While Western Athletic Conference opponent Utah Valley University goes toe to toe with the Southern Utah University cross country program several times each year, the rivalry between these two teams is far deeper than just facing off in races: it's a competitive brotherhood between intertwined teams.
Head coach Eric Houle has served as the leader of the Thunderbirds for over 30 years, making him one of Southern Utah's longest-tenured coaches. Meanwhile, his younger brother, Scott Houle, is in his 21st year as head coach of the Wolverines.
In addition to over 20 years of in-state rivalry between the Houle brothers, each team has recruited one of the Bunker brothers. Adam Bunker, currently in his third year racing with UVU cross country, has twice finished 21st in the WAC Championships. Meanwhile, after a year of redshirting, SUU's Cory Bunker has recently begun his freshman season.
Neither of the Bunkers expected cross country to become a part of their collegiate life. In fact, both of them were initially playing football. However, when Adam Bunker, the older of the two, realized he had more potential as a runner than a wide receiver, he began to focus solely on cross country.
Due to the switch, their father, former SUU basketball player Brad Bunker, started studying running and helping the distance coach. He encouraged the rest of his sons to join the training, and eventually, Cory Bunker heeded the call, also quitting football to pursue cross country.
"I think once my brother realized he could run collegiately, he started taking it a little bit more seriously. That kind of propelled him to get a spot on UVU's team," Cory Bunker shared. "After he graduated, I didn't really think of myself as being a collegiate runner, but once I started getting down closer to what he was doing in high school, I thought there was a chance I could run in college, so I started taking it more seriously as well. I reached out to some schools, and SUU gave me an offer, and now we're here."
While the Bunkers eventually found their way to cross country, the Houle brothers always knew they wanted to coach.
We have [cross country] in our blood, and we're passionate about it. We were introduced to coaching at a young age with the Special Olympics, which helped us decide that's the profession we wanted to go into," Eric Houle explained. "Scott and I share the same dream, passion, and direction in life."
Before finding his role as the head coach of UVU's team, Scott Houle graduated from SUU. He served one season as the assistant women's basketball coach for the Thunderbirds and one as an assistant coach to his brother when he first started in Southern Utah.
Since Scott Houle made his way to Utah Valley, however, he's been in-state competition for his brother, Eric Houle. When SUU joined the WAC in 2022, the rivalry grew even stronger, pitting the brothers against each other several times each year in both cross country and track and field for friendly competition.
"There's competition. Obviously, I want to win and obviously, he wants to win, but we're smart enough to know that it's not going to always be in the cards," Eric Houle stated. "When he wins, it's a celebration, and when I win, it's a celebration. If it's not going to be UVU, we want it to be Southern Utah. If it's not going to be Southern Utah, we want it to be UVU. We don't want it to be anybody else."
The Bunker brothers share this sentiment of supporting the other despite their drive to win against one another.
"Being in the same conference is the best-case scenario. We compete against each other often, and our parents can knock out watching both of our races at once," Adam Bunker said. "We are extremely competitive and any chance to one-up the other brother is rarely ever passed up. It's awesome to see him being successful and chasing his dreams at a high level often."
Cory added, "We are very competitive when it comes to racing, and there's a little bit of trash-talking here and there, but we're really close to each other. I'm excited for the rest of the season and for track and field this year to see what he and I can do."
Even though both sets of brothers are split between SUU and UVU, they all share a passion for cross country, which connects them as family regardless of where they're coaching or competing.
"Sometimes families don't get that opportunity because you're so busy in your life, but cross country and track and field brings us back together almost every weekend," Scott Houle said.
The brothers will receive this opportunity again on Nov. 1, when the Wolverines and Thunderbirds will face off against each other and the rest of their conference competition in the 2024 WAC Cross Country Championship.
