Post by elp525 on Jun 10, 2010 5:07:31 GMT -5
Wednesday June 9, 2010
by Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sports writer
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia's track and field team enters the NCAA Championships this week with only five competitors and no shot at winning the team national title.
This is not to say the Mountaineers are not without goals and a very specific incentive.
Clara Grandt has a shot at a national championship in the 10,000 meters, though it'd require a significant upset. Marie-Louise Asselin, one of the more respected distance runners in this part of the country, is perhaps capable of the same in the 5,000 after placing second in the indoor national championship. If not, there's surely a top-eight All-America distinction for the taking.
Same goes for Karly Hamric and Keri Bland in the 1,500 meters. Katelyn Williams would like to prove her trip to the meet - it begins today and concludes Saturday in Eugene, Ore. - wasn't a fluke by putting together another solid set of high jumps.
Even if it works out for the best for all of them, the Mountaineers won't make any kind of a charge for the top spot. And yet it can still be a productive and historic trip.
By virtue of qualifying for the NCAA cross country championship meet and producing five point scorers in the NCAA indoor track meet, WVU needs one more point scorer to join an elite group nationally.
Last year, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association introduced the Program of the Year award. It's a points-based system that rewards teams qualifying for cross country and scoring at the indoor and outdoor meets.
WVU is close to breaking through. It enters the outdoor meet No. 4 in the Terry Crawford Women's Division I standings.
The Mountaineers were on the outside last season after getting shut out at the indoor meet. This time is different, beginning with a sixth-place finish in the cross country meet and the five scorers pushing the team to a program-best 10th-place finish at the indoor meet.
"It's a big goal of ours," WVU Coach Sean Cleary said. "It's about the duration of the year and one of our goals was to be in the top 10 for the entire year," Cleary said. "If the girls do what they can do and we have some good results, combine that with those other two and we're maybe the second- or third-best in the country."
WVU is an interesting mix. Comprised of mostly West Virginia natives - 35 of 55 on the roster - it's a team that is blessed with distance runners who build from the fall's cross country season through the indoor season and up to the conclusion of the outdoor season.
"To me, this (award) would be a reflection of the course of the year," Cleary said. "You get three strong seasons out of a program. Other programs take all their scholarships and dump then in distance runners or cross country runners. Others don't spend money on cross country at all. This is a way to reward a rounded program that builds all three."
It's an effective combination. Grandt, Hamric and Bland are West Virginians and those three and Asselin are decorated distance runners who've pulled awards from all three seasons. Yet the Mountaineers aren't what they could be and might one day become.
Cleary gives all his competitors a chance to redshirt and make the most of their eligibility in the different sports. A runner can have four seasons of eligibility in each of the three sports over the five-year period.
Sitting out this year are Chelsea Carrier, Alex Acker and April Rotillo. Carrier, a junior who's "becoming the face of the program," as described by WVU, is the top multi-event athlete and hurdler with three Big East Conference titles to her name.
"The big reason for her is the 2012 Olympic trials," Cleary said. "Chelsea will now have eligibility in outdoor in 2011 and 2012 with us and we feel like that might be her best chance to compete on a high level for the U.S. Olympic team for 2012."
Rotillo is the top sprinter who was part of an All-American distance medley relay team at the 2008 indoor meet with Asselin, Bland and Hamric. Acker is the pole vault specialist who was second in the Big East indoor and fourth in the outdoor last year.
It's a lot of points the Mountaineers can't count toward their total in Oregon, but Cleary is excited about the five making the trip. Williams jumps at 7:45 p.m. (EDT) today and Grandt runs at 10:15 p.m. Hamric and Bland are in a semifinal at 7:45 p.m. Thursday, with the final coming at 1:18 p.m. Saturday. Asselin's race is at 9:40 p.m. Friday.
"Going in I feel they all have a very, very legitimate shot at coming back with All-American awards," Cleary said. "It's a realistic goal. On any given day can a girl like Clara Grandt or Marie-Louise Asselin or Karly or Keri win a national title?
"Honest to God, scenarios go through my mind all the time where each of them can do it - and I'm a realist. And they know what's out there. The problem with the long distance girls (Grandt and Asselin) is they're coming up against maybe the fastest runner in the history of our sport."
That would be Iowa State's Lisa Koll, who on last Thursday was named the national women's track and field athlete of the year and "she's been smashing national records all year," Cleary said.
by Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sports writer
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia's track and field team enters the NCAA Championships this week with only five competitors and no shot at winning the team national title.
This is not to say the Mountaineers are not without goals and a very specific incentive.
Clara Grandt has a shot at a national championship in the 10,000 meters, though it'd require a significant upset. Marie-Louise Asselin, one of the more respected distance runners in this part of the country, is perhaps capable of the same in the 5,000 after placing second in the indoor national championship. If not, there's surely a top-eight All-America distinction for the taking.
Same goes for Karly Hamric and Keri Bland in the 1,500 meters. Katelyn Williams would like to prove her trip to the meet - it begins today and concludes Saturday in Eugene, Ore. - wasn't a fluke by putting together another solid set of high jumps.
Even if it works out for the best for all of them, the Mountaineers won't make any kind of a charge for the top spot. And yet it can still be a productive and historic trip.
By virtue of qualifying for the NCAA cross country championship meet and producing five point scorers in the NCAA indoor track meet, WVU needs one more point scorer to join an elite group nationally.
Last year, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association introduced the Program of the Year award. It's a points-based system that rewards teams qualifying for cross country and scoring at the indoor and outdoor meets.
WVU is close to breaking through. It enters the outdoor meet No. 4 in the Terry Crawford Women's Division I standings.
The Mountaineers were on the outside last season after getting shut out at the indoor meet. This time is different, beginning with a sixth-place finish in the cross country meet and the five scorers pushing the team to a program-best 10th-place finish at the indoor meet.
"It's a big goal of ours," WVU Coach Sean Cleary said. "It's about the duration of the year and one of our goals was to be in the top 10 for the entire year," Cleary said. "If the girls do what they can do and we have some good results, combine that with those other two and we're maybe the second- or third-best in the country."
WVU is an interesting mix. Comprised of mostly West Virginia natives - 35 of 55 on the roster - it's a team that is blessed with distance runners who build from the fall's cross country season through the indoor season and up to the conclusion of the outdoor season.
"To me, this (award) would be a reflection of the course of the year," Cleary said. "You get three strong seasons out of a program. Other programs take all their scholarships and dump then in distance runners or cross country runners. Others don't spend money on cross country at all. This is a way to reward a rounded program that builds all three."
It's an effective combination. Grandt, Hamric and Bland are West Virginians and those three and Asselin are decorated distance runners who've pulled awards from all three seasons. Yet the Mountaineers aren't what they could be and might one day become.
Cleary gives all his competitors a chance to redshirt and make the most of their eligibility in the different sports. A runner can have four seasons of eligibility in each of the three sports over the five-year period.
Sitting out this year are Chelsea Carrier, Alex Acker and April Rotillo. Carrier, a junior who's "becoming the face of the program," as described by WVU, is the top multi-event athlete and hurdler with three Big East Conference titles to her name.
"The big reason for her is the 2012 Olympic trials," Cleary said. "Chelsea will now have eligibility in outdoor in 2011 and 2012 with us and we feel like that might be her best chance to compete on a high level for the U.S. Olympic team for 2012."
Rotillo is the top sprinter who was part of an All-American distance medley relay team at the 2008 indoor meet with Asselin, Bland and Hamric. Acker is the pole vault specialist who was second in the Big East indoor and fourth in the outdoor last year.
It's a lot of points the Mountaineers can't count toward their total in Oregon, but Cleary is excited about the five making the trip. Williams jumps at 7:45 p.m. (EDT) today and Grandt runs at 10:15 p.m. Hamric and Bland are in a semifinal at 7:45 p.m. Thursday, with the final coming at 1:18 p.m. Saturday. Asselin's race is at 9:40 p.m. Friday.
"Going in I feel they all have a very, very legitimate shot at coming back with All-American awards," Cleary said. "It's a realistic goal. On any given day can a girl like Clara Grandt or Marie-Louise Asselin or Karly or Keri win a national title?
"Honest to God, scenarios go through my mind all the time where each of them can do it - and I'm a realist. And they know what's out there. The problem with the long distance girls (Grandt and Asselin) is they're coming up against maybe the fastest runner in the history of our sport."
That would be Iowa State's Lisa Koll, who on last Thursday was named the national women's track and field athlete of the year and "she's been smashing national records all year," Cleary said.
