The NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships will be held November 22, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center, Terre Haute, Indiana. The women's race will begin at 11 a.m. Eastern time followed by the men's race at 12:15 p.m. While the William & Mary have several former high school preps from the state on their squad, so do squads from Air Force, American, Georgetown, North Carolina State, Wisconsin, and Wake Forest.
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American University has two athletes with Virginia high school ties in 2002 Oakton High School (Vienna, VA) graduates Phil Gaeta and Kiera Carlstrom. Gaeta advanced with his team to nationals competition as the American men finished second in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Meet behind Georgetown. Gaeta earned All-Region honors with a 18th place effort of 31:09 (10,000 meters). Carlstrom will be aiming to claim All-American honors again for the second year in a row. Last year as a sophomore, Carlstrom finished 13th at the NCAA National Championships to earn All-American honors. Carlstrom is coming off a strong runner-up finish at her regional meet with a time of 20:37 for 6,000 meters.
2002 graduate of Marion High School (Marion, VA), Fleet Hower, will be making his third appearance at the NCAA National Championships as the junior will be competing along with the rest of the Georgetown men as they are coming off a Mid-Atlantic Regional Meet win. Hower finished 83rd in 2002 as a freshmen and 81st in 2003 as a sophomore at NCAA Nationals. Hower finished 7th at the regional meet to earn All-Region honors with a time of 30:47 for 10,000 meters. The Georgetown men are currently ranked sixth in the nation heading into the race.
Finishing nine seconds ahead of Hower at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Meet and making his first appearance to the NCAA National Championships is 2001 Midlothian High School (Midlothian, VA) graduate and Princeton University senior Austin Smith. Smith, who had came up just short in years past of qualifying individually for NCAA Nationals, came through in his final attempt as he finished fourth overall in the race and was the second individual from a non-advancing team with his time of 30:33.
2002 graduate of Jamestown High School (Williamsburg, VA), North Carolina State redshirt sophomore Bryce Ruiz will be competing in his second NCAA National Championship race. As a true freshmen, Ruiz was named ACC Freshmen of the Year and competed at the NCAA National Championships. Redshirted as a sophomore, Ruiz returns this year as the sixth man on the Pack squad. NC State won yet another Southeast Regional Championship as Ruiz was the team's sixth finisher with a time of 31:15.1 for 31st place overall. Heading into this weekend, the NC State men are ranked 12th in the nation.
Completing the excellent trio of Group AA runners that came out of the class of 2002 along with Hower and Ruiz that will be competing at NCAA Nationals is Wisconsin junior and 2002 graduate of John Handley High School (Winchester, VA), Bobby Lockhart. Like Hower, this will be Lockhart's third consecutive NCAA National Championship appearance. Lockhart will be facing greater pressure than any past Virginia high school prep competing at nationals because he is a member of the top ranked team in the nation in Wisconsin as the other contenders such as defending champs Stanford and Arkansas will be gunning for. In Wisconsin's Great Lakes Region Championship victory, Lockhart ran as the fifth runner among the Badgers tightly punched pack. Less than five seconds and only seven places separated Lockhart (13th, 30:29.2) from top runner Matt Tegenkamp (6th, 30:24.7). Lockhart will be looking to redeem himself from a poor sophomore national performance. As a freshmen, Lockhart ran a superb race at nationals to earn All-American honors with a 23rd place finish (30:27.7 for 10,000 meters). Lockhart was the top finishing American born freshmen in the race as he was second only to Kenyan born Richard Kiplagat of Iona among all freshmen. However, as a sophomore, Lockhart finished 68th overall in a time of 30:36.1. Running as Wisconsin's fifth man, it is almost certain that Lockhart will have to finish in the top 35 and earn All-American honors once again for the Badgers to hold off talented teams such as Arkansas and Stanford.
The Wake Forest women finished fourth in the competitive Southeast Regional Championships and were able to receive an at-large bid to compete at the National Championships; thus, allowing top runner Selina Sekulic, a 2003 graduate of Ocean Lakes High School (Virginia Beach, VA), to have the opportunity to compete in her first NCAA Nationals Championship. Sekulic actually would have advanced on her own individually without the at-large bid for her team as she finished seventh at the regional meet in a time of 20:33.90.
With the Wake Forest women earning the right to compete as a team at NCAA Nationals and taking away Sekulic as one of the individual qualifiers, the fourth and final advancing individual spot from the Southeast Region was awarded to High Point sophomore and 2002 C.D. Hylton (Woodbridge, VA) graduate Jemissa Hess. Hess finished one place behind Sekulic at the regional meet with a 8th place effort of 20:35.3. This will be the first appearance for Hess at the NCAA National Championships.
For the second consecutive year, Yale sophomore and 2003 graduate of The Potomac School (McLean, VA) Cara Kiernan will be racing at the national stage. As a freshmen, Kiernan qualified individually for a NCAA Nationals birth and finished 61st overall in the championship race with a time of 20:57 for 6,000 meters. A Foot Locker Nationals All-American as a high school senior, Kiernan was the fourth fastest finishing freshmen in last year's race. At the Northeast Regional Championships, Kiernan finished fifth overall in a time of 20:41.7 for 6,000 meters. The race was won by NCAA Nationals Championship individual favorite Kim Smith of Providence (20:08.8).
The University of Virginia is sending one home grown talented individual to her first NCAA National Championships as a freshmen. 2004 graduate of Warren County High School (Warren County, VA) and Virginia freshmen Emily Harrison earned her passage to compete at NCAA Nationals thanks to a sixth place finishing performance of 20:32.80 (6,000 meters) at the Southeast Regional Meet. Virginia is also sending another individual on the men's side in junior transfer Soeren Linder. Linder, who is German born, finished ninth at the regional meet in a time of 30:23.4 for 10,000 meters as he finished just ahead of senior teammate Will Christian (10th, 30:25.4) for the final individual qualifying spot.
James Madison University is also sending a native Virginian on the female's side in 2001 graduate of Jefferson Forest High School (Forest, VA), Shannon Saunders. Saunders capped off a strong junior season of cross country by finishing fourth overall with a time of 20:29.8 (6,000 meters) at the Southeast Regional Meet to qualify individual for nationals competition. While it is Saunders' first trip to a NCAA Nationals Cross Country Championship, she did gain experience from competing in the NCAA Nationals Outdoor Track and Field Championships last spring as a sophomore for the 10,000 meter run.
While not a native born of the state of Virginia, a transplanted Virginian (ran high school in New York) and Liberty University freshmen Josh McDougal will have the entire state rooting for him as he has to be considered the individual with state ties to have the best chance to finish the highest individually. As a freshmen, McDougal has won an astonishing eight of eight races against quality collegiate competition including top notch invitatinals in Great American and the Paul Short Invitational. His latest victory came at the Southeast Regional Championships, where McDougal showed no problem in adjusting from the 8,000 to 10,000 meter distance with his winning time of 30:06.4. While individual NCAA National title hopes seem to be quite lofty (as they are for any freshmen), a top ten finish individually is certainly not out of the question for this talented freshmen.
Bringing a full squad, which included five graduates at their NCAA regional meet is the William & Mary men as Coach Alex Gibby has helped continue the great tradition of the program to yet another NCAA Nationals appearance. Monday's race will be the Tribe's eigth consecutive showing for the William & Men and second consecutive with Gibby at the helm. The Tribe are currently ranked 27th in the nation and are coming off a sensational runner-up finish at the South Regional Meet, where they challenged 12th ranked and regional champion NC State. The Tribe finished 18 points behind the Pack, but that difference could have easily been erased if it was not for the in-race asthma attack suffered by top runner Keith Bechtol, a 2003 graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School (Alexandria, VA). Bechtol ended up finishing seventh for the team and 58th overall in a time of 31:55.5 (10,000 meters). However, based on his earlier season performances, Bechtol was easily a top ten, if not top five performer in the region. Earlier in the season at NCAA Pre-Nationals, Bechtol clocked a personal best time of 24:35.2 for 8,000 meters to finish 26th overall in a very strong field in the blue division race. Regardless of Bechtol's unfortunate asthma attack, the remaining Tribe men ran exceptionally well. Leading the Tribe at the regional race was freshmen and fellow Thomas Jefferson High School graduate (class of 2003), Christo Landry. It was uncertain if Landry was going to redshirt this season or not, but ever since he has suited up for the Tribe, he has proved how valuable he can be to this year's team. Landry finished seventh overall (30:22.6 for 10,000 meters) at the regional meet as he was the second finishing freshmen behind Kenyan born Jacob Korir of Eastern Kentucky (6th, 30:21.8). 2001 graduate of Kempsville High School (Virginia Beach, VA) and Tribe junior Jeff Hedley was the team's second finishing runner at the regional meet as Hedley snabbed All-Region honors with a 11th place effort of 30:32.3 (10,000 meters). Two other fellow former Virginia Beach area high school preps in junior Matt Keally (Ocean Lakes High School graduate of 2002) and senior Patrick Comstock (Churchland High School graduate of 2001) also competed for the Tribe at the regional meet as All-Region performing Keally finished 25th overall (31:05.2 for 10,000 meters) and Comstock finished 51st overall (31:49.0 for 10,000 meters). Out-of-staters Adam Tenerowicz (24th, 31:04.1) and Jason Schoener (33rd, 31:16.6) have been mainstays on the Tribe's top five all season long and should figure to comprise two of the the seven runners that Coach Gibby will send to the line at NCAA Nationals. The Tribe men are looking to bounce back from last year's dismal NCAA Nationals performance where they finished an embarrassing dead last place of 31st. Clipping on the heels of last year's 10th place NCAA Nationals finishing and this year's 12th ranked NC State men at the regional meet despite an asthma attack from their top runner, shows a strong indication that the Tribe men can show their worth is much greater than their current national ranking of 27th at the NCAA National Championships.
The NCAA Division III National Championships will be held Saturday, November 20th at the Whitetail Golf Course in Colfax, Wisconsin. While no Virginia schools will be representing the state at the championship meet, several individuals from in-state and out-of-state schools will represent the Old Dominion.
Washington & Lee University is sending a pair of individuals to compete. Generals junior Nathan Johnson, a graduate of Rockbridge County High School, qualified for his first NCAA Nationals competition by winning the South/Southeast Regional Championships in a time of 26:43.82 on a slow and sloppy 8,000 meter regional course.
A top 75 finish and even top 50 finish is not out of the question for Johnson at NCAA Nationals as he defeated Emory University's (GA) Andrew Podgurski at the regional meet as Podgurski finished 65th in last year's nationals race. The fact that Washington & Lee freshmen Lindsay Erickson qualified for nationals as a freshmen is impressive enough, let alone thinking of the possibilities of how she will perform on the national stage. On a course that adversely affected many runners as well as pre-race favorites, Erickson rose to the occassion to qualify individually with a third place effort of 23:11.67. The two finishers ahead of her in Agnes Scott (GA) senior (as well as 40 something mother of two) Phyllis Tuggle (1st, 21:49.85) and Centre (KY) sophomore Eileen Schilling (2nd, 22:56.72)
happened to also be returning All-American performers. Finishing behind the likes of those two accomplished runners has to bode well for Erickson's chances on Saturday.
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In tabulating the number of individuals representing specific high schools in the state, Coach Ryan at Thomas Jefferson has to be very proud with three individuals in Bechtol, Garrahan, and Landry competing in a NCAA Nationals Championship race this weekend, while Oakton and Ocean Lakes will have two individuals a piece racing.