Paul Vandegrift Interview
Vandegrift '92 was the top rated miler in the US coming out of high school and continued on that trajectory earning seven All-American titles at W&M. After school he ran several summers in Europe and finished as high as 4th at the T.A.C. (now USATF) meet. Today he is a high school English teacher, track and cross country coach. One of his first cross country/track athletes was none other than Ed Moran. Click here to hear the interview (give it a minute to load).

Men Continue to be Ranked 21st Heading to CAA
The men's team ranking stayed exactly the same this week nationally and likewise they remain 2nd in the region. The men's and women's team will be at the CAA meet this weekend at 10 am in Manassas, VA.

Assistant Coach Ed Moran Wins USATF Grant
USATF announced that Coach Moran is one of five receiving $4000 grants to help their running careers. Moran was 4th at the Olympic Trials in the 10K this past summer and was a four time All-American runner at W&M before starting his coaching career.

Tribe Open Video
Alex Ball is becoming quite the movie maker. Watch the video of the race and analysis by Coach Fritz who both knows the pole vault and apparently cross country! There is also an interview with tatoo laden Ariel Burbey as well as Meredith Tighe and Kelsey Budd. On the men's side we get interviews with Lewis Woodward and Dan Stimson.

W&M Men Move Up to 21st Nationally
The men's team, despite having a sub par race from Massam, is now ranked 21st in the country and ranked 2nd in the region just behind UVA. So after losing Laundry and Fitzgerald to graduation and end of eligibility, the team now stands a very good chance of automatically qualifying for the NCAA meet (top 2 in region). The women's team is now seventh in the region.

Lots and Lots of Photos From Pre-Nationals
Tim O'Dowd '80 takes pictures for the Irish Runner and kindly put together a number of pictures of the W&M women here and the men here from the pre-nationals meet this past weekend.

Fitzgerard, Woodward and Tigne Lead Tribe Open
With no XC eligibility, Ian Fitzgerald won the race with Lewis Woodard, racing in a Tribe singlet for the first time in his career, finishing second in 25:17. Chris Tyson was third in 25:30, and Jay Bilsborrow finished fifth in 25:35. Robert Sagar led three teammates across the line with his ninth-place finish in 26:04, finishing ahead of Sean Sewell in 26:13.

Meredith Tighe took home the individual title, crossing the line in 23:14. Ariel Burbey was second in 23:16. Sara Lasker finished third in 23:43, and Robin Vanneman took fifth in a sprint at the end over Amelia Emerson, 23:55 to 23:56. Avery Mattingly was seventh in 24:27, and - Kelsey Budd was in 15th with a time of 25:53.

Click here for the men's and here for the women's results. The video is coming soon.

Pre-National Results
The women had a great start coming through the halfway mark as the 4th team, but fell to 16th by the finish line. Here are team and individual results. At the 5K mark, the men were in 4th and finished in 6th place (individual results).

Patterson Wilhelm was the top finisher crossing the line in 24:09.8 for 27th place. Close behind was Jon Grey 29th in 24:11.0. Colin Leak was 39th in 24:19.9, and Tom Burke (was 53rd in 24:28.8. Peter Dorrell rounded out the scoring for W&M in 94th (24:51.9), with Ben Massam 25:10.9, and Charlie Swartz 25:29.8, crossing sixth and seventh to serve as displacers. The top video is the men's highlights you can see the entire race by clicking here.

All-American Emily Anderson was the top finisher in 21:19.4 for 45th place. Meghan Burns was second for the team, finishing 90th in 21:47.4, Kayley Byrne was 100th in 21:53.5. Lynn Morelli ran 22:03.1, Heather Beichner finished the scoring in 138th with a time of 22:11.2. Emily Arena and Emily Schroeder finished in 22:20.0 and 22:33.3. The bottom video is the highlight race for the women and here is the entire race.

New Rankings
In the most recent rankings, the men's team remains at 24 and are ranked third in the Southeast Region. If nothing else changes, that would mean the men have a great chance to going to the NCAA meet. But all that will change after the pre-national meet tomorrow. Hopefully that will mean the women move up as they are now ranked 11th in the region which is no where close to getting to nationals.

Pre-National Meet Times and Opponents
I will have results up soon after the meet, but the women are running at 11:35 am and the men at 12:10 pm. Also there video from the meet can be found here on race day. To see a preview of the men's race go here.

Men Fall to 24th in US
After moving up to 22nd with the inter-regional meet, apparently not racing means a team may fall two places as the men have done this week. The women remain unranked.

Emily Arena '09 Podcast
Arena has twice been in the top five for the Tribe. Here she talks about the season so far, how the team has 5-6 runners training in a pack and their hopes for the pre-National meet coming up.