Tyler Guthrie Signs Letter of Intent To Run For Hometown SIUE Men's Cross Country Team

GLEN CARBON - Tyler Guthrie, who emerged as one of the best small-school cross country runners for Father McGivney Catholic's cross country team, signed a letter of intent to run for hometown SIU-Edwardsville in a ceremony held at the school on Thursday evening.

Guthrie, who'll run for head coach Marcus Evans, is very happy to sign with the Cougars, and is looking forward to the opportunity.

"I'm very happy to be here, and I'm very excited to get a full-time offer," Guthrie said during a pre-ceremony interview, "and I'm very excited. I'm kind of nervous, I don't know what to say," he said with a laugh and smile. "But it's all good."

Having the chance to run for the Cougars and alongside local runners such as Roland Prenzler and Zach Walters of Edwardsville and Cree Stumpf of Roxana helps give Guthrie an opportunity that he's looking forward to, and it came rather unexpectedly as well.

"Yes, sir," Guthrie said. "To be honest with you, I wasn't looking to go somewhere closer to home; I was looking outside the region. But a full-time offer is a full-time offer, and that's a big deal to me. And I'm very happy to see what I can do for running on the team, and all, for athletics. And I've been talking to some of the people over there, and I'm already knowing kind of what to expect."

The Cougars had much confidence in Guthrie as a runner early in the recruiting process, and that played a role in his decision to run for SIUE.

"Well, they kind of had confidence in me early on," Guthrie said, "so I just kind of already had that sign, like, I already took that signal. It's something that separates what I've been looking out from the other colleges."

Griffins' cross country coach Jim Helton is very proud of Guthrie's accomplishments and seeing all of his hard work pay off.

"He's worked for it, he truly has," Helton said. "And the things he's been able to accomplish. He wanted to run in college, now he gets a chance at the D-I level, which is pretty sweet."

Helton is also looking forward to seeing Guthrie run for the Cougars, and being alongside the local runners will definitely help him along the way.

"It's going to help him," Helton said, "and I think from our standpoint, it's awesome that it's closer. We're going to be able to see him mature and grow. He's going to have teammates that are going to help him achieve at that next level, which is going to be excellent. And from a McGivney standpoint, we've got a 1A kid in a class of a school of 200 that's been able to achieve, and compare, and to be able to run at the D-I level is pretty nice."

The chance to run at SIUE's famed Mud Mountain course, one of the best-known cross country courses in the nation, excites Helton as well.

"A true cross country, and I'll tell you what – he doesn't back away from it," Helton said. "And that's one thing I've always liked about Tyler is he doesn't back away. He's like 'coach, what do you need me to do today?' And we define it, he goes on and does it."

Guthrie was also considering some big-name schools such as Iowa, Wisconsin and Florida among others, and will bring much to the SIUE table, and is also looking forward to improving and the competition that lies ahead.

"Well, I know that since it's D-I and all, I'm going to have a lot more competition," Guthrie said, "so I'm trying to push myself to greater levels and all, try to have more competition because at this school, I never really had that kind of competition, I was always the big fish in the small pond, so now, I want to be the small fish in a big pond."

Currently, Guthrie is looking at physical therapy, kinesiology, or sports science for possible majors, but is open to other majors as well.

"I've been looking over those a little bit," Guthrie said. "I just try to figure things out by just trying them out."

Guthrie had a standout season, winning the individual championship at the IHSA Class 1A Carlinville regional and coming in second in the Decatur St. Teresa Catholic sectional, then representing the Griffins in the Illinois XC Championships in Chillicothe, which served as the unofficial state meet.

"It was a big deal to qualify over there," Guthrie said, "especially it was an invitational for all the runners who were invited. It was a real honor to run with all of them, even though I didn't get the times and placement I wanted, but it was really fun to be out there, it was a good way to finish the season, and coach was proud. So, it's something I just got into."

Helton agreed that running in the unofficial state meet was a big feather in Guthrie's cap.

"Yep, it is. It is," Helton said. "But it aligns to who he is. He's a fine young man, I've had an honor coaching him."

Helton also feels that Guthrie will bring much to the table to the Cougars.

"He's going to able to do more miles," Helton said. "He's going to be able to pack on the training that they need. He's definitely going to be, probably, from 3K up, he's going to be a (steeplechase runner), I don't know if he wants to steeple or not, but he just has the steeple stride. And then the 5K and the 10K, he's going to be able to fill some spots for them, for sure."

It's an incredible future ahead for Guthrie.

"For sure," Helton said. "And he gets his education, that's the number one thing."

Guthrie is confident about his future as well.

"Well, for running and all, I don't really have a clear goal," Guthrie said. "My goal is just to try to better myself in what I set my mind to for running. And what I want to major in, physical therapy and all, that's something I want to get into. It might be something I want to do, it might be not be something I want to do, but I'm going to try it. It's something I want to see if I can do, just trying to see what I can do."