Athlete of the Week - Matt Schiffbauer

The AotW for September 29th to October 5th is Matt Schiffbauer. Mr. Schiffbauer is a freshman who runs for Marshall University. He earned his AotW status via his 32nd place (25:50) at the Sean Earl Loyola Lakefront Invite on Saturday. He finished three seconds behind his sophomore teammate Eric Frohnapfel. Matt graduated from University High last year after capping his senior cross season with a 7th place finish at States. It appears that he put in some work this summer...

(Photo: RunWV.com)

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This week's 100% Guaranteed to Win States:

AAA Boys: Zach Tennant

AAA Girls: Ari Kasprowicz

A-AA Boys: Leonard Roach

A-AA Girls: Chelsea Callaway

Athlete of the Week - Ari Kasprowicz

The AotW for September 22nd-28th is Ari Kasprowicz of Preston High School. Ms. Kasprowicz won the Mountaintop Combo in 19:05, breaking Rachel Buser's record. Ari is coached by Paul Martin and has been on fire this cross country season. Both Ms. Kasprowicz and Letitia Propst have now dominated every possible WV challenger, and continue to circle the ring eyeing each other. October 15th is rapidly approaching...

Athlete of the Week - Ahna Lewis

The AotW for September 15th-21st is Ahna Lewis. Ahna ran in the Old Nassau Run in Princeton, NJ, finishing 2nd with a time of 21:53.10 for 6K (that's 18:13 pace through 5K). She beat all of what appeared to be Georgetown, Princeton and Villanova's 4th-7th runners. Ahna ran for Morgantown High and now runs for Sean Cleary at WVU. She is a redshirt freshman and appears to be solidifying herself as a top-7 runner for the Mountaineers. This WVU team is shaping up to be the all-time best WVU team (again) and it looks like Ahna will play a major role. I'd have a picture of Ms. Lewis to post here, but I have not been able to find one anywhere on the internet.

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This week's "100% Guaranteed to Win States":
AAA Boys: Zach Tennant
AAA Girls: Ari Kasprowicz
AA-A Boys: Leonard Roach
AA-A Girls: Chelsea Callaway

Athlete of the Week - Letitia Propst

The AotW for the week of Sept. 8th-14th is Letitia Propst of Elkins High School. Letitia earned this via her defense of the WV pre-state meet. Lined up against an Ohio stud, Letitia protected our house and kicked her down. Ms. Propst won the 2007 WV State Cross Country Championships and is looking to repeat as a sophomore. She is currently the top ranked girl runner on RunWV.com's CC Rankings. (Photo courtesy RunWV.com)

Because of the clamor on the message board for some subjective rankings to complain about, I'm starting a "Guaranteed State Meet Winner" section to the AotW. Each week I'll announce who W absolutely, 100% guarantees to win the State Meet. (If you did not catch the joke there, don't read any further...) Now, who will win the State Meet? I Guarantee it will be:

AAA Boys: Zach Tennant

AAA Girls: Ari Kasprowicz

A-AA Boys: Leonard Roach

A-AA Girls: Beverly Knight

Athlete of the Week - Zach Tennant

The AotW for September 1st-7th is Zach Tennant of North Marion High School. Zach ran at the Knight Night Relays this past weekend and ran 7:10 solo for 1 1/2 miles over grass. While one cannot put too much stock in a time from an August, night-time, odd-distance relay-leg, the fact remains that he ran extremely well in dominating (by time) a very healthy field while running solo. Best of luck to Zach as the season progresses.

(Photo courtesy: www.tristaterunnur.com)

Athlete of the Week - Megan Metcalfe

Megan Metcalfe is the AotW for the Week of August 25th-31st. Megan ran in the Olympics the week prior and qualified for the final in a PB time of 15:11.23 (the final itself went not so well). Megan is coached by Sean Cleary in Morgantown and races for Canada. She is sponsored by New Balance and ran at WVU from 2000-2005. Megan's 2008 season is now over, so this was a fitting cap for a hard-fought campaign.