Track and Field

Let me tell you what it’s like to be 54 years old and running in a footrace with highly trained college athletes. It’s like riding a bicycle in the Indianapolis 500. It’s like being a cinnamon roll in a health-food store. It’s both a megadose of humility and a profound statement on the irreversibility of the aging process.

How do you recruit a gifted Kenyan distance runner to come to Phoenix, Arizona? If you’re Kim Sims, you just answer the phone. The GCU cross country coach took a call from Kip Mutai last spring and has been praising the miracle of telecommunications ever since. Mutai, a two-time junior college All-American at Gillette (Wyo.) College, was looking for a school where he could continue his running career.

Full competition will start next school year in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference under new coach Tom Flood. By Zane Ewton Communications Staff Grand Canyon University increased its intercollegiate athletics teams to 22 with the addition of men’s and women’s track and field in late December, and new coach Tom Flood is excited about the prospects. Flood thinks GCU track and field will give current students an opportunity to compete and will quickly become an attractive option for local high school talent. “We want student-athletes who are willing to work hard, have a great attitude and show up every day,” he says. “GCU is a great institution, and the good Lord will bless us with the students he wants for this campus.” GCU now has more sports than any other intercollegiate athletics program in Arizona. Flood is using this spring to give the University’s cross-country athletes an opportunity to continue training and compete. He also is recruiting for the 2010-11 season. Flood’s assistant coach is Dr. Kim Sims, head coach of GCU’s cross-country program. Next school year will kick off a full competition schedule, indoor and outdoor, for both the men’s and women’s track teams. GCU will compete in the […]