Troy, NY----The Sage Colleges Athletic Director, Dani Drews announced the selection of Jim Bowles (Amsterdam, NY) to serve as the inaugural coach of the men's cross country program at the college. Bowles comes to the Sage Colleges serving the past ten seasons at Siena College.

When asked about Bowles addition to the department, Drews said, "With Jim Bowles at the helm of our new men's cross country team, we have been able to not only secure a head coach with over 20 years of head coaching experience, but a gentleman who lives and breathes the sport." Drews added, "We couldn't have found a better person to start a program and make us contenders in just a few years."

Bowles is still an active runner himself and very involved within the sport having served as the Elite Athlete Coordinator for the Freihofer's Run for Women as well as a member of the Capital District Track and Field Officials organization. He will begin building his cross country program immediately for the Sage Gators and will have an entire year to build his program in advance of the first competition in the Fall of 2010.

During his tenure at Siena, Bowles led both the men's and women's programs that have progressed in size and he helped develop hundreds of quality student-athletes. The women's team topped Siena's 18 Division I sports in the 2007-08 academic year with a 3.49 team GPA. The men's team was also one of 12 teams to post a 3.0 GPA or better (3.19).

Both the men's and women's teams were named National Academic Squads multiple times during Bowles' tenure, often earning the recognition with distinction. Bowles' student-athletes also have competed in America's premier road races, including the Boston and New York Marathons.

Siena's top finish in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships under Bowles came in 2002 and 2003 when the women's team finished in third place. This past fall, the women finished eighth and the men finished ninth in the MAAC Championships which were held in Orlando, Florida.

Bowles is a 1979 graduate of the University of California at Sacramento, having earned his bachelor of science degree in history and sociology. He earned a Masters' degree in 1981 from the University of Ohio-Dayton in aerospace engineering and a Masters' degree in operations management from the University of Arkansas-Jonesboro in 1983.                     

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