W&M Ex-Runners Making a Living in the Sport

There are many people who ran for the tribe that have gone onto coaching careers (Alex Gibby, Jason Dunn are two examples at the collegiate levels) and Sonia Friend-Uhl has become a very successful trainer.  Many many more who have become high school coaches at the high school level including Tim O'Dowd who takes many of the photos for this blog and coached a two time XC national champ. Others have become professional runners such as Matt Moran, Jon Grey, Christo Landry and Elaina Boularis.  But there are others who have joined in for other endeavors (and send me more if you know of them).

For example my senior roommate, Scott Douglas, is a senior content editor for Running Times/Runner's World and has written several books on running (two with my former training partner Pete Pfitzinger).

Emily Furia (who along with Harold Anderson puts together our two annual newsletters) has written a book and is the editor or Bicycling Magazine (and was a 1500 meter All-American).

Eleven time All-American Matt Lane is a lawyer and a sports agent representing, among others, Ben True and W&M grad and USATF road racer of the year, (most notable as it comes after two years of injuries and sub-par results and years of climbing back up the ladder to success) Christo Landry (another All-American).  

W&M's 10,000 Meter Strength

This article only discusses the men's team, but it does a great job of listing all of the William and Mary men's runners who have broken 29 minutes for 10K as well as others connected to William and Mary such as Coach Solinksy who has a 27:59 record and Greg Meyer who ran 27:53 in 1982 (which I well remember as I stupidly chose to eat breakfast that morning rather than go to the track and watch the solo effort (2nd was mid 28 range).  Thanks to Rick Platt for all his research on the article.   Above is an image of Ed Moran who is the only W&M grad to have broken 28 minutes. 

Solinsky & Hall Win Christmas Town Dash 8k in Record Fashion

Coach Matt Gutridge, Coach Natalie Hall, Coach Chris Solinsky and Randy Hawthorne

Chris Solinsky broke the previous course record held by Adam Otstot '04 with a winning time of 25:14. Natalie Hall also posted a course record of her own, racing to a winning time of 29:43.

Read alum Rick Platt's story from the Virginia Gazette HERE.

Getting to Know the Tribe: Bob Smutsky

Redshirt Sophomore Javelin/Sprints

Dillsburg, Pennsylvania (Northern HS)

Landry '08 Wins USATF Award

At the recent USATF Annual Meeting in California, Christo Landry was presented with the Robert E. DeCelle, Jr. Memorial Award, which is given to the top men's long distance runner each year. It is yet another outstanding accomplishment for Landry, who had his best year of racing yet in 2014.

Keith Bechtol '07 in Antarctica

Anyone whose time at W&M overlapped with Keith Bechtol knows just how brilliant and talented he is. Given that, it's not surprising to know that he is currently on a NASA-sponsored research trip in Antarctica! He is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Chicago, after earning his PhD from Stanford, and will then proceed to another post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin. Check out his blog from Antarctica (http://kicp.uchicago.edu/~bechtol/blog.html), where you'll be happy to know he won a 5k Turkey Trot over the Thanksgiving holiday!

Getting to Know the Tribe: Elizabeth Crafford

Senior Pole Vaulter

Darien, Connecticut (Darien HS)