Big East Races on YouTube

Hey guys you can check out the WVU ladies in action thanks to Marie-Louise's parents who put all three first places races up on youtube. I definitely recommend checking out the DMR, it was one of the most insane races of the meet. Now, Marie's parents speak French so there may be a lot of yelling that is completey incomprehensible but it's still worth checking out.

DMR - WVU ladies finish 1st with an 11:16


Keri Bland wins her 1000m race quite easily with a 2:48.


And last but not least Marie-Louise Asselin crushing the 3K in 9:20, and earning her athlete of the meet award.

New York and Florida

Hey guys Justin here...I will be leaving for Florida tomorrow and just wanted to say Good Luck to Marie-Louise, Stephanie Caruso and Jason Santucci up at New York tomorrow.

Also if you wanna get at me I will be sittin pool side after Josh's race on Sat. in Orlando. HAHAHA Suck it Casey :)

Running Action this Weekend.

Hey guys Casey here...There's plenty of Big Meets this weekend as most college teams are preparing for their Conference Races (except for Big East who always goes on a weird week). There is also an open meet at the Armory that many Mo'Town natives are going up to run - WVU runner Marie-Louise Asselin will be trying to get a National Qualifying time in the 3K.

Josh Simpson was named to his first USA team when he was selected as a member of the NACAC Meet in Orlando Fl. He'll join teammates Ben Bruce, Travis Laird and Thomas Morgan to take down the EVIL Canadians (led by Canadian running overlord Robbie Watson, a former Moutaineer). We'll be on the phone with the family to have results up as fast as possible. You can find out more about the meet at the NACAC Homepage.

Micheal Harbarger is setting off to compete in the NYSCTC Championships for Rocherster Tech this weekend. He's got a loaded schedule and looks to run some fast times in order to make it to Nationals. His DMR team (who will compete Friday) is only a few seconds from the mark, and so is his Mile time. He runs the mile on Saturday morning and comes back with the 1000m and 4x800 after that. You can keep up with the meet and see how Micheal is running with live results provided by the Meet Webpage.

Claire Berryman from Penn State will be competing for the Lady Lions at the Big Ten Championships in Minneapolis, MN this weekend. Claire has been on a roll this indoor season knocking off one PR after another. She's run 5:08.25 for the mile, and 17:07.82 for the 5K already this season. Good Luck to Claire this weekend.

Marshall's Womens team will he heading to the Wild West to compete in the Conference-USA Championships. The distance crew will be led by Freshman standout Darby Mullen who will be running the 3K.

Good Luck to everyone else running this weekend. I'm sure I left some off so let me know and I'll put them up.

Hardbarger Contiues his Great Season.

Hey guys Casey here... I must admit I feel bad for not giving Micheal Hardbarger more press on this site. It's easy to lose track of some of the WV runners when they go off to out of state schools. And although I know the guy, and where he goes to school, I sometimes forget to look for his name in the results. Luckily there are lot of people on here and the message board that are as big of running nerds as me, and pick up on what I miss. So from now on Micheal is going to be getting the coverage he deserves for running some of the fastest times this year by a WV runner (you can check out the list on the message board). Just to get you up to speed on how well this guys has been doing, lets get a quick review:

In 2007 Cross Country (as a Junior) he was one of the Top Runners for Rochester Tech and ran 25:57 for 8K at the D3 Atlatic Regionals Championship.

In his first indoor race this year he ran 8:42 for the 3K at the Syracuse Invite.

One week later he broke the 4:20 barrier for the mile by running a stellar 4:18.40 at the RIT Invitational putting him near the top of the WV performance list.

He broke a 23 year old school record in the 3K when he ran a smokin' 8:31.39 at the Kane Invitational on Feburary 17th.

This week he broke another school record when he crushed the 1000m and ran 2:28.74 for the win at the Deneault Invitational.

He's also been named Empire 8 Athlete of the Week for the past 2 weeks for his impressive record breaking races.

Now, going into the final few weeks of indoor races Micheal has the NYSCT Conference Championships coming up. He's going to be loaded into a lot individual and relay events hoping to help his team earn the victory. He also hopes to earn a bid to Nationals by running a qualifying time. The provisional time in the mile for D3 is 4:15.7 (on 200m unbanked track, which is what he'll be running at the Conference meet). The Automatic time is 4:10.7 and he has some sub 4:10 guys in his race to pull him along. Let's hope this weekend works out huge for Micheal and he gets a chance to represent his school (and WV) proudly at D3 Nationals. Congrats from us on a great season so far and keep up the hard work!

BIG EAST Results

Hey guys Casey here...just wanted to drop in with a little update on that DMR. It was a Big East Meet Record by more than 6 seconds. The Big East has always been stacked with some of the fastest distance stars in the country, and WVU just showed that their crew is the cream of the crop. They laid down the fastest DMR time ever at Big East, and that's a special feat. Congrats to the ladies on a job well done. Check out the recap and day one results here.

Hey guys Josh here with live results and splits from Day 1:

Keri Bland: (1000 Prelim): 1st place in Heat 1. Advances to Final tomorrow. 2:52.77. Looked Smooth

WVU WINS DMR!! : 11:16 !! Keri Bland, April something, Karly Hamric, Marie Louisse!

Unofficial spilts: Keri : 3:27....April : 54-55....Karly: 2:12...Marie: 4:41 CONGRATULATIONS LADIES!

Clara Grandt: Clara placed 7th in the 5k, running 16:50..... Clara has been trying to fight a sickness for atleast a week now.

Day 2 Results

KERI BLAND, BIG EAST CHAMPION in the 1000m!!!

Keri lead from the gun and then turned on the Jets to blow away the field in the 1000 meter final, running 2:48. Congratulations to Keri Bland! The Big East champ in the 1000m!!

Marie Louisse Asselin, BIG EAST CHAMPION in the 3000m!!!

Another one for Coach Sean Cleary, as Marie L ran out front from the gun and won in 9:20. Congratulations to Marie on picking up her first BIG EAST TITLE!

Just a quick note that was Marie's 2nd Big East Title since she won the DMR the night before - and she was also name Female Athlete of the Meet for her great performance!

Athlete of the Week - Marie Asselin

Maire captured the female Athlete of the Meet at Big East this past weekend with her amazing double win in the DMR and 3K. She anchored WVU's relay and chased down Villanova's anchor leg who had a huge lead at the handoff. But the bigger threat was Georgetown's mile leg who was stalking Marie the whole way, ready to burst around her with a final sprint in the last few seconds. Marie wasn't having any of that and sealed the race with a great last lap and a split of 4:39 for the 1600m.

Inspired by teammate Keri Blands win in the 1000m. earlier the second day, Marie came back and completely dominated the field in the 3000m. She took the lead from the gun and went unchallenged the entire race running 9:20. She got the chance to exact revenge on one of the nation's best runners, Melissa Grelli from Georgetown, who beat Asselin at Big East Cross Country. Next up is a trip back to NY to see if she can hit the standard for indoor Nationals (which she's only a few seconds from). Good Luck to Marie over the next few weeks as she finishes off her indoor season in style.

More Results From The Weekend

Kallen Weaver: West Liberty runner Kallen Weaver Wins the Womens 3k at the Marietta Meet with a 11:25.58
Ryan Skotnicki: AB runner Ryan Skotnicki wins the Mens 5k in a 16:04.40

Marietta Meet Results.

Lucas Greza!!

4:54!!! - In his last Flyers practice of the year Morgantown runner Lucas Greza did a 1600m Time Trial race and shattered the 5 min barrier by 6 seconds and established himself a nice new PR. Congrats man and next stop sub 4:50!!

WV boys at UK High School Meet

Just to prove that you don't need an indoor track to get good training in, we have some good results from some of the boys down south. University of Kentucky hosted a high school meet on the Feb 23rd and a few WV atheletes were spotted in action.

David Caldwell (who had a surprise 3rd place finish last fall in Cross Country) of South Charleston showed that his coach Jason Redman has been a slave driver over the winter as he ran a 10:10 in the 2 mile. This guys has really stepped up his training over the last year, and is most definitely going to be a threat when outdoor rolls around.

David Bias (AAA state Champion in the 800m last year) from Cabell Midland knocked off a 2:01 in the 800m to make him the fastest high school runner of 08. Looks like Bias has had a great winter as he's already starting the season off at the same level he was at when he ended track last Spring. If this is any indication we could be in for some smoking times this year in the 800m. And hopefully he'll finally take down that Cabell Midland school record for the 800m, which has lasted far to long.

Congrats to both of these studs for getting into some big meets and mixing it up with the big dogs. They've been out trudging through the snow and sleet and crap weather we've had and I commend them for setting an example for the rest of the state to follow.

Concord and Wheeling Jesuit at Kent State.

Big East isn't the only action taking place this weekend as some WVIAC schools headed over to Kent State to participate in the Kent State Tune-Up Meet. On the women's side Sarah Campanelli, from Wheeling Jesuit, ran a stunning 5:18.70 for the women's mile which puts way at the top of the Conference performers for that event. Not far back was Allison Teeter from WV Weslyean who scorched to a 5:23.81. Another Wheeling Jesuit runner, Erika Rucker also ripped off a seasonal best as she finished up with a 5:34.66.

Campanelli wasn't finished with just knocking off a good mile time. She decided to steal the spotlight again by jumping in the 800m and finishing 5th with a 2:16.67. After this stellar double she now sits atop the 800m and 1600m performance list for the WVIAC. Congrats to her on a very good day.

Justin Simpson said...
Also at that Meet, Weslyan Runner Eric Cooper ran 15:11 in the 5k, Jesuit runners Scott Bonnette 8:54 and Dustin Hall 8:56 run well in the 3k.

On the womens side Hannah Jo Robinson runs a nice 3k for Weslyan with a 10:42 and Erin Price of Weslyan runs a nice 5k with a 18:42

DMR RESULTS

Hey guys Josh here...The highly anticipated DMR race that was held at the indoor track in Morgantown definitely lived up to its billing!!

Here are the results: Death Squad: 13:19. Nuclear Ninja's: 13:26

The Winners: The Death Squad: Jordan Hamric, Lindsay Wyatt, Aubrey Moskal, and Marcie Mason !! Congrats Girls!


Recap: The first leg of the race was the 1200. Superstuds Jordan Hamric and Hallie Portner were going head to head. The 2 girls ran most of the race stride for stride until Jordan took over the lead with about 400 to go. But with 150 to go Hallie pulled up along side of her to hand off the Baton in a virtual tie. The second leg had North Marions speedster Cass Menas going against Universities Lindsay W. 'From the time the Baton was handed off Cass was gone like a bullet. Putting about a 4 second gap on Lindsay. The Nuclear Ninjas seemed to be running away with the race. The 3rd leg saw Ari K extend the lead over Aubrey Moskal by just a couple seconds. At this point the Nuclear Ninjas had about an 8 second lead. THE FINAL LEG! The mile! North Marions Jordan Mc'Donald took the baton with a pretty big lead. It was up to Marcie Mason of North Marion, to try and kick her down. The gap seemed to be closing fast, and it was. Marcie had scorched the first lap in 37 seconds. But the tiny gap that had remained stayed until about 600 meters to go, as Marcie Mason pulled up on Jordan and took over the lead. A small surge on the back stretch saw that lead extended until the final lap when Marcie took off for a clear victory. Congratualtions to The Death Squad for an amazing come from behind Victory. And congrats also to The Nuclear Ninjas for a Great Race. It was definitely as exciting as I thought it would be. (Expect some pics a little later of the race. )

Court is in Session

Hello Running Patrons, Justin here...

Lately there has been a man running around town, we will call him W, talking up his bowling skills along with supposed breakdancing skills and hoola hoop skills. I'm for one sick of the Hype and would like to let "W" know that I am not impressed and if he ever gets out of doing "Lawyer" stuff bring it on.... Enjoy the pic of superstars JW, Tyler D, and Mr.Morgantown

Big East Championships

Hey Everyone, Josh here...I''ll be reporting on the Big East championships this weekend. The WVU girls leave today to try to win Big at the Big East, starting Saturday. For almost Live results on races, check back on this Blog, as I will be updating it everytime someone finishes a race. LETS GO LADIES!

Jordan Hamric Interview

Hey guys Casey here...I've got one last interview to put up before the weekend.

Jordan Hamric - One of Preston's top runners over the past few years, Jordan has had tremendous success in Cross Country and Track. Last year she went 11:01 for the 3200m. at the State Meet to put her as the #4 fastest of all time. Pretty impressive stuff.

Now just so you know I talked to Jordan about what picture she wanted me use for the interview. She said she was going to message me and let me know which one she approved of. Alas, the message went astray, and I was forced to pick the picture that I thought captured Jordan's spirit the best. You just really can't leave these things in my hands. Thank you facebook!

New Interviews!

Hey guys Casey here....I've finally put up a few interviews that I've been sitting on. We lost internet access here for a few weeks when Josh crushed his wireless card in his hand like the Incredible Hulk because it was acting up. But a quick trip to the land of Wally World for a new wirless card and we're back in the business of stealing the internet from the people downstairs. I just wanted to thank Alex and Hallie for sending us back some cool responses and we have one with Jordan Hamric that I'll have up tomorrow. Just check out the following links:

Hallie Portner - University star runner who lead her team to the first ever University Women's state title.

Alex Dent - Superstar of the South from Hurricane High school who is quickly turning herself into legend.

Enjoy.

Running Evolved.

Hey guys Casey here...I found a pretty cool video to check out. This is the next step in the Evolution of Running - it's called Parkour, or Free Running. You can actually see a pretty good example of it in the latest James Bond movie, Casino Royale. The bad guy who did all the free running at the beginning of that movie was actually one of the co-inventors of the sport.

This guys is pretty awesome - could you imagine running against this guy in a race and he's doing back flips over your head and off cars. I like the part where he's flying through the trees like Tarzan.

TEAM USA, NACAC XC Championships

Hey guys, Josh here...... Just wanted to let everyone know that was pulling for me out in San Diego that I did get selected to represent the USA on March 1st in Orlando Florida for the NACAC XC championships. Thanks for all the best wishes and I'll be thinking of you all as I race thru out the year. Quick shot outs to people I believe deserve it for helping me with everything: Keri Bland, Sean Cleary, Travis Simpson, Justin Simpson, Casey Batey, Jay Dolmage, Zach Sabatino, the whole WVU crew, Jason P, the North Marion running gang, Jason Henley, my parents, and all my good friends in WV. WOOP WOOP BABY! Lets Run fast!!!

Changes.

Hey guys Casey here....as you can see we've got a new look to the main page of RuntheArb. I'm currently working on the links at the top to make sure we have pages for everything (so far the message board still works). I wanted to make things a little more interactive with the main page and allow more people to contribute articles and such.

What I would like to see on the front page is many different runners/coaches around the state posting arctiles on the front page that people can comment on. I figure if we can get some of the better runners around the state coming in to contribute something maybe once a week (or as much as they want) it would make for a much more well rounded News Page. It would be awesome to see someone like Josh Simpson commenting on the races he's recently run, or Jason Pyles talking about his marathon training, or Megan Metcalfe talking about her running lifestyle, or W...well being W. I think it's a great way to open the webpage up so that many different people can take part in it, and we can get the views and opinions of a varied amount of runner types from around the state. I'm going to be chatting with some people and seeing if they want to be a part of it, and if it's something you think you'd like to take part just shoot me an email at caseybatey@yahoo.com and we'll talk.

Athlete of the Week - Andrew Benford

Andrew Benford takes top honors this week for his stellar performance at the A-10 Championships where he finished 2nd place in the 3K with a time of 8:29.66.

This is just another in a long line of great performances by this young star. He had a highly successful Cross Country season as one of Richmonds top runners in the fall, and has kept the momentum rolling right into indoor track. Earlier this winter Benford knocked off some big PR's as he ran 4:18.92 for the mile and 8:27.98 for the 3K (which ranks him as the fastest WV performer so far this year). We know it' s just a matter of time before Andrew has a slew on Conference titles to call his own, and hopefully a few trips to NCAA Nationals to go along with it.