Over the past five years, Waynesburg University’s women’s cross country head coach Chris Hardie has led the program to three Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship titles and earned four Coach of the Year Awards.
For Hardie, it isn’t about the medals or the awards, it’s about the competition.

“I get going by going out and watching people compete and getting better every week,” Hardie said. “I am definitely a goal driven person and none of it revolves around winning awards or trophies – it’s all about just being the best we can be.”

This fall, Hardie entered his ninth season as the cross country head coach and his 13th season involved in the athletic department, and experienced a team that was distinctly different than any other he has coached.

“There was certainly a learning curve,” said Hardie. “I guess we kind of knew coming in we would have our top seven reshaped this year, it would be totally different.”

After losing a significant number of seniors who heavily contributed to the program’s success last year, Hardie said this year’s focus was on preparing the younger athletes on the team. Hardie knew he had a talented freshman class, but he said he wasn’t sure how quickly they would adapt to collegiate-level athletics.

“They had been really good high school runners and sometimes that transition is a little bit rougher to go to college,” said Hardie. “We dealt with that and that had been a new feeling in probably four or five years of having a primarily young team.”

Injuries were another obstacle Hardie said he had to manage throughout the season. Despite the high volume of injuries Hardie said the team suffered during the season, there was not a clear reason for it.

“It was the worst year in 13 years I have been here at Waynesburg where it was like an injury after another,” said Hardie. “Some of it occurred in the summer and a majority of it occurred camp week and then the first couple of weeks and we couldn’t pinpoint what it was causing all of it.”

Entering into the PAC championships, Hardie knew it was going to be another tight race against Grove City College. Looking through the projections proved that.

“I knew that they were always going to give us a challenge, they always run their best race so you never know what to expect,” said Hardie. “They are really hard to prepare for, but on paper at some point some of our projections were single digits and a couple of the other projections maybe we win by 20.”

Despite the adjustment period the freshmen had to go through, they ended up being the biggest contributing factor to Waynesburg’s third consecutive championship title. Freshmen Aubrey Wingeart and Gloria Reed led the Jackets to a three-point margin over Grove City College, finishing third and fourth overall.

Looking ahead, Hardie said he doesn’t focus on the recent success of the program but instead on the pursuit of putting together a national-level program.

“I am consumed by the idea of putting a team together that will go to nationals,” said Hardie. “I think it is easier on our women side, so I do get kind of fixated on recruiting really high-end female athletes here.”

But to get to the national level, Hardie said he recognizes it’s going to take the same coaching staff that’s helped him earn four Coach of the Year awards in five years – Michelle Cross, Laurel Rush and Kristen Stone.

“I wish I could cut that award into four and give each of them a section of it,” said Hardie. “There is so much behind-the-scenes, especially in our program where because of my role here in Student Services I don’t get to spend as much time with them – that’s where those three-step in.”