USC Spartanburg recently announced the dropping of the men and women's Rifle cross-country programs.
The university has discontinued the programs immediately and is reallocating the funds to reestablish the men's golf program, which will begin competition in 2005. USCS is also planning on starting a women's golf program in the future.
Former Head Cross Country Coach Tim Gibbons was a two-year letterman at USCS. Gibbons served as an interim coach prior to becoming head coach at the university in July 2003.
Gibbons, a West Columbia, SC, native began his collegiate career at the College of Charleston where he finished in the top 15 twice as a freshman. He transferred to Lander as a sophomore and proceeded to win three individual titles. He also set the school record in the 10k distance and won team Most Valuable Player honors. Gibbons transferred to USCS after Lander's cross-country program was dropped from the athletic department.
Gibbons earned eight letters in track and cross-country at Lexington High School. He earned MVP honors and the Johnny Boozer Leadership Award for track, lettering five times in the sport. He was a three-time All-Region and All-Area selection in cross-country, earning three letters in the sport. He was named All-State as a senior.
Faiza Boujaafar (Sr., 6-0, Rotterdam, Holland/Jacksonville State), Crystal Caudill (So. , 5-5, Chapin, SC/Chapin HS), Elizabeth Dunbar (Jr., 5-8 ,Spartanburg, SC/Spartanburg HS), Marcela Gonzales (Sr., 5-5 , Bogota, Columbia), Nina Lesnanska (Jr., 5-8, Sydney, Australia/New Braufels HS), Shannon Pallardy (So., 5-6, LaCrosse, WI/West Salem HS) and Jessica Traywick (Jr., 5-4 , Salem, SC/Tamassee Salem HS) made up the Rifles' women's team.
Jacob Landon (Sr., 5-11, Inman, SC/Boiling Springs HS ), Bryan Mehaffey (Fr., 5-9, Laurens, SC/Laurens HS), Pierre Patterson (Sr., 5-9, Columbia, SC/A.C. Flora HS), Diego Sist (So., 5-9, Lima, Peru), Travis Smith (Sr., 5-7, Six Mile, SC/Daniel HS), Westbrook Walsh (Fr., 6-2, Spartanburg, SC/Spartanburg HS) and Josh White (Fr., 5-9, Easley, SC/Easley HS) made up the men's team at USCS.
For more information on USCS athletics visit: http://www.uscs.edu/athletics.
USCS is a member of the Peach Belt Conference.
Tim Gibbons took the time to address the issue to the scrunners.com viewers. Below are the questions asked and his responses.
scrunners: What are you going to do now that the programs are no longer available at USCS?
gibbons: The first thing I'm trying to do is find a full time job somewhere. If I could work it into my schedule somehow I wouldn't mind trying to be an assistant coach at a high school as well. It really will just depend on the type of hours I work with the full time job.
scrunners: How did this situation arise?
gibbons: I guess it all started around mid-January. I informed my Athletic Director, Mike Hall, that I was planning on resigning as the Cross Country coach. Within a week he informed me that he was seriously considering dropping both teams. As time went on he made up his mind and proceeded with all the necessary procedures. It's unfortunate because there's a lot of tradition with these programs but I'm a firm believer that God does everything for a reason and this is certainly no exception. We don't always understand why He does things but it always comes out for the best and we just have to trust that this situation will be the same. Mr. Hall's main reasons for doing this are 1) my resignation 2) recruiting has been down the last couple of years 3) there weren't going to be many returnees 4) we are the only school without a golf team in the conference 5) he felt the funds used for Cross Country would be better used for other purposes. There were a few other reasons but these were the main ones.
scrunners: What do the athletes think?
gibbons: The athletes were definitely upset, especially the girls, which I completely understand since I went through the same thing at Lander. It's a very tough thing to swallow but with that said, I feel like everyone is trying to make the best of the situation. I think the girls were more upset because they knew they were on the verge of making some significant improvements. Our team was very inexperienced this year and we made a lot of strides from beginning to end and I don't doubt at all that they would have improved even more.
scrunners: Are any of them transfering to run, etc. If so, where are they going?
gibbons: As of right now no one is planning to transfer. As I said before there weren't many people returning and the ones that were have other things going on to keep them here.
The university has discontinued the programs immediately and is reallocating the funds to reestablish the men's golf program, which will begin competition in 2005. USCS is also planning on starting a women's golf program in the future.
Former Head Cross Country Coach Tim Gibbons was a two-year letterman at USCS. Gibbons served as an interim coach prior to becoming head coach at the university in July 2003.
Gibbons, a West Columbia, SC, native began his collegiate career at the College of Charleston where he finished in the top 15 twice as a freshman. He transferred to Lander as a sophomore and proceeded to win three individual titles. He also set the school record in the 10k distance and won team Most Valuable Player honors. Gibbons transferred to USCS after Lander's cross-country program was dropped from the athletic department.
Gibbons earned eight letters in track and cross-country at Lexington High School. He earned MVP honors and the Johnny Boozer Leadership Award for track, lettering five times in the sport. He was a three-time All-Region and All-Area selection in cross-country, earning three letters in the sport. He was named All-State as a senior.
Faiza Boujaafar (Sr., 6-0, Rotterdam, Holland/Jacksonville State), Crystal Caudill (So. , 5-5, Chapin, SC/Chapin HS), Elizabeth Dunbar (Jr., 5-8 ,Spartanburg, SC/Spartanburg HS), Marcela Gonzales (Sr., 5-5 , Bogota, Columbia), Nina Lesnanska (Jr., 5-8, Sydney, Australia/New Braufels HS), Shannon Pallardy (So., 5-6, LaCrosse, WI/West Salem HS) and Jessica Traywick (Jr., 5-4 , Salem, SC/Tamassee Salem HS) made up the Rifles' women's team.
Jacob Landon (Sr., 5-11, Inman, SC/Boiling Springs HS ), Bryan Mehaffey (Fr., 5-9, Laurens, SC/Laurens HS), Pierre Patterson (Sr., 5-9, Columbia, SC/A.C. Flora HS), Diego Sist (So., 5-9, Lima, Peru), Travis Smith (Sr., 5-7, Six Mile, SC/Daniel HS), Westbrook Walsh (Fr., 6-2, Spartanburg, SC/Spartanburg HS) and Josh White (Fr., 5-9, Easley, SC/Easley HS) made up the men's team at USCS.
For more information on USCS athletics visit: http://www.uscs.edu/athletics.
USCS is a member of the Peach Belt Conference.
Tim Gibbons took the time to address the issue to the scrunners.com viewers. Below are the questions asked and his responses.
scrunners: What are you going to do now that the programs are no longer available at USCS?
gibbons: The first thing I'm trying to do is find a full time job somewhere. If I could work it into my schedule somehow I wouldn't mind trying to be an assistant coach at a high school as well. It really will just depend on the type of hours I work with the full time job.
scrunners: How did this situation arise?
gibbons: I guess it all started around mid-January. I informed my Athletic Director, Mike Hall, that I was planning on resigning as the Cross Country coach. Within a week he informed me that he was seriously considering dropping both teams. As time went on he made up his mind and proceeded with all the necessary procedures. It's unfortunate because there's a lot of tradition with these programs but I'm a firm believer that God does everything for a reason and this is certainly no exception. We don't always understand why He does things but it always comes out for the best and we just have to trust that this situation will be the same. Mr. Hall's main reasons for doing this are 1) my resignation 2) recruiting has been down the last couple of years 3) there weren't going to be many returnees 4) we are the only school without a golf team in the conference 5) he felt the funds used for Cross Country would be better used for other purposes. There were a few other reasons but these were the main ones.
scrunners: What do the athletes think?
gibbons: The athletes were definitely upset, especially the girls, which I completely understand since I went through the same thing at Lander. It's a very tough thing to swallow but with that said, I feel like everyone is trying to make the best of the situation. I think the girls were more upset because they knew they were on the verge of making some significant improvements. Our team was very inexperienced this year and we made a lot of strides from beginning to end and I don't doubt at all that they would have improved even more.
scrunners: Are any of them transfering to run, etc. If so, where are they going?
gibbons: As of right now no one is planning to transfer. As I said before there weren't many people returning and the ones that were have other things going on to keep them here.