In just two seasons of eligibility, Kyle O’Brien has already left his mark on the Panther track and field program. Despite spending two years at Danville Area Community College and entering Eastern as a junior, track and field head coach Tom Akers spoke highly about his distance runner.

“He is one of the best to come through Eastern in the last couple of years,” Akers said. “Kyle and (former distance runner) Jason Bialka are among the best, but Kyle is more of a pure runner.”

O’Brien’s awards, accomplishments, and fast times make him one of the best the Eastern program has seen. During his first year at Eastern, O’Brien was named to the All-Ohio Valley Conference First Team and the awards kept coming. Also included in the resume of one of Eastern’s most decorated athletes is the 2002 OVC Athlete of the Year, OVC Cross-Country Champion, first place at the OVC Indoor Championship in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters and another All-OVC First Team award in 2002.

The awards certainly seem to fit the bill, since O’Brien has been dominant in the both indoor and outdoor season.

The Danville native has the fifth fastest time in school history in the indoor 5,000 meters (14:18.33), and also holds the 10th best time in the indoor 3,000 meters after he ran the event in 8:24.42 last year. Akers said O’Brien was one of the main reasons the Panthers were able to win the OVC Indoor Championship last month.

“He played a big role on the Indoor Championship,” Akers said. “Kyle is an All-Conference athlete, he’s the Indoor Athlete of the Year and he is good to count on.”

O’Brien has been equally successful when the season went outdoors in March. O’Brien red-shirted the 2002 outdoor season, but he showed extreme promise during his first season of Division 1-A athletics in 2001.

O’Brien had one of his best meets at the 2001 OVC Outdoor Championship, held at Murray State. At the conference-ending meet, O’Brien won both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, giving the Panthers 20 team points. Eastern went on to defeat Southeast Missouri State 269-200 to take home the OVC crown.

The red-shirt year did not hamper O’Brien’s outdoor skills in the least. He is having another banner season and recently was a provisional qualifier for the NCAA Outdoor National Championships after finishing sixth out of 42 competitors in the 10,000 meter when he ran a 29.36.36 at the Mt. Sac Relays in California. If O’Brien’s time is among the fastest of the provisional qualifiers, he will get an invitation to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.

“So far his senior season is going really well,” Eastern assistant coach John McInerney said. “He performed well at the Mt. Sac Relays, and that was a good first step for him.”

The talented senior agreed with his assistant coach about the progress of his senior year.

“It has gone pretty well,” O’Brien said. “The training with coach (McInerney) has been there and we have set some high goals.”

Two of the goals O’Brien has set for the remainder of the season are to “keep working and improve.” O’Brien stressed the importance of hard work for the Panthers.

“You can’t set any records or win titles unless you keep working hard,” O’Brien said. “I want to help the team improve.”

O’Brien should have little problem helping the Panthers to improve. According to Akers and McInerney, O’Brien is an excellent leader for the younger runners.

“He’s an outstanding leader who will be vocal when he has to,” Akers said.

McInerney noted O’Brien is a loyal teammate who is a leader on and off the track.

“He is pretty much all business,” McInerney said. “He’ll do anything for a teammate and he is an old-fashioned athlete.”

Perhaps the only problem O’Brien has caused Akers or McInerney during his time at Eastern is how the coaches will replace him. That is a job neither Akers nor McInerney is looking forward to.

“You can’t replace him,” Akers said. “When you look at our seniors (O’Brien, James Benson, Andy Derks, Jarrod Macklin, Jeff Jonaitis) there are some big shoes to fill. You don’t replace him but you bring in solid freshmen. You just hope you can replace the points, but you can’t replace him.”

McInerney may have said it best.

“I don’t know how to replace him,” McInerney said. “Maybe we can perform some plastic surgery on him and make him go out there as another runner.”