Cross Country Senior Patrick Cheptoek practices on Wednesday at Kereiakes Park for the NCAA Championships. He placed 12th this past weekend at the Regionals meet in Louisville. CHRIS WILSON/HERALD

Senior Patrick Cheptoek said he thought he had run the last race of his career. Then he received a phone call from Head Coach Erik [...]

It’s been 12 days since the search began for Western’s next coach following the news that Head Coach David Elson would not be retained after the season.
Athletics Director Wood Selig said Thursday afternoon that the search committee planned to meet Thursday night. Selig said the committee would begin to review applications and inquiries and start [...]

Senior center Cody Hughes talks to teammates during the Toppers’ practice on Wednesday night. The team’s 13 seniors will play the last two games of their Western careers in the next few weeks.

There’s a lot to learn in the classroom at Western, but when it comes to life, senior center Cody Hughes said he’s planning [...]

Head Coach Ken McDonald set the bar high before the season.
After an imperfect start, he’s keeping it there.
The Toppers edged out Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Monday’s opening round of the National Invitational Tournament season tip-off but fell to Louisiana State 71-60 on Tuesday. Instead of heading to New York for the tournament finals, Western will host a [...]

The Lady Toppers haven’t been too secretive about their preferred style of play.
“We’re basically a running team,” senior forward Arnika Brown said. “We look forward to getting transition points. Basically our practice has so much running in it, it’s ridiculous, but we look forward to it.”
Western (2-0) has had few problems applying that fast-paced style [...]

There are a million things to think about when selecting a new head football coach. Salary, morals, previous record — all these things put together are things to consider in making the best choice and ensuring the right person leads the program.

Another aspect that must be considered is the talent on the current roster.

The Lady Toppers’ motto for the 2009 season is “A Winning Tradition.” In recent years, the team has saved some of its most important wins for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
Since 2000, Western has advanced to six out of eight Sun Belt Tournament Championship matches. They won three of those tournaments, and after Thursday’s four-set [...]

The No. 3-seed Lady Toppers avoided a rough start to advance to the second round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Thursday night.
Western (25-8, 13-4 Sun Belt) defeated No. 6 seed Denver in four sets (23-25, 25-14, 25-21, 25-18).
The Lady Toppers started the first set with four service errors in their first four chances. Denver [...]

Western lost more than its first game of the season on Tuesday night.
Louisiana State (3-0) pieced together a 12-0 run to turn a 57-57 shootout into a 71-60 win over Western in the game’s final three minutes, ensuring the Tigers a spot in the NIT Preseason Tip-off’s ‘First Four’ at Madison Square Garden next week.
Senior [...]

While the Toppers and Lady Toppers may be reflecting on their recent successes in the pool, Head Coach Bruce Marchionda will be looking for a reflection on the squads’ stamina when Western hosts the Hilltopper Invitational this weekend.
“Our goal is obviously to win,” said Marchionda. “But more importantly we’re going to use this as a [...]