Despite the seemingly endless changes that have come through UMass Lowell Athletics in the 50 years since the merger of Lowell Tech and Lowell State, one thing that has remained consistent has been the excellence of the cross country program. Across eras and divisions, generation after generation of distance runners have succeeded in Lowell thanks to a culture of hard work and tenacity. 

From city streets and wooded trails to conference championships and national stages, UMass Lowell cross country has never relied on shortcuts. Instead, the program’s legacy has been shaped by people, student-athletes and coaches alike, who understood that sustained success is earned one mile at a time.

Like in many other sports, Lowell Tech and Lowell State began as opponents on the course before fully unifying. For UMass Lowell Athletics Hall of Famer Bob Hodge ’78, that rivalry ultimately led him back to school and into a new program. 

“One of the reasons I wound up coming back was seeing a meet between Lowell Tech and Lowell State,” Hodge said. “I jumped in the race, met some of the guys, and that’s really how it started.”

For the newly unified University of Lowell team under the direction of former Lowell Tech head coach and future Hall of Famer George Davis, training conditions were modest and facilities were limited. Distance runners logged miles through Lowell’s neighborhoods and the Dracut State Forest, often regardless of weather.

“It didn’t matter what the conditions were,” Hodge said. “The distance runners just went out.”

As the program matured, leadership became one of its defining strengths, featuring just two head coaches in more than 50 years, beginning with Davis from 1970-2002.

“Everybody had different personalities, and everybody had different things that motivated them,” explained Hall of Famer John Doherty ’93 regarding the inaugural head coach’s style. “One person needed him to be a little bit more stern, while other people needed him to be a little bit hands off. George always knew what buttons to press on everybody.”

“George was always very gracious to me even as a student-athlete at Keene State,” added current head coach Gary Gardner, who took over for Davis in 2003. “Then when I got into coaching, I talked to him at different meets that we happened to be at and always just touched base.

More than a decade later, when Gardner took over the program, he inherited a culture already rooted in accountability and expectation.

“There was a high standard here already,” Gardner said. “My job was to protect that and build on it.”

And building on the already incredible history of the program is exactly what Gardner did, carrying on the culture and legacy of Davis and his alums. 

“We go after blue-collar kids who want to work hard and buy in and want to be here,” Gardner explained. “If they don’t buy into the school and the program, they’re not going to be successful.”

That philosophy has resonated across both the men’s and women’s cross country programs under Gardner’s tutelage. And while the men’s program was already strongly established before his arrival, the women’s side hadn’t quite had it’s moment of growth just yet.

A few years later, the move to Division I tested the program’s foundation, but moments of validation quickly followed.

“Our first year in Division I was when we brought in Paul Hogan, Bobby Allen, all those kids, and that year we lost the conference championship by one or two points, but the next year, we won our first America East title by 32 points,” Gardner stated.

For Paul Hogan ’18, what was most special about helping to lead the River Hawks to that first championship was the team. 

“Years and months went into training for that race, and it all was presented that day,” Hogan recalled. “Winning the America East Championship and going to nationals - those were unforgettable - but it was the people that made it special. We all pushed each other. The team was greater than the sum of its parts.”

Decades after the merger, with champions at all levels, including the past six America East titles on the men’s side, the program’s alumni remain closely tied to one another and to UMass Lowell.

“Success now is seeing alumni come back,” Gardner said. “Weddings, kids, families: that means more than championships.”

Those bonds persist because of the culture that built them. Doherty described former teammates as lifelong brothers, while Hunt reflected on the sacrifices that made success possible.

“You give things up,” Hunt said. “Social stuff, free time. But it’s worth it because of what you build together.”

Fifty years as one, UMass Lowell cross country continues to reflect the values that built it: hard work, grit and community.

“It reflects Lowell,” Gardner concluded. “It reflects the people who came before.”

As the university looks ahead, the miles continue to add up - not just on the course, but across generations of River Hawks who helped build a program defined not by a moment, but by a lasting legacy.