DOWAGIAC — Southwestern Michigan College’s cross country and track and field teams added some more homegrown talent.

Dowagiac’s Owen Saylor is staying local and has signed his NJCAA Letter of Intent to run cross country for Coach Zac Sartori as a Roadrunner. Saylor will also compete in track and field for SMC.

“I’ve been watching Owen improve over the last four years,” Sartori said. “It was a great pleasure to coach both of his older brothers and I’m so happy to have Owen joining the program and continuing the Saylor legacy. Owen will be a big piece of making this program great and I’m certain he is going to take us to the next level.”

Owen said he chose SMC because of the atmosphere, the campus and coach Sartori. Being able to compete close to home was also a plus.

“It’s been awesome, because everybody is supportive and it’s a small town, so everybody knows everybody and it’s just nice to have support from everybody around you,” he said.

Both Alec Saylor and Ethan Saylor ran for the Roadrunners in the 2021-2022 season, helping to restart and immediately lift the program back into a top-20 national ranking after a 25-year hiatus. Ethan then continued at SMC in 2022-2023, graduated in May 2023 and has run for two years at Goshen College, an NAIA program in Goshen, Indiana.

“My brothers helped me start because at first I didn’t want to run at all and then my coach helped me become a leader and lead myself to where I am,” Owen said. “Everybody’s helping – my parents and all my peers have helped me. Even when I was low, they helped me bring myself back up.”

A two-time Lakeland Conference individual cross country champion, Owen ran a personal-best of 16:12.7 as a senior at the Division 2 regional at Portage Central. Saylor is also a 800-meter and 1600-meter track champion.

“All of us have seen it over the years that he has really put a hundred percent into everything running, and not just the running part,” said Dowagiac coach Mike Williams. “He’s really become a leader in our track program, and it’s made a huge difference for our program in general with our kids, which is some of the reasons why our 400 and 800 Runners and our men to long distance have been so successful over the last couple years. They’re trying to catch up to him, and that’s what you want in a program like that, is somebody that pushes everybody else and so congratulations to him. I know he’s going to do great – not just there, but wherever he transfers – he’s going to continue to be successful.”

Owen Saylor is the fourth member of SMC’s 2025 Men’s Cross Country recruiting class, joining Maguire Johnson of Edwardsburg, Tyler Caruso of Bangor and Carlos Ruiz-Garcia of Hartford.  

“This means a lot because I get to run for my hometown,” Owen said. “I hope that I can make a difference and hopefully bring the program into a better space.”

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