Tim Servis enters into his 12th season as head men’s and women’s cross-country coach at Southern Arkansas University, and since taking over the program in 2010, Servis’ teams have shown great consistency and he has continued to build both the men’s and women’s programs into perennial contenders within the Great American Conference (GAC).
Servis’ men’s team raced to a historic finish at the 2017 GAC Cross Country Championships as the Muleriders finished second on their home course among a seven-team field; the highest team finish by the Southern Arkansas Men in the NCAA Division II era (1995-96).
In the previous 22 championships as a Division II member, the SAU Men had finished as high as third place nine times, including six-straight bronze performances under Servis from 2011-2016. Additionally, a program record four runners claimed All-GAC honors in last fall’s championship meet with freshman Trevor Poulson, junior Lane Alexander and sophomore Cole Watson becoming the first SAU Men’s trio to capture All-GAC First-Team accolades in the same season.
For the SAU Women, the 2017 season saw a young Lady Mulerider squad, with seven of its eight runners as underclassmen, run to its second-consecutive Top-5 finish at the GAC Championships with a fifth-place showing among a deep 12-team field.
Under Servis, the SAU Men have logged seven top-three finishes at the league championships in the past eight years. The lone finish out of the top three came in Servis’ first year at the helm of the program, which coincided with SAU’s last season in the vaunted Gulf South Conference (GSC), as the Muleriders placed seventh in an 11-team field. In 2012 and 2013, Servis’ men’s teams were each awarded the GAC Sportsmanship Award.
That same year, SAU’s final year in the GSC, the Lady Muleriders finished last in 14th place at the conference championships, but since then the SAU Women have recorded three Runner-Up finishes as a GAC member and have never finished lower than fifth-place. Following the last-place finish in 2010, the SAU Women garnered a fourth-place showing in the inaugural GAC Championships in 2011, jumped up to a third-place finish in 2012, before registering back-to-back-to-back second-place showings from 2013-2015.
While his teams steadily improve as a whole, numerous individuals under Servis’ tutelage have garnered significant honors and awards.
In 2016, freshman runner Claudine Blancaflor was the top rookie finisher at the GAC Championships and was named the league’s Women’s XC Freshman of the Year as well as being an All-GAC First-Team runner.
In 2014, senior Carli Langley concluded an impressive career as she earned All-GAC First-Team honors and the league’s Female Runner of the Year accolade after winning the individual title at the Great American Conference Championships with the second-largest margin of victory in league history (59.4 seconds). Langley went on to claim All-Central Region First-Team honors later that fall.
In 2012, senior runner Mickey Hammer capped off his stellar career at SAU by being named the GAC Male Runner of the Year after being the top individual finisher at the conference championships. Hammer would go on to earn his third all-region plaudit along with being named as the GAC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
All told, Servis has coached 38 all-conference performers (17 men, 21 women), 19 GAC Runners of the Week (10 men, 9 women), four all-region runners (3 men, 1 woman), two GAC Runners of the Year, one GAC Freshman of the Year, and an Auburn Smith Male Athlete of the Year in his time at SAU.
Academically, thirty-seven runners (15 men, 22 women) have garnered GAC All-Academic honors under Servis.
Most recently, current junior runner Cole Watson was named an All-Academic performer by the USTFCCCA following his sophomore season in 2017; the second such honor for an SAU runner under Servis’ leadership after Hammer claimed the honor in 2012. Additionally, both the 2017 SAU Men (3.14 GPA) and SAU Women (3.43 GPA) were tabbed as All-Academic Teams after having compiled a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 and must having scored at an NCAA Division II regional meet to qualify for All-Academic team awards.
In addition to last season’s academic honors, he has also coached a 2015 Capital One Academic All-District 7 & Capital One Academic All-America First-Teamer and a 2014 Capital One Academic All-America Second-Teamer in Michelle Beavers, and the aforementioned 2012-13 GAC Male Scholar Athlete of the Year and 2012 USTFCCCA Division II Men’s XC All-Academic honoree in Mickey Hammer,
Records have also fallen under Servis’ guidance at SAU. To date, his men’s team has set school records in the 8,000-meter (Hammer | ) and 10,000-meter (Hammer | ) cross country races, while his women’s team has set school records in the 5,000-meter (Langley | 17:37.00) and 6,000-meter cross country races (Blancaflor | 22:15.30). In track meets, Servis has had men’s runners break program records in the 1,500, 3,000, 5,000, and 10,000 meter races as well as the 3,000 meter Steeplechase, while his women’s runners have set new program marks in the 800, 1,500, and 5,000 meter events as well as the 3,000 meter Steeplechase.
Prior to coming to SAU, Servis attended the University of Central Arkansas as a graduate student. Throughout the 2009-2010 UCA track seasons, he served as student assistant coach.
In fall 2008, Servis was hired as the Conway High School interim cross-country coach. During the 2008 season, he guided the Conway Wampus Cats to the 7A Central Conference Championship and the first runner-up at the Arkansas state meet. Conway High School finished the season with six all-conference runners and four all-state runners. Six runners from the 2008 team were invited to the Arkansas/Oklahoma all-star cross-country meet.
Prior to working at Conway High School Servis was the head cross-country coach at Lyon College (2005-2007). During his time at Lyon College, Servis lead the Scots to a second place TranSouth Athletic Conference finish and fifth place Region XI finish. Servis coached eight all-conference NAIA runners, one all-region NAIA runner, nine All-Academic Team runners, and one NAIA National Qualifier.
Servis began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant track coach for Clarksville High School in 2004 and 2005.
Before his career as a coach, Servis competed as a cross-country runner for the University of the Ozarks from 2000-2003. While competing there, he was awarded Most Valuable Cross-Country Runner in 2000, and served as the captain of the cross-country team in 2001.
Servis attended high school at Harrison High School, in Harrison, Ark. He competed in cross-country and track from 1997-2000. He was awarded Harrison High School’s Most Outstanding Track and Cross-Country Runner three consecutive years. He earned a bachelor of general studies from University of the Ozarks and a Master of Science degree in Kinesiology from UCA.
Servis will enter into his eighth season as the head coach of Southern Arkansas’ Men’s and Women’s Track & Field programs this upcoming year.
Southern Arkansas revived its once relevant and historically successful Men’s and Women’s Track & Field programs in May of 2014 and the university tabbed Servis, the school’s Head Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Coach, to lead the programs in authoring its next chapter.
Servis spent the fall semester following the announcement recruiting and he brought in 47 freshman athletes and four transfers for SAU’s first full season of outdoor track & field competition in the spring of 2015; four years after the programs’ last outdoor track & field competition and more than ten years since the university last produced full squads.
Since its rebirth, Servis has consistently raised the standards of both programs in his previous four years as head coach and last spring his efforts culminated in the SAU Men claiming their first Great American Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championship in dominate fashion; the program’s first conference title since 1985. In the team’s previous two GAC Title Meets, the SAU Men placed second in both 2016 and 2017, before literally running away with the title on their home track in 2018.
For his efforts in leading the SAU Men to their first conference title in 33 years, Servis was named the Great American Conference’s Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year.
Under Servis, the SAU Women claimed hardware in their first two GAC Championship Meets as they finished as league Runner-Up in both 2016 and 2017, before registering a third-place showing this past season in Magnolia.
With the team success that Southern Arkansas has experienced behind Servis’ leadership, several Muleriders and Lady Muleriders have garnered conference and national honors both on the track and in the classroom.
Servis has been responsible for coaching 125 All-GAC performers, including 14 individual champions (10 men, 4 women). Of the 125 All-GAC performers, 66 (35 men, 31 women) of those have garnered First-Team accolades and 59 (36 men, 23 women) have received Second-Team plaudits. In terms of weekly honors, nine different athletes (4 men, 5 women) have combined to win 11 GAC Track/Field Athlete of the Week awards.
Additionally, Servis has had a pair of athletes claim the GAC’s High Point Award (Most Valuable Athlete) as freshman Lady Mulerider Claudine Blancaflor (28 points) took home the honor at the 2017 championships, while junior Mulerider Karonce Higgins (33 points) snagged the award at the 2018 championships.
Five athletes, including Lady Muleriders Claudine Blancaflor (1500 Meter), Kenisha Bryant (400 Meter Hurdles) and T’Keyah Crockett (Discus Throw) and Muleriders Quincy Flowers (100 Meter) and Karonce Higgins (200, Long Jump), have garnered All-Central Region recognition from the United States Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) under Servis’ watch, with Bryant claiming the honor in both 2017 and 2018.
Bryant, a member of Servis’ first Track & Field recruiting class, capped her junior year of 2017 by becoming the SAU Women’s first Division II All-America selection since 1995 after earning a Second-Team nod by the USTFCCCA. That season, Bryant became the first Lady Mulerider in the school’s Division II Era (1995-present) to compete at the NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field National Championships. She was impressive in the 400 Meter Hurdles as she logged a fifth-place finish in her heat and an 11th-place showing overall with a time of 1:00.46.
Bryant joined Higgins, who competed in a pair of events (200 Meter, Long Jump) at the 2016 NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field Championship, as the first female and male track & field athletes, respectively, to compete nationally for Southern Arkansas in the school’s Division II Era. This past spring, Bryant returned to the National Championships and was joined by Crockett.
Academically, Bryant received All-Academic honors from the USTFCCCA in 2017 and highlighted a Lady Mulerider squad that was named an All-Academic Team by the same outlet after sporting a team-GPA of 3.09 during the 2016-17 school year. Servis has also seen a handful of athletes from both teams earn All-Academic honors from the GAC as a dozen athletes (6 men, 6 women) have captured the honor since 2016.
