FIRST PRACTICE: Our first practice will be Saturday, Aug 16, at 4:30 pm
at the Fitness Center. Expect to run long early the next day on Sunday morning. All student athletes will be required to attend an NCAA
rules
meeting on Monday afternoon, August 18, at the O'Reilly Center.
PHYSICALS: For those freshmen and juniors who have not yet completed
their physical, physicals for all incoming freshmen and junior runners
will be given by the Drury
team
doctor on Saturday, August 16. For those who can be on campus this summer, Dr. Woods is also available July 21 and July 28. Physicals are required before
any freshman or junior can practice.
MEDICAL
FORMS: All freshmen runners must have all medical forms, including insurance
card(front & back) and sickle cell test results, on file with the trainers by 4:30 pm on August 16.
Signed forms must be returned to the athletic trainers and must be on file before you can practice. Links to the forms are on the Drury Panthers Athletic Training web page. Returning runners are required to update medical history and health insurance info before they can practice.
HOUSING: Returning runners will be able to move into campus housing
as early as Friday, August 15. Freshmen can arrive according to the freshmen orientation schedule.
FRESHMEN ELIGIBILITY: Freshmen
need to be certain a test score (ACT/SAT) is forwarded from the testing
agency and a final transcript is forwarded from your high
school to the NCAA Eligibility Center to confirm academic eligibility.
Also, in order to receive a "final" amateurism certification, you will
need to revisit the Eligibility website, access your file and request a
final decision for both DII cross country AND track.
TRAINING SHOES/GEAR: We will be ordering training shoes soon (July 21) so each
runner
on the team has a new pair of trainers in the fall. All runners need to
contact Coach Van Arkel (xcountry@drury.edu) by July 21 with their training shoe
brand, model and size (no experimental or beta models; only tried and
true). Drury will
cover up to $120 of the purchase price of trainers. Runners are
responsible for
providing their own racing spikes. Drury is sponsored by Adidas and we will be wearing mostly Adidas gear (shoes
excepted) on days of meets. Also, each runner will be
responsible for selling a Drury Sports Auction cash bash ticket in
exchange for
obtaining their gear.
I'll hand out the following items soon after practice starts:
-Adidas Speed/Elite Backpacks
-Adidas Speed Sackpacks
-Training Shoes & Socks
-Adidas Running/Racing Shorts
-Adidas Racing Singlets
-Adidas Short Sleeve Tee's
-Adidas Long Sleeve Tops
-Rain Jackets & Pants
-Adidas Duffel Bags
T-SHIRTS: We will have Adidas
running t-shirts available for all runners on the team after practice
starts and extras for family/friends/boosters to purchase as
part of our fundraising efforts for the team. I also plan to make older
singlets and jackets available for sale to current or former runners wishing to contribute
to the cross country team.
ROSTER UPDATE: Drury Sports Information would like biographical information from each incoming freshmen runner so they can create our webpage bio's by the start of the fall season. I will post separately the questionnaire for all freshmen to fill out and return to Eric Pannell. Returning runners only need to fill out the
favorites section and academic major if changed from last season.
FALL PRACTICE SCHEDULE: Once we start the season, expect to practice six days a
week throughout the fall until the NCAA Cross Country Championships,
with an extra day off during Labor Day weekend and maybe Fall Break if we do not have a meet that weekend. We'll run most mornings,
and work out a second time several days each week. All runners must be
at all practices, unless in class or at a wedding or at a funeral or sick with a
diagnosed illness or fever or injured and receiving treatment from the
trainers. Not having an alarm, other family gatherings, employment,
"meetings" or "not feeling well" are not sufficient reasons to miss
practice. Plan to be aqua-jogging in the pool (not on a bike or elliptical machine)
if you are injured and cannot run. Aqua-jogging belts can be checked out at the training room.
1000 MILE CLUB: We'll award 1000 Mile Club t-shirts at the end of the
season for those runners who cover 1000 miles starting from June 1. All
runners should
be aware of their summer mileage and, if running and healthy, should be
able to reach that mark sometime
during the fall season.
Coach Van Arkel
