IUP Athletic Hall of Fame
Coach Lou Sutton’s stellar 1977 cross country squad is being inducted in the team category, a fitting honor given its utter dominance that fall.
Even with its No. 2 runner out with an injury, IUP placed third at the NCAA Division II meet that fall, the highest finish in school history. The Indians, as they were then known, also placed sixth at the NAIA national meet.
Sutton’s team opened the season with wins over UPJ, St. Francis and Grove City, then finished second in the California Invitational to an Allegheny Community College squad that would go on to win the national junior college championship.
IUP followed by finishing fourth at the Malone Invitational behind three Division I opponents; won the IUP Invitational in a torrential downpour; easily bested Slippery Rock, UPJ and Clarion in a quad meet at Mack Park; and then tied Edinboro, the two-time defending national champion, for the NAIA District 18 title.
The Indians finished second to Cleveland State, which would later place 11th in the NCAA Division I nationals, at the Penn-Ohio meet in a warm-up for the PSAC championships. IUP won easily—Edinboro finished a distant second—by placing four runners in the top 10.
Despite missing Dan Cunkelman, their No. 2 man behind Richard Wolf, the Indians placed behind only Eastern Illinois and South Dakota State at the NCAA Division II meet in Chicago. Wolf finished 11th, making him the program’s first All-American. That finish still ranks as the third-best in school history, and his time of 30 minutes, 46 seconds over the 10,000-meter course is still fifth-best all-time.
The Indians—Wolf, Mike Higgins, Ken Trilli, Jeff Tomecek, Jake Hepp, Tim McVeigh, Andy Pheiff and Cunkelman, even though he didn’t run—were honored as an All-America team for their third-place finish.
Sutton’s squad celebrated another top 10 performance a week later at the NAIA meet in Kenosha, Wis., placing sixth behind Adams State (Colo.), Saginaw Valley State (Mich.), Fort Hays State (Kan.), Lewis (Ill.) and Eastern Washington State. Wolf finished 26th to lead all IUP runners.
