From Dec. 23 - Jan. 1, Kevin Hadsell, the director of track & field and cross country, shares with utrockets.com his list of the Top-10 cross country and track memories of the last 10 years. Hadsell is in his 12th year as the head men's and women's cross country coach and has guided the women's track team since 2004.

In the winter and spring of 2003, senior Everlyne Lagat - the younger sister of United States Olympic gold medalist Bernard Lagat - established herself as one of the greatest distance runners in Mid-American Conference history.  Her school record and MAC Indoor all-time record of 16:15.54 that she established at the Notre Dame Last Chance earned her a trip to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, and it was the No. 21 ranked time in the world that year.

In February of that year, Lagat teamed with fellow All-American Briana Shook, Jennifer Grim and Megan Palm to blast a new school record and the second-fastest Distance Medley Relay time in MAC history in 11:29.57. That relay finished the year ranked No. 29 in the NCAA.

At the MAC Indoor Championships, Lagat anchored the DMR to a runner-up finish on Friday night. She came back the next afternoon and won the mile in a MAC meet record time of 4:49.10, which still stands. Later that afternoon, Lagat and Shook had one of the greatest distance battles in MAC history as they ran the two-fastest times in MAC meet history in the 3000-meters. Shook took the title in 9:25.10 and Lagat was second in 9:26.40.

At the Indoor NCAA Championships, Lagat finished ninth, just missing All-American status by one second.

During the outdoor season, Lagat battled anemia but was able to rally at the end of the season. She finished third at the MAC Outdoor Championships in the 1500m (4:30.58) and second in the 5000-meters in 17:02.13. She went on to finish third at the NCAA Regional Championships in the 5000-meters in 16:34.60 and earned a return trip to the NCAA Championships. At the NCAA Championships, she qualified on to the finals of the 5000-meters by running 16:29.65 in the trials and then finished ninth in 16:26.53 in the finals, once again just missing All-American status by two seconds.

In the MAC all-time record books, she is the Indoor 5000-meter record holder and the Indoor Mile Championships Meet record holder. She is ranked third all-time in the indoor 3000-meters, ninth all-time in the outdoor 5,000-meters and seventh all-time in the indoor mile.

“Everlyne came in as a transfer and made huge jumps in her last two years," Hadsell said. "She is one of the greatest distance runners in MAC history and her battle with Briana Shook in the MAC 3000-meters is a race that lives on in infamy. Everlyne has continued to run and has run under 32:50 for 10,000-meters and is one of the top female distance runners in the world.”