(UPDATE: I have most of the meets posted that I know about. Please let me know if your meet is not listed on the calendar.)

It is that time of the year again when we start thinking our favorite fall sport of cross country. If you want your meet posted and featured on WVRunners, then please send me your schedules. You may e-mail them to me at dmcdaniel@milesplit.us or daddydoug@earthlink.net. I am going to start posted the meets I have by the end of this week.

MileSplit has a huge database of performances nationwide that numbers in the tens of millions.  We love to utilize this data to generate various rankings, virtual meets, and scoring systems.  Many people feel that time-based cross country rankings are worthless. I would disagree with those people and feel it is a valuable tool when used in context.  However, obviously is is hard to get an accurate picture by just looking at times with so many variations between courses.  We are in the process of deriving a scoring system, the first step of which is to design a statistically sound rating system of thousands of courses nationwide.

Kendall Baisden, MI, and Kamaria Brown, LA, set AAU National Records in the 400's.  (Photos by John Herzog, MileStat.com)

The Capital City Striders Track & Field teams youth division competed and made a mark at the USA Track & Field Region 5 Championships at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond KY this past week end. Please open article for complete list of records broken.

(Photos by Vic Sailer, PhotoRun.net)

Discus State Champion Mark Britton from Ritchie County threw a West Vrginia season best mark in the discus (175' 09") at the AAU National Qualifier. The junior from Ellenboro also threw the Shot Put 51' 5.5".

Misses National Freshman Record by .03 Seconds

Photo by Lance McDaniel

Freshman Jacob Burcham from Cabell Midland entered the New Balance Outdoor Nationals with the fastest 1600m time for a freshman in the U.S. After his run today on the Irwin Belk Track in Greensboro, NC., he left no doubt that he is the top freshman mile runner in the nation. Burcham missed breaking the freshman mile record by .03 wth a time of 4:15.10. Burcham closed his last 400m in 62 seconds to take 2nd in his heat.

Flotrack Video of New Balance Nationals Boys Mile Burcham 4:15.10

Photo by Lance McDaniel

Double State Champion Cameron (Cam) Viney from Elkins placed 10th in the 400m hurdles at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals today at the Irwin Belk Track on the campus of North Carolina A&T. The sophomore running in the 3rd heat posted a 53.78 and waited for the completion of all 6 heats to learn he made the top 10. Viney was 3rd in his heat.

New Balance Outdoor Nationals Flotrack Video of Viney's 400m hurdles

Blacksburg VA won the DMR with a new National Record time of 11:31.26!  (Photo by Victah Sailer)

 Photos by Lance McDaniel

2010 West Virginia AAA 3200m outdoor State champion Dayton McVicker from Fairmont Senior placed 13th tonight at the New Balance Outdoor National Championship with a time of 15:26.90. McVicker ran in the fast heat and came through the 1600m with the lead pack in 4:43. After a strong 3200m time of 9:42, he fell off the pace during the early part of the 3rd mile. However, like a champion he gathered himself and finished strong. After the race, McVicker said he never felt comfortable and was having difficulty breathing in the hot and muggy weather. The junior said he planned to come back next year and give it another try.

New Balance Outdoor National Flotrack Video of McVicker's 5K

Open article for 5000m results and more. Hopefully, we will have some photos up soon.

The state wide championship road race will be held in Huntington, WV on June 19, 2010. The race will be held in the downtown area with the start/finish line on Veteran's Memorial Blvd.

WV 5K Championship Information

This is the boys performance list for New Balance Nationals. Highlighted are the athletes from West Virginia who will be competing. 

Come join us for the first race held on the new UHS Cross Country Course. This is an off road race with uneven footing in places. There will be no awards given but please stay afterwards for a post race picnic.

Date: Friday, June 25, 2010 @ 7:00 PM Where: Morgantown, WV / University High School (UHS)

Race Fee $12.00 Pre-registered $15.00 Race day
Please make checks payable to West Virginia Track Club (WVTC)

uhs open race registration.doc

Open article for directions and more information.

Karly Hamric placed sixth in today's 1,500-meter race to earn All-America honors and help West Virginia to a 16th-place finish.
Kirby Lee photo

By Kelly Tuckwiller for MSNsportsNET.com
June 12, 2010

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Seniors Karly Hamric and Keri Bland raced to All-America honors this afternoon in the finals of the 1,500-meter race at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore.

Hamric, a Bruceton Mills, W.Va., native, earned her first honor of the season with a sixth-place finish, crossing the line with a time of 4:17.78.

“Karly Hamric has now become the highest placed 1,500-meter finisher in WVU’s history,” coach Sean Cleary says. “What a year: BIG EAST Champion and now she leaves Eugene as the third-best American Collegiate mile runner. It’s simply outstanding.”

Bland, earned her fourth honor of the season by virtue of finishing as one of the top U.S. citizens. The Fairview, W.Va., native, placed ninth with a time of 4:19.98 (open article for more)

Open article for more.

Final Nike Elite story on Bryan Clay continues our Elite coverage as we get closer to the Nike Track Nationals on June 2nd.  One more video interview to go! (Photo by Vic Sailer, PhotoRun.net)

(L-R) Keri Bland, Karly Hamric and Marie-Louise Asselin

Photos courtesy of MSNsportsNet.com

By Kelly Tuckwiller for MSNsportsNET.com
May 29, 2010

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University track and field team qualified three student-athletes for the NCAA Championships today after a strong showing in the final day of the East Regionals in Greensboro, N.C.

Seniors Keri Bland, Karly Hamric and Marie-Louise Asselin all qualified for the finals in their respective events, giving the Mountaineers a total of five that will compete at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore.

Open article for more.