Iler Expands Range to Help AU Cross Country Soar
October 20, 2003

By Joe Soehnlen, AU Sports Information

The running resume of Ashland University cross country star Nate Iler (Bucyrus, OH/Colonel Crawford) has been limited to the competitive oval of track and field for the most part throughout his career. A two-time All-America on the track - once each in the 800 meters and the 1500 meters - the junior is now experiencing success on the 8,000 meter cross country course.

“I put in a lot of base miles this summer,” said Iler. “That, combined with my shorter event success, will, I hope, be the equation for success in the longer cross country races.”

Iler’s training this year has consisted of hard work with a focus on strength and endurance.

“It’s been a lot of miles,” said Iler. “A lot of miles along with our circuit training and abdominal work, which will hopefully pay off tremendously in the end.”

At the Ohio State Invitational earlier in the season Iler placed second to OSU’s Rob Myers, beating some of the best distance runners this area of the country has to offer. Iler followed up that performance a month ago with a first place finish at the Wooster Invitational in 26:55 and two weeks ago added a 14th-place finish at the prestigious All-Ohio Collegiate Championships.

Heading into this weekend’s Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships at Ferris State, Iler is focused on being competitive among the best the conference has to offer. Iler had a sub-par race last season at the GLIAC Championships and this time he is hoping for a better finish.

“I want to have a strong race and have a very high placing in this incredibly strong field,” said Iler. “Placing high is a goal and it can be very motivating heading into the later portion of our season.”

Iler points to this weekend’s race as being a great measuring stick for the AU men’s team to see where their season is headed.

“We’ve had very successful workouts in the past few weeks,” said Iler. “We feel that we can compete very well.”

Despite predictions and others assumptions, Iler believes this years men’s team is stronger than years past.

“We did lose Nick Cordes (national cross country runnerup in 2002) and he was a mentor to all of us, but I feel that this year’s team as a whole is much stronger,” said Iler.

“We plan on being very successful and running competitively in November,” he continued.