Switching roles from a team leader on the course to a team leader off of the course this season is recent University of Evansville graduate Brian Joyce. Joyce will enter his first season as an assistant coach at UE this fall, after spending the last four years as a member of the Purple Aces’ men’s cross country team.
Joyce made history during his four years at UE, as he became the first cross country runner in school history to earn ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors. Joyce earned second team Academic All-America honors for cross country and track as a junior, before becoming UE’s 22nd first team Academic All-America selection last year as a senior. Joyce also earned UE’s Ralph H. Coleman Award as a senior, which honors the school’s most outstanding male scholar-athlete, and he is just the 11th student-athlete in UE history to become a two-time Academic All-American.
Joyce not only led by example in the classroom during his time at UE, but he also led by example on the cross country course, as a key member of UE’s scoring pack over the last four years. On the course, Joyce ran among UE’s top five for a majority of his four-year career. He earned the team’s Most Improved Runner award as a junior, after setting new personal standards in both the 8-K (25:50) and 10-K (34:48) events. Joyce would lower his 10-K standard even more as a senior, posting a personal-best mark of 34:28.74 in his final collegiate meet, while earning UE’s Team Captain award as a senior for his leadership both in meets and in practice.
A native of Evansville, Joyce graduated from UE with a degree in exercise science while boasting a perfect 4.00 grade-point average in the classroom. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in physical therapy at Evansville.
