By Michael Gorman

Dan Hennigar stood just 700m from the finish line at last weekend's CIS cross country championships in Guelph-but he wasn't able to see his runners cross the line.

"I was able to see them just before they got to there, but I couldn't tell where they were finishing," he said.

As a result, Hennigar's running tally of his team's progress was a little off. He thought Dal was in line for a second place finish, but he was wrong. When the result were announced, Dal's women had won their first national championship by 15 points-a clear margin-with three runners finishing in the top seven. The men, who also ran well, finished fifth.

As you might expect, Hennigar was elated.

''I'm really happy with the team's performance," the proud coach said. "Everyone performed so well when it mattered the most and they overcame some tough circumstances."

The national team title, and Janice Ashworth's individual silver medal has cemented Hennigar as the most successful coach at Dal right now. In the last three years, his track and cross-country teams have combined for three individual national titles, four silvers and a national team championship. Only swim coach David Fry, whose teams have a silver and three bronze medals to their credit in the last two years, comes close to Hennigar coached teams' impressive tally.

For Hennigar, it has to be just a little bitter sweet. It wasn't long ago that rumours flew around Dalplex that the cross-country and track programs were on the verge of being cut to save money.

Now, they're the two most successful programs at the school. And yet Hennigar hasn't always received the credit he deserves.

Last year, despite coaching athletes to two gold medals and two silver medals at Cis, Hennigar was overlooked for Dalhousie coach of the year honours. Not to undermine the accomplishments of men's hockey coach Fabian Joseph, last year's winner, but something seems a little odd when his team's CIS bronze medal counts more than Hennigar's pair of national titles and double silver finishes. But it was hard to tell what Hennigar thought or felt about the oversight-he was busy coaching one of his athletes at the Cross Country World Championships in Italy that night.

Too often sports are overlooked simply because they aren't as high profile as others. In the case of Dalhousie, the sports that are overlooked also happen to be the school's best programs with some of its most dominant athletes. It's too late to see the cross-country team in action, but when track season begins in the New Year, don't miss you chance to check that out.

First published in the Dalhousie Gazette  vol 137, iss 11 on Nov 18, 2004.