Southern Arkansas University Athletics

Mike Healer is considered to be one of the best distance runners ever at Southern Arkansas as he ran cross country and distance events in track at what was then Southern State College from 1971-1974. An injury cut Healer’s senior campaign short, but the three healthy years he had were remarkable.
 
As a freshman, Healer finished eighth overall at the AIC Cross Country Championships with a time of 26:42. A year later as a sophomore, Healer improved upon that time at the conference championships by 20 seconds and placed fourth overall. In his junior cross country season of 1973, Healer improved once more, but that year’s improvement was markedly higher as Healer won the AIC Championship after finishing the five-mile race with a blistering record time of 24:39, averaging just under five minutes a mile.
 
Healer’s steady improvement in cross country during the fall translated just as well over to the spring and its track season. In his freshman track campaign, Healer finished runner-up in the 3-Mile run with a time of 14:48.2. His sophomore season saw Healer improve that individual finish as he won the 3-Mile and established a new AIC record with a time of 14:40.1. Not done winning that event and bettering the record time he set, Healer would win the 3-Mile a second-straight year as a junior in the spring of 1974 as he trimmed 14 seconds off of his previous time and crossed the tape at 14:26.2.
 
Between cross country and track, Healer was a multiple recipient of All-AIC honors and claimed three individual titles.
 
While his senior season was lost to injury, Healer was motivated to not let that end his running career. In 1980, Healer qualified for the 1980 Olympic trials in the marathon with a 2:19.0 time registered at the Mardi Gras Marathon in New Orleans. Healer would run a similar time at the trials in Buffalo, N.Y., and was one of a record number 56 runners to finish the trials under 2:20, but did not advance to the Olympic team. Still, however, Healer continued to run, and after joining the Marine Corps in 1981, Healer would go on to make the All-Marine Cross Country Team in 1989 as well as the inter-service team that same year.