National Champion!
June 12, 2005 01:40 AM | General
June 12, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – There had to be plenty of times the last three months when Megan Metcalfe was in her car driving to Washington, Pa., every day wondering if this was all worth it. Well tonight it was.
 |
||
| Megan Metcalfe won the women's 5,000 Wednesday night at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Sacramento, Calif. She becomes just the third female national track and field champion in school history
Kirby Lee/The Sporting Image |
The senior became only the third female NCAA track and field national champion in school history by winning the women’s 5,000-meter run with a time of 16:31.88 Saturday night at the 2005 NCAA Championships at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, Calif. She joins 1995 outdoor national champion Pat Itanyi and 1999 indoor champion Kate Vermeulen as the school’s only female national title holders.
Metcalfe’s journey to a national title is truly a remarkable one.
For the last 12 weeks her day consisted of getting up at 5:30 in the morning to put in a four-mile run before taking off for a full-day’s worth of work in Washington, Pa., fulfilling her internship requirements for her master’s degree in physical therapy. After work, it was back down I-79 to the Coliseum in time for an 8 o’clock workout with distance coach Sean Cleary. She ate dinner at 9:30 and was in bed by 10 just so she could get up and do the exact same thing the next morning.
“You just count down the days to today,” Metcalfe admitted.
Because her schedule was so busy this spring, tonight’s race was only the third time she’s run the 5,000 competitively during the outdoor season.
“This is just a great story,” said Cleary. “You graduate with your master’s in physical therapy, you’re an All-American, and in your last straightaway of your NCAA career you find a way to win a national title. She’ll probably go down as the finest female track and field athlete to ever come through this program.”
Stanford’s Sara Bei came into this year’s national championships as the meet favorite in the 5,000, having posted the fastest time in the country back on April 15. Metcalfe, having run the nation’s second fastest time to capture the NCAA East Regionals two weeks ago, was viewed as the dark horse.
“There was a lot of debate about whether or not Megan would win this in a kick or whether or not Sara Bei could win this in a kick,” said Cleary. “About four or five hours ago Megan and I sat down and talked and we truly felt that the race was going to be slow from the gun and it was going to be a matter of who could run a 2:10 or a 2:12 800 at the end. Luckily that’s the way it worked.”
The race was a tactical one with the rest of the pack falling behind the top three competitors. Metcalfe remained in third or fourth place for most of the race until Bei made her move with about 300 meters left.
“I was very patient and was in a good spot the whole race,” said Metcalfe. “There was a lot of fighting and guarding our spots and with a slow race it just helped my confidence knowing that I ran all those 1,500s and I was just going to have to run that last mile as fast as I possibly could.”
“With about 200 meters to go you could just tell that Sara’s arms were way too big,” said WVU head coach Jeff Huntoon. “She was trying to do everything she could to hold Megan off. With about 50 meters to go Megan got by her and ended up beating her by three or four meters across the finish line.”
Metcalfe says she wasn’t waiting for Bei to make her move at the end.
“With the speed that we were going I would have waited until about where I did anyway,” she said. “It was an all-out fight.”
|
Megan's Moments |
 West
Virginia University senior Megan Metcalfe is the most prolific runner in
school history, capturing a school-record nine All-America certificates in
two different sports during her fabulous career.
Indoor Track Outdoor Track Cross Country DMR - Distance Medley Relay |
“I wouldn’t want to lose a race that way,” Cleary admitted. “There is only one person who is truly satisfied with what happened out there and thank goodness it’s Megan.”
Metcalfe’s performance gave West Virginia 10 team points to finish the meet tied with North Carolina, Butler, Air Force and LSU for 20th place. It is the first top 20-finish at outdoor nationals in school history topping the school’s 24th place finish in 1995.
Metcalfe, a two-time All-American in cross country, has secured nine All-American certificates during her outstanding career. Cleary, the man who convinced her to run the 1,500 and the 3,000 for most of her time at WVU, simply marvels at her perseverance.
“We sat down five years ago in one of the first meetings we ever had together and we discussed her future and where I thought she could go after college and I really felt like the best thing to do was to stay with the 1,500 until her senior year,” Cleary said. “She kind of took a few bumps at this meet. She made the times, qualified and did all those things but by moving up to 5,000 we probably could have pulled that plug a year or two ago and she might have walked home with a few more All-American (honors).”
“The plan worked because the race today was a 1,500 meter race,” Metcalfe noted. “It was pretty slow so all of the training paid off.”
Metalfe admits to being a little overwhelmed with what she accomplished tonight. Her family was able to travel from Edmonton, Alberta, to see her run in person and she received several phone messages from University professors as well as a call of encouragement from former WVU coach Martin Pushkin.
“This is just a huge honor and it’s a good mark on your career,” Metcalfe said. “The NCAAs is the most competitive racing for people my age and it’s pretty awesome to finally do it. Anyone who runs in NCAAs has more heartbreaks than good moments and it’s nice to end on a good one.”
“The proudest thing I feel for Megan is that she had a chance to come to West Virginia University and take an easier curriculum and then apply for physical therapy after graduation. But she didn’t do that and instead did it the hard way,” said Cleary.
The hard way turned out to be the best way. Megan Metcalfe not only has a promising career in physical therapy to look forward to, but she also has a national championship to cherish for the rest of her life.
