2011 OVC Cross Country Championship Preview (Tenn. State)

Nashville, Tennessee -- The Tennessee State University men's and women's cross country teams conclude the regular season on Saturday, Oct. 15 at the Front Runner Invitational hosted by Chattanooga. The 2011 OVC Cross Country Championship will be held on Saturday, Oct. 29 at Arlington Golf Course in Richmond, Ky. Eastern Kentucky University will serve as the host.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29
OVC Championship (Richmond, Ky.)
Austin Peay
Eastern Illinois
Eastern Kentucky
Jacksonville State
Morehead State
Murray State
Southeast Missouri
Tennessee State
Tennessee Tech
UT Martin



Tennessee State: Tennessee State traveled to the Front Runner Invitational in Chattanooga on Saturday to compete in the five-team field. The Flying Tigers placed fourth overall as did the Tigerbelles. Christopher Hobbs led the men's team for the fifth time this season, running the 5K course in 17:30 to place 20th overall. Charita Harris led the women's squad for the first time this year, covering the 2-mile course in 13:14 and placing 16th overall. The race was the last prep before running at the OVC Championship in Richmond, Ky. in two weeks.

VISIT: TSUTIGERS
VISIT: OVCSPORTS

Ex-TSU Coach Temple led first U.S. team to China in '75

Hall of Fame Coach Ed Temple (Edward S. Temple) is Tennessee's most honored and accomplished track and field coach. His famous Tigerbelles Women's Track Club of Tennessee State University (TSU) won twenty-three gold, silver, and bronze Olympic medals, thirty-four national team titles, and thirty medals in the Pan American Games.

Historic track trip helped to open doors

Profoundly polite people, hotels without keys and a relay team with only anchor legs. That's what former Tennessee State track Coach Ed Temple remembers most about a historic 1975 trip to China with a U.S. track and field team. As coach of the first American team to compete in China during the communist era, Temple guided 38 female athletes on a goodwill tour of meets in Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai and Peking, now commonly known as Beijing.

"I was reluctant to go since it was China and no one had ever been to China at that time," Temple said recently. "But I was also curious. It turned out to be one of the most unique experiences I have ever had." With athletes preparing for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Temple looked back on his trip to China, which was just beginning to open its doors to more of the world.

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The 81 year old Coach Temple served the United States and TSU 43 years, retiring in 1993. He is a native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and is a member of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, the TSU Sports Hall of Fame, and has also received the Helms Award.

Mr. Temple attended and graduated from Tennessee State University, (B.S. and M.S. degrees in Health and Physical Education; minor in Sociology). He has also done work toward the doctoral degree at Pennsylvania State University.

There is a wonderful story in the biography of Ed Temple on how he was persuaded by his neighbor to attend Tennessee State, that's very funny...

"It was fate and a bit of trickery that led Temple to Tennessee State University.

After his high school graduation in 1946, Tom Harris, Temple's neighbor and also a coach at Tennessee State, persuaded Temple to attend the university by telling him that Leroy Craig would be attending also. Craig was Temple's rival and after hearing this, he turned down Pennsylvania State University because he thought that Tennessee State University must have been a good school if Craig was enrolling, and so he too enrolled.

He later learned that Harris had misconceived Craig with the same story and both gullible athletes were coaxed to attend Tennessee State University. Declining Pennsylvania State University was not an easy task but nevertheless, Temple decided to stay at Tennessee State. A scholarship was not offered, so Temple was forced to compensate for his tuition with work-aid."

TSU coach sprints back to Olympics

Cheeseborough is U.S. assistant in women's track

Chandra Cheeseborough's life has been a collection of very fast, very significant footsteps. As a young girl she outran every boy in the neighborhood. As a teenager her feet carried her into the track and field spotlight, where she set American records, won Olympic gold medals and international acclaim.

She kept striding forward and became women's track and field coach at her alma mater, Tennessee State University, taking over the Tigerbelles program for the legendary Ed Temple. Now, as the United States prepares for next month's Olympics in Beijing, the 49-year-old Cheeseborough is taking another big step, serving as an assistant coach for the U.S. women's team.

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As an athlete, Cheeseborough was named to three United States Olympic teams. She placed third as a 17-year old in the 100-meter dash in Montreal. She qualified for the ill-fated 1980 Olympic team that did not compete because of a boycott. In 1984, at the Los Angeles games, she made Olympic history by running a leg on two Gold Medal Relay Teams and was the silver medalist in the 400-meters.

Coach Cheeseborough has led the TSU track program to a pair of consecutive Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Track Championships and is the reigning OVC Indoor champion as well. She is a four-time OVC Coach of the Year.

A native of Jacksonville, Florida, she is a graduate of both Ribault High School and Tennessee State University, earning a B.S. degree in Health and Physical Education.