Throughout the 2018-19 academic year, the Great Lakes Valley Conference is celebrating its 40th anniversary by recognizing 40 teams that made a significant impact both on campus and at the Conference level.
40 TEAMS | 40 YEARS
WEEK 2: 1985 Ashland College (University) Women’s Cross Country
SEASON SUMMARY
A year after winning the first GLVC Championship awarded in cross country with a score of 17 points, Ashland made Conference history with a winning score of 16 points at the 1985 GLVC Championship meet, as the Eagles finished first, second, third, fourth and sixth individually. The team’s total remains the best winning score in GLVC Championship history, but was tied four years later by the 1989 Ashland squad. Not only was the 1985 Ashland squad recognized for the best winning score at a GLVC Championship meet, but it also held the largest margin of victory at 52 points up until it was recently broken by the 2016 Southern Indiana team with of a margin of 55 points. USI was runner-up to Ashland in the 1985 meet, scoring 68 points over the 5,000-meter course at Lewis University. Ashland would go on to compete at the NCAA Championships, finishing ninth overall for the second straight year.
IMPRESSIVE INDIVIDUALS
Alane Keefer
- Recorded her second-straight GLVC Championship, marking the first of seven occasions of a repeat winner in league history
- Her 1985 winning time of 18:26 was 15 seconds faster than her winning time of 18:41 in 1984
- Earned second-straight All-GLVC honor
- Posted her fourth-straight All-America accolade with a 24th-place finish at the NCAA Championships
Debbie Gresens
- Finished second overall at the 1985 GLVC Championships in 18:41
- Earned second-straight All-GLVC honor
Susan Borawski
- Finished third overall at the 1985 GLVC Championships in 18:52
- Earned second-straight All-GLVC honor
Shari Caressel
- Finished fourth overall at the 1985 GLVC Championships in 18:53
- Earned her first of three straight All-GLVC honors
Kristin Hopper
- Earned her first All-GLVC accolade
Bill Gallagher, Head Coach
LASTING LEGACY
Despite having won its first GLVC Championship in 1984, Ashland set the stage for the first dynasty in GLVC women’s cross country by winning the 1985 title in historic fashion. The Eagles would go on to claim six consecutive GLVC Championships from 1984-89, which stood as the Conference record until this past season when Southern Indiana eclipsed the mark with its seventh-straight crown (2011-17). As mentioned above, while Ashland still holds the three best winning scores in GLVC history, its previous league record for largest margin of victory was not broken until Southern Indiana scored a 55-point win 31 years after the Eagles netted that 52-point win USI in 1985. The 1985 season marked head coach Bill Gallagher’s first of six GLVC Coach of the Year awards, which ranks him tied for second in league history behind Southern Indiana’s Mike Hillyard – a winner of 12 GLVC Coach of the Year nods, including the last seven. Individually, Ashland’s 1985 squad was the first program in GLVC history to sweep the top four finishing positions at the Conference meet – a feat that has only been matched by Ashland in 1989 and Lewis in 1997. Ashland competed in the GLVC until resigning as a member on June 30, 1995.