Continued Growth: Trinity Cross Country is Here to Stay

Trinity Cross Country’s inaugural season had been relatively small with only a handful of collegiate meets and local races on the schedule, but the team ended their season with high hopes for the future of this program (The Mirage, 1989). According to an article from the November 18, 1988 issue of The Trinitonian, by the end of that first season Coach Ortega-Bellg had begun making efforts to recruit local high school seniors to come to Trinity and join the team. She had also encouraged female runners on campus to come out and join the team (Daboub, 1988). These efforts were crucial for ensuring that the newly formed team was not forgotten by students and for the program’s overall chances of future success.

By the start of the program’s second season, it was clear that these efforts had started to pay off.  During the 1989 season, the Trinity University Cross Country team began competing in the College Athletic Conference with several other NCAA Division III schools. The fall of 1989 also marked the inaugural season for a women’s cross country team at Trinity, although it consisted of only three members (Tures, 1989).  The quick formation of a women’s team suggests that there were interested female runners on campus and they were eager to join the cross country program once it had been established, but recruiting efforts would need to be made in order for the size of the team to grow. In the fall of 1991 both Trinity men’s and women’s cross country teams began competing in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (The Trinitonian, 1991). The SCAC remains the conference for the present day Trinity University Cross Country program.