Cross Country Popular at WVU
September 20, 2008 10:46 AM | General
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| Keri Bland |
Cross country has never been more popular at West Virginia University. Four years ago, Sean Cleary, then Jeff Huntoon’s assistant coach in charge of distance runners, was having a hard time trying to fill out a seven-person roster after Megan Metcalfe’s final season in 2004.
“We basically had to beg a few people to come out and run for us,” Cleary said.
Today, West Virginia has one of the biggest cross country rosters in the country with 24 girls on the team. Eighteen of those girls come from West Virginia where four Mountain State natives (Keri Bland, Clara Grandt, Kaylyn Christopher and Ahna Lewis) are being counted on heavily for points this year. A big contributor last year, Morgantown’s Maria Dalzot is being redshirted this year to shore up some foot problems.
Thirteen of the 18 West Virginia natives are from within 50 miles of Morgantown, which is becoming a hot bed for college recruiters in search of distance runners. And with the exception of Morgantown’s Claire Berryman now at Penn State, Cleary has been able to land all of the area's best runners.
“There are girls on our team right now that have no chance of being in our top nine but I will fully expect that they will be scoring for me at the Big East track meet in two years,” Cleary said. “Some of them will develop in track. One girl is running the steeplechase. Another girl is running a leg in the 4x800.
“There are a lot of places where if they just get caught up in the fact that we are a national class team and they can see their value in the program they will come out on the other side and eventually help us,” Cleary added.
Such is the case with Ahna Lewis, whose high school career at Morgantown was plagued by injuries and illness. However, Lewis had exceptional training and blossomed last year while redshirting the cross country and outdoor track seasons. This fall Lewis surprised everyone by posting a second-place finish at the Princeton Invitational last weekend and is now in a position to be among the team’s top five runners. That shows the staggering depth West Virginia is developing.
“I don’t think Ahna was all-state in cross country her last two years in high school and now she is winning big college meets,” Cleary said. “She was a phenom growing up and she has had some injuries during high school that really set her back but she was well trained.”
North Marion’s Keri Bland and Doddridge County’s Clara Grandt are national class runners, teaming with Canadian Marie-Louise Asselin to give West Virginia three bona fide All-American candidates. In the case of Bland and Asselin (Bland an Olympic Trials participant and Asselin a fourth-place finisher at the Canadian Cross Country Championships) West Virginia has two runners with a competitive streak unmatched, Cleary says.
“It’s fun to watch them run against each other,” Cleary said. “But afterwards they shake hands, smile, and go cool down.”
West Virginia placed ninth last year at nationals and the Mountaineers could make a run at the national championship in November if the team can remain healthy.
