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.

From the fall of 2002 to the end of the 2003 outdoor season, the University of Toledo women's cross country and distance crew established a solid place in history as the greatest distance crew in MAC history. Led by University of Toledo Hall of Fame inductees Briana Shook and Sara Vergote, as well as All-American and all-time MAC record holder Everlyne Lagat, the Rockets dominated in a way that no MAC team has ever experienced. 

Over the course of the school year, Hadsell's distance crew sent three different women to all three NCAA Championships (cross country, indoor and outdoor track), won their second-straight MAC Cross Country Championship, ranked as high as No. 26 in the NCAA Division I Top-30 Poll, had two women ranked in the Top-25 in the world, outscored seven full teams on their own at the MAC Indoor and Outdoor Championships, had a USA Track and Field Champion, an American record and set three all-time MAC Records and three MAC Championship records.

At the 2002 MAC Cross Country Championships, the Rockets successfully defended their MAC Championship and were led by the amazing 1-2 individual finish of Shook and Vergote. Shook and Vergote would go on to finish first and ninth, respectively, at the 2002 NCAA Great Lakes Region Championships and earn bids to the NCAA Cross Country Championships where Shook was named All-American for her 24th-place finish and Vergote finished 56th overall, only a few seconds from All-American status herself. The Rockets were ranked as high as 26th in the NCAA Rankings.

Shook became the first-ever MAC woman to win the NCAA Great Lakes Region Championship, was named the NCAA Regional Runner of the Year and was a finalist for NCAA Runner of the Year.

At the indoor MAC Championships, the Rocket women's distance crew scored an amazing 62 points from the 800-meters to 5,000-meters. The distance crew outscored seven full track and field teams, leading the Rockets to a 6th place finish overall. At the indoor championships, Shook won the 5000-meters in a meet record time of 16:33.00, Lagat won the mile in a school record and MAC meet record time of 4:49.10. Shook and Lagat went 1-2 in an epic battle in the 3000-meters in 9:25.91 and 9:26.10, respectively, which is the No. 1 and No. 2 meet record times. In addition, Vergote finished 3rd in the 5000-meters (17:05.93) and 5th in the 3000-meters (9:54.88). Shook, Lagat, Megan Palm and Jenny Grimm teamed-up to finish second in the Distance Medley Relay in 11:42.04.

Over the course of the season, Shook set the all-time MAC Record in the 3000-meters in 9:23.90, No. 3 all-time in the 5000-meters (16:32.12) and No. 7 all-time in the mile (4:50.47). Lagat set the all-time MAC Record in the 5000-meters in 16:15.54 and No. 3 all-time in the 3000-meters (9:26.40) and No. 4 all-time in the mile (4:49.10). Lagat finished 9th at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in the 5000-meters and was ranked No. 18 in the world. The Distance medley ran to the No. 2 all-time in MAC history with a time of 11:29.57.

During the outdoor track and field season, the domination continued. Vergote became the only woman in MAC history, to this day, to ever successfully attempt the 10,000m/3000mSC/5000m triple at the MAC Championships. She did it in grand style, winning the MAC 10,000-meter championship in an NCAA qualifying time of 35:13.63, finishing second in the steeple in an NCAA qualifying time of 10:33.03 and finishing fourth in the 5000-meters in 17:13.51. She went on to finish 17th at the NCAA Championships in the steeple in the No. 4 all-time MAC time of 10:25.83.

Following Vergote in third place in the 10,000-meters was 2008 Olympian Petra Teveli. Teveli was MAC mile champion for the Rockets in 2002 and a two-time All-MAC and two-time NCAA All-Region selection.

Lagat ran the No. 7 all-time MAC time in the 5000-meters in 16:26.53 in finishing ninth at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Shook, who redshirted the 2003 outdoor season, did represent the University of Toledo at the USA Track and Field Championships where she was the USA Champion and set a then-American record in the 3000-meter steeplechase in a time of 9:44.12.

This does not include several of the women's distance runners from those years that went on to be great runners over the next few years. Teveli won the 2002 MAC Indoor Mile and ran times of 4:54 (Mile), 9:46 (3000m) and went on to be an Olympian in 2008. Christine Tye was the MAC Outdoor 10,000-meter Champion in 2003 and then went on to also break 10:00 for 3000-meters and was an NCAA Cross Country Qualifier in 2003. Ebba Stenback was only a freshman on those teams, however, she went on to be ranked in the World in the steeplechase and ran 9:40 (3000m), 9:53 (3000mSC) and 16:49 (5000m).

Looking at that group, as a whole, Toledo had:

16 MAC Individual Titles
10 MAC Individual Runner-ups
7 NCAA Qualifiers
5 MAC Meet Records
4 All-Americans
4 World Rankings
3 All-Time MAC Records
2 MAC Team titles
2 MAC Runner-up Teams
1 American Record
1 Olympian

“That distance crew was a lightning strike," Hadsell said. "I have coached for 18 years in Division I and I could coach another 18 years and I am not sure I will ever have a team that is as loaded with talent as that team. It was a distance crew unlike any the MAC has seen to this day.”