-Americans. But Sykes is trying to build more success at the team level.

” So, the goal in the next five years is to get a track and field team [to] place in the top ten at the national level and to have a cross country team, on the men’s and women’s side, that consistently qualifies for NAIA Cross Country Nationals. So, we are young and growing, and that can be exciting for prospective student-athletes and parents.”

What can a recruit expect coming to OCU distance and track teams?

“We have a beautiful, slightly rolling to mainly flat, cross country course located directly behind our campus. At least twice a week, we go off-campus for training and take advantage of the amazing trails around Hargus Lake, Canal Park, Clearcreek Metro Park, Slate Run Metro Park, and the Hocking Hills,” explains Sykes.

There are also some more exciting changes happening for the Trailblazers program.

“In the just over a year I’ve been in my position at OCU along with our awesome Athletic Director’s encouragement, Dave Bireline, we have partnered with The Chieftain Center in Logan, OH to be able to practice and host meets. In the last month, we hosted our first-ever college meet in the facility, The OCU Trailblazer Invitational, which had NAIA qualifying marks set at the meet.”

The Chieftain Center later hosted the River States Conference Championships.

“Coy Blair, the facilities and operations manager for the Chieftain Center, has done an awesome job helping us host the college meets, and all he is doing with promoting high school meets and competition for our area,” Sykes goes on to say.

Ohio Christian University is unique among universities. It is expected that students attend Bible studies and chapel services to grow spiritually -in addition to their academics and athletics.

As Sykes explains, the goal of OCU is to help student-athletes grow spiritually, intellectually, and physically so that they can have a positive impact on their community upon graduation.

Dr. Sykes exemplifies these characteristics for his athletes through his own interaction throughout the community with his running program and what he wants to bring to his hometown.

“In addition to it being a dream of mine to come home and lead a collegiate track and field and cross country program in the area in which I grew up, [it is] my vision for Southeast Ohio to increase running sports participation.”

Coach Sykes wants to reach out to the youth in the area to accomplish this goal.

“I plan to use my platform and experiences the Lord has blessed me with to help increase youth physical activity levels, participation in our sport, and work to improve health and well-being. All through the vehicle of offering more youth running program opportunities.”

Coach Sykes has big plans and visions for OCU distance and track. He wants to continue to train All-Americans. Dr. Sykes wants to find quality student-athletes ready for a unique opportunity at OCU and ready to compete on a national level. He also wants to engage the youth in the community and introduce them to running. But maybe most of all, coach Sykes wants to impact future adults with the love and passion for running and spirituality that forged his own life so that they can go on and influence their own communities.

A fan?

Follow your favorite teams

This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.