Young and Restless
October 30, 2007 02:35 PM | General
October 30, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Marie-Louise Asselin says she had a good idea this year’s cross country team was going to be pretty good even before the season started. Her opinion only hardened after West Virginia’s second-place finish at the 47-team Paul Short Invitational last month.
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| Marie-Louise Asselin has not finished lower than third in any meet she has competed in this year.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
“Even last year at the end of cross country season we knew we were going to be a good team,” Asselin explained. “We didn’t know how good we were going to be. After Paul Short we were like, ‘OK, yeah, we’re pretty good.’ We had high goals before Paul Short to go to NCAAs but after Paul Short we realized that it was possible and that our goals were realistic.”
Included among those goals was winning the Big East Cross Country Championship. However, accomplishing that has proved elusive to WVU primarily because the Big East is considered to be one of the best cross country conferences in the country. Since 2000, West Virginia has never finished higher than fifth at the conference meet and just two years ago placed 12th in 2005.
The Mountaineers’ best team in 2004 that won the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship placed fifth at Big East behind Providence, Notre Dame, Georgetown and Villanova.
Winning the Big East is not an easy thing to do and WVU coach Sean Cleary made sure his team was well-rested heading into last weekend’s meet in Louisville, Ky.
“We’ve been running pretty well all season but I think Sean made sure we were more rested for this meet than any of the meets we’ve had so far this season,” Asselin said. “I think that’s why we performed so well. I think we’re going to be even more rested for regionals and even more ready for that race.”
No. 19-rated West Virginia won the Big East for the first time in school history with 77 team points, beating No. 22-ranked Providence by 10 points. Asselin finished second with a time of 20:19. Keri Bland was fourth with a time of 20:30 while Clara Grandt was eighth crossing the finish line at 20:59.
All three are sophomores.
“I feel so lucky to be running with Keri and Clara,” Asselin said. “It’s crazy because not that many schools have three really strong frontrunners. We’ve just been improving and improving and it’s crazy.
“It feels like it’s not real.”
Asselin, Bland and Grandt are putting West Virginia cross country back on the map. Megan Metcalfe was an All-American performer in 2004 and the program has had All-Americans scattered throughout the years, but never has West Virginia had three performing so well so early in their careers.
The 2004 team that went to nationals was a senior-laden team constructed with the plan of peaking that season. WVU’s other two national teams in 1997 and 2000 were also part of a building cycle of redshirting and developing for that one big year.
This year’s team is at least two years ahead of schedule, according to Cleary, meaning West Virginia could be contending for more titles in the near future.
“It’s gigantic,” said Cleary. “We could be secure for years to come.”
And Asselin is rapidly developing into one of the nation’s best runners. The Sarnia, Ontario, native is the latest in a burgeoning pipeline of elite Canadian runners that Cleary has managed to bring to West Virginia.
“Whenever I was recruited by Sean I was very impressed with how he coached Megan and what he did with her,” Asselin said. “She was a good runner from Canada and he took her and made her an even better runner. She had a great time at West Virginia; she was a nine-time All-American … when I saw that in high school I was really impressed.
“Sean was Canadian and he was familiar with our system and he wanted me to race on national teams and think beyond competing just at West Virginia,” Asselin said.
Despite being recruited by a number of American colleges including Boston College, Florida State, Kentucky, Notre Dame, Auburn and Providence, Asselin says she wasn’t considered an elite runner coming out of high school.
“In high school I was really good early on in ninth and 10th grade. I struggled a little bit my senior year. I wasn’t one of the top recruits,” she said. “I was an average recruit probably.”
But through a shared vision with Cleary, Asselin became convinced that she had a future in running beyond her four years at WVU.
“It was not just about four years in college, it was about a career in running and that is what I really liked about Sean,” Asselin said.
Today, Marie-Louise Asselin, Keri Bland and Clara Grandt are helping build a distance power at West Virginia University and the program is not only attracting good runners from Canada. The roster is made up of outstanding local runners, too, like Morgantown’s Maria Dalzot, Kingwood’s Kaylyn Christopher and Ripley’s Allison Spiker. All three competed at Big East last weekend.
“The West Virginia runners are as good as any other runners,” Asselin said. “The difference is what makes a good runner is how much you are willing to work and how bad they want it. Anyone can do it. Anyone from anywhere can do it. The runners from West Virginia are incredible and I love them.”
Support from the local community for cross country is beginning to follow.
“I think people outside of Morgantown see it a little bit. I think now everyone is starting to realize it. We kind of knew what was coming,” Asselin said. “We knew that we were going to be good. Winning the Big East surprised us in a way but at the same time it didn’t.
“(Cross country) is not as popular as football or any other sport,” Asselin said. “We’re getting more and more publicity here at the school. We’re getting more articles in the papers. People are getting more interested in West Virginia because our team is doing so well. I can’t complain.”
