Save UMD Men's Cross Country and Track & Field Program
Due to UMD's budget crisis, Kevin Anderson announced to the entire track and field family that all three seasons of Men's running (XC, Indoor, and Outdoor Track and Field) are being recommended to be cut from the University Athletics. This team's history runs as deep as the university itself. Dating all the way back to 1923, the running program boasts 8 NCAA champions, innumerable All-Americans (most recently, our very own Dwight Barbiaz, high jumper 2011), and over 50 ACC Team Titles. Our program has produced incredible people who have done astonishing things over the years, including Olympian and former world-record holder Renaldo Nehemiah, current CEO of Pepsi NorthAmerica Al Carey, and Samuel LeFrak, whose namesake LeFrak Hall should be recognizable to anybody familiar with our campus.
Furthermore, the men’s team has won the President’s Cup, an award given to the team with the highest campus-wide GPA, 5 out of the past 15 years. Cutting our program would surely decrease the overall GSR (graduation success rate) for the athletic department, which has already recently come under fire for not meeting certain standards. The football team recently had to forfeit 3 scholarships this year for not meeting these standards in the 2009-2010 academic calendar year.
The cross country and track and field programs here at Maryland are very unique; we truly are a family. Taking away the guys' side is like taking away our very brothers. Cutting entire sports teams, especially those which have won so many titles, is not the solution to the financial problem.
For the track community as a whole, who knows what slippery slope the loss of our program may entail. Maryland would be the only school in the ACC without a men’s XC/Track program pending these cuts. Considering the recent losses of men’s programs at schools such as JMU, Delaware, and Seton Hall, this decision could pave the way for even more schools to consider cutting track and field as a short-term solution to a long-term problem.
Time to rally, Terps! Voice your support and help save the team!!