Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
WVU’s Rise to New Heights Satisfying for Cleary
November 28, 2024 09:00 AM | Cross Country
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Every now and again, good things can still happen to good people. That was certainly the case last Saturday morning for West Virginia University's longtime women's track and cross country coach Sean Cleary.
His Mountaineers stunned everyone, including many around here, by finishing second at the NCAA Women's Cross Country Championships held at Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wisconsin.
It's the first time in meet history a preseason, unranked team finished the national championships standing on the podium.
Just how close was WVU to winning the whole thing?
A mere 1.8 seconds by runners three, four and five would have given West Virginia its first-ever national title, which would have made them only the second program besides rifle to do so in school history. Men's basketball, with All-American Jerry West, was national runner-up in 1959 and women's soccer placed second in the 2016 College Cup.
Technically, you could also throw in Don Nehlen's 1988 Mountaineer football team that lost to top-ranked Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl, too, but that's it!
"Our three, four and five runners were the second-best three, four and five runners in the race. BYU just beat us by a few points," Cleary pointed out yesterday. "That's sort of the what-if world, but the reality is they ran beyond anything anyone could have ever imagined."
Furthermore, this year represents the Mountaineers' first top-10 placing at nationals in a decade, when WVU was eighth at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 2014.
Cleary's 2008 squad that featured All-Americans Marie-Louise Asselin, Keri Bland and Clara Grandt placed fourth at nationals, representing the program's high mark. That was right in the middle of a run of success that included top-10 finishes in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2014.
Back then, Cleary had West Virginia's women's distance program buzzing along using a formula that included lifelong connections in his native Canada and relying on promising local distance runners who were developed through the WV Flyers club program that he started.
That's how he discovered Bland, from Fairview, West Virginia, Grandt from West Union, and the Hamric sisters, Karly and Jordan, from Bruceton Mills. Once Cleary passed the baton on to Jonathan Wright, husband of WVU Hall of Famer Megan Metcalfe, the WV Flyers continued to produce top-notch runners.
However, the most recent cream of the crop opted to leave the state to compete elsewhere.
While the optics of having the state's top distance runners attending other schools didn't always look good, Cleary points out that his WVU teams were still qualifying for nationals, as it did four times during a five-year period from 2020-24.
"I think this is what really happened during that era," he began. "I had brought in a number of (in-state) kids who were very good, and I stopped coaching the local track club right around that time, maybe just a little bit before that.
"The new coach has really elevated the club, along with the local high school coaches, and they now are running times that are among the fastest in state history. So, outside of maybe Maggie Drazba and the kids from West Virginia that stuck with us …" he said, stopping momentarily to recalibrate his thoughts.
"When I coached the club," he continued, "they were running well and not really recruited out of state and once they were really pushed and brought up to a new level, and maybe because of the success of our West Virginia kids the five or six years prior, out-of-state schools were really recruiting them hard for the first time ever.
"All of sudden, they are really getting recruited, and now it's not so cool to stay in town (and attend WVU)," he admitted.
For those not closely wired into the local running scene and casually reading each year about the state's top distance runners choosing to go elsewhere, it certainly raised some eyebrows.
Had Cleary's Mountaineer program plateaued?
Was WVU's star burning out?
Well, not exactly.
"This is very, very satisfying," Cleary admits of last Saturday's performance. "These young girls leaving … that Flyers Club was started by me, so they are a part of my family, and I sat with them in Panera as a club coach and we talked about the options they might have out of state. While they didn't come and run for me, I've still had some influence in their lives in terms of what might be out there for them.
"It's a very unique situation."
Sure, Cleary's WVU program hasn't always benefitted from his generosity and kindness, or his willingness to look out for young athletes' best interests, but it eventually worked out recently when Parkersburg's Madison Trippett decided to transfer from Richmond where she was running for state legend Steve Taylor, a St. Mary's native who ran briefly at WVU before transferring to Virginia Tech.
Trippett ended up running fifth on this year's squad and was a key addition to the team – the only transfer portal performer on the roster.
"She went there for four years and then she came home to go to pharmacy school, and we were definitely able to capitalize on that," Cleary mentioned. "She is part of what I consider to be the greatest era of high school running in state history. It has stepped back a little bit now, even though we've had some good runners, but that was a deep group of runners.
"Yeah, it was disappointing to lose all of that talent, but during that time period, we had teams qualify for nationals though," he added.
Of course, Canada's Ceili McCabe has been West Virginia's superstar performer, and Cleary expertly built his roster around her remaining year of collegiate eligibility. After placing third at the 2021 NCAA Championships, McCabe led this year's team with a sixth-place finish.
She ends her career as perhaps the most accomplished distance runner in school history.
But one great runner doesn't win team championships, and Cleary had to surround McCabe with other capable performers. One of those key pieces was Scotland's Sarah Tait, who was pursued by many U.S. colleges. She placed 34th at nationals last Saturday.
"A lot of us were recruiting her, and fortunately, she came here," Cleary said.
Junior Emily Bryce, who placed 69th, lived about an hour and a half from where Cleary grew up in Canada and was sort of lost in the shuffle when COVID-19 shut down the country back in 2020. Consequently, her training suffered, but she has really blossomed since coming to WVU, trimming a full two minutes off her best time.
"I've never seen anything like it," Cleary marveled.
Lexi Lamb, from nearby Doddridge County High, is a local runner who has developed into a solid college performer. Just a sophomore, she beat more than 25 competitors last Saturday at nationals and will use that valuable experience to enhance her standing on next year's roster.
"She had a rough summer, and she was kind of our insurance policy this year if something happened to one of the top-five runners," Cleary explained. "What she got out of it was some great experience and the opportunity to run in the NCAA Championships."
Then, through years of developing international contacts, Cleary discovered Kenyans Joy Naukot and Tecla Lokrale. Tecla has battled injuries this fall and did not compete at this year's nationals, but Joy has been a revelation, finishing 17th. The freshman now assumes the mantle as the team's marquee runner, replacing McCabe.
Moving forward, Cleary will be seeking complementary runners to build around Naukot's rare abilities.
"Joy is just an incredible young talent," he said. "We've had some connections in Kenya, and we were very fortunate that she was able to come here. I was willing to go visit her there to try and make that happen, and it ended up that we didn't need to do it."
Cleary, finishing his 18th season coaching the Mountaineer women and his 32nd overall, admits this year's performance was the big boost of energy and excitement that he needed at this point in his coaching career.
"I have wondered over the last few years when we were kind of relegated to the 20s in this meet, you start doing the math, you look at your roster and you start thinking, 'Oh man.' Then, all of a sudden, we do catch lightning in a bottle, and we're back at the very front," he said.
"I've never quit trying to be near the front; we went on a great tear back in the 2000s through the 2014 era, but we've got to get into the portal, and we've got to get some good high school kids. In the end, I do think we can replicate this at some point. I think it would be a great way to go out and let the next person inherit something really good here."
Indeed, it's been a long 10 years for Sean Cleary getting WVU's distance program back to where he once had it, and he's grateful to all of those involved, including his dedicated assistants Erin O'Reilly and Clara (Grandt) Santucci.
O'Reilly once ran at WVU, like Santucci, as everyone knows.
"The biggest piece for me, as your program is unfolding and as your history is being written, no one could have ever told me it would take a decade to get back into the top 10. I would have never believed it," he said. "It's both humbling and extremely satisfying and exciting that when we did get back, we are actually one step higher than we've ever been before."
It's never easy building up to the type of season Cleary's Mountaineers enjoyed this year, and his plan came together beyond anyone's wildest expectations.
Now, moving forward, he's got McCabe's scholarship money to go out and try and find the next Ceili McCabe.
Good luck on that one!
"We don't have that person yet, and quite honestly, we might not find her again. But we are going to do our best," he concluded.
For good guy Sean Cleary, perhaps good things will come in pairs.
His Mountaineers stunned everyone, including many around here, by finishing second at the NCAA Women's Cross Country Championships held at Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wisconsin.
It's the first time in meet history a preseason, unranked team finished the national championships standing on the podium.
Just how close was WVU to winning the whole thing?
A mere 1.8 seconds by runners three, four and five would have given West Virginia its first-ever national title, which would have made them only the second program besides rifle to do so in school history. Men's basketball, with All-American Jerry West, was national runner-up in 1959 and women's soccer placed second in the 2016 College Cup.
Technically, you could also throw in Don Nehlen's 1988 Mountaineer football team that lost to top-ranked Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl, too, but that's it!
"Our three, four and five runners were the second-best three, four and five runners in the race. BYU just beat us by a few points," Cleary pointed out yesterday. "That's sort of the what-if world, but the reality is they ran beyond anything anyone could have ever imagined."
Furthermore, this year represents the Mountaineers' first top-10 placing at nationals in a decade, when WVU was eighth at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 2014.
Cleary's 2008 squad that featured All-Americans Marie-Louise Asselin, Keri Bland and Clara Grandt placed fourth at nationals, representing the program's high mark. That was right in the middle of a run of success that included top-10 finishes in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2014.
Back then, Cleary had West Virginia's women's distance program buzzing along using a formula that included lifelong connections in his native Canada and relying on promising local distance runners who were developed through the WV Flyers club program that he started.
That's how he discovered Bland, from Fairview, West Virginia, Grandt from West Union, and the Hamric sisters, Karly and Jordan, from Bruceton Mills. Once Cleary passed the baton on to Jonathan Wright, husband of WVU Hall of Famer Megan Metcalfe, the WV Flyers continued to produce top-notch runners.
However, the most recent cream of the crop opted to leave the state to compete elsewhere.
While the optics of having the state's top distance runners attending other schools didn't always look good, Cleary points out that his WVU teams were still qualifying for nationals, as it did four times during a five-year period from 2020-24.
"I think this is what really happened during that era," he began. "I had brought in a number of (in-state) kids who were very good, and I stopped coaching the local track club right around that time, maybe just a little bit before that.
"The new coach has really elevated the club, along with the local high school coaches, and they now are running times that are among the fastest in state history. So, outside of maybe Maggie Drazba and the kids from West Virginia that stuck with us …" he said, stopping momentarily to recalibrate his thoughts.
"When I coached the club," he continued, "they were running well and not really recruited out of state and once they were really pushed and brought up to a new level, and maybe because of the success of our West Virginia kids the five or six years prior, out-of-state schools were really recruiting them hard for the first time ever.
"All of sudden, they are really getting recruited, and now it's not so cool to stay in town (and attend WVU)," he admitted.
For those not closely wired into the local running scene and casually reading each year about the state's top distance runners choosing to go elsewhere, it certainly raised some eyebrows.
Had Cleary's Mountaineer program plateaued?
Was WVU's star burning out?
Well, not exactly.
"This is very, very satisfying," Cleary admits of last Saturday's performance. "These young girls leaving … that Flyers Club was started by me, so they are a part of my family, and I sat with them in Panera as a club coach and we talked about the options they might have out of state. While they didn't come and run for me, I've still had some influence in their lives in terms of what might be out there for them. "It's a very unique situation."
Sure, Cleary's WVU program hasn't always benefitted from his generosity and kindness, or his willingness to look out for young athletes' best interests, but it eventually worked out recently when Parkersburg's Madison Trippett decided to transfer from Richmond where she was running for state legend Steve Taylor, a St. Mary's native who ran briefly at WVU before transferring to Virginia Tech.
Trippett ended up running fifth on this year's squad and was a key addition to the team – the only transfer portal performer on the roster.
"She went there for four years and then she came home to go to pharmacy school, and we were definitely able to capitalize on that," Cleary mentioned. "She is part of what I consider to be the greatest era of high school running in state history. It has stepped back a little bit now, even though we've had some good runners, but that was a deep group of runners.
"Yeah, it was disappointing to lose all of that talent, but during that time period, we had teams qualify for nationals though," he added.
Of course, Canada's Ceili McCabe has been West Virginia's superstar performer, and Cleary expertly built his roster around her remaining year of collegiate eligibility. After placing third at the 2021 NCAA Championships, McCabe led this year's team with a sixth-place finish.
She ends her career as perhaps the most accomplished distance runner in school history.
But one great runner doesn't win team championships, and Cleary had to surround McCabe with other capable performers. One of those key pieces was Scotland's Sarah Tait, who was pursued by many U.S. colleges. She placed 34th at nationals last Saturday.
"A lot of us were recruiting her, and fortunately, she came here," Cleary said.
Junior Emily Bryce, who placed 69th, lived about an hour and a half from where Cleary grew up in Canada and was sort of lost in the shuffle when COVID-19 shut down the country back in 2020. Consequently, her training suffered, but she has really blossomed since coming to WVU, trimming a full two minutes off her best time.
"I've never seen anything like it," Cleary marveled.
Lexi Lamb, from nearby Doddridge County High, is a local runner who has developed into a solid college performer. Just a sophomore, she beat more than 25 competitors last Saturday at nationals and will use that valuable experience to enhance her standing on next year's roster.
"She had a rough summer, and she was kind of our insurance policy this year if something happened to one of the top-five runners," Cleary explained. "What she got out of it was some great experience and the opportunity to run in the NCAA Championships."
Then, through years of developing international contacts, Cleary discovered Kenyans Joy Naukot and Tecla Lokrale. Tecla has battled injuries this fall and did not compete at this year's nationals, but Joy has been a revelation, finishing 17th. The freshman now assumes the mantle as the team's marquee runner, replacing McCabe.
Moving forward, Cleary will be seeking complementary runners to build around Naukot's rare abilities.
"Joy is just an incredible young talent," he said. "We've had some connections in Kenya, and we were very fortunate that she was able to come here. I was willing to go visit her there to try and make that happen, and it ended up that we didn't need to do it."
Cleary, finishing his 18th season coaching the Mountaineer women and his 32nd overall, admits this year's performance was the big boost of energy and excitement that he needed at this point in his coaching career.
"I have wondered over the last few years when we were kind of relegated to the 20s in this meet, you start doing the math, you look at your roster and you start thinking, 'Oh man.' Then, all of a sudden, we do catch lightning in a bottle, and we're back at the very front," he said.
"I've never quit trying to be near the front; we went on a great tear back in the 2000s through the 2014 era, but we've got to get into the portal, and we've got to get some good high school kids. In the end, I do think we can replicate this at some point. I think it would be a great way to go out and let the next person inherit something really good here."
Indeed, it's been a long 10 years for Sean Cleary getting WVU's distance program back to where he once had it, and he's grateful to all of those involved, including his dedicated assistants Erin O'Reilly and Clara (Grandt) Santucci.
O'Reilly once ran at WVU, like Santucci, as everyone knows.
"The biggest piece for me, as your program is unfolding and as your history is being written, no one could have ever told me it would take a decade to get back into the top 10. I would have never believed it," he said. "It's both humbling and extremely satisfying and exciting that when we did get back, we are actually one step higher than we've ever been before."
It's never easy building up to the type of season Cleary's Mountaineers enjoyed this year, and his plan came together beyond anyone's wildest expectations.
Now, moving forward, he's got McCabe's scholarship money to go out and try and find the next Ceili McCabe.
Good luck on that one!
"We don't have that person yet, and quite honestly, we might not find her again. But we are going to do our best," he concluded.
For good guy Sean Cleary, perhaps good things will come in pairs.
Players Mentioned
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
Jack Bicknell Jr. | Aug. 7
Thursday, August 07
Sean Cleary/Ceili McCabe | Nov. 19
Tuesday, November 19
XC: Ceili McCabe Big 12 Championship Post-Race Interview
Friday, November 01
Petal Palmer - 2024 Wilma Rudolph Award Recipient
Monday, June 10
