Athlete of the Week - Jacob Burcham

The AotW for December 13th-19th is Jacob Burcham of Cabell Midland High School. Mr. Burcham won the Barboursville Winter Series 3miler in a time of 15:27. The sophomore wins the final AotW for 2010, which is fitting as he has been the story of the running community this year as well.

Athlete of the Week - Cody Pellicionni

The AotW for December 6th-12th is Cody Pelliccioni of Morgantown High School. Cody ran at Foot Locker Nationals and finished 36th. He is only the fifth West Virginian to ever participate in this exclusive high school meet. The future NC State runner covered the course in sixteen minutes. Best of luck in track.

Athlete of the Week - Jacob Burcham

The AotW for November 29th - December 5th is Jacob Burcham of Cabell Midland High School. Mr. Burcham went to NXN over the weekend and finished in 16th place against some of the best HS runners the nation has to offer. Hard to believe how quickly he's moved along just in the past two years. Clearly one of the top underclassmen in the nation, he now rolls into track carrying a MUCH higher level of fitness than this time last year. All the WV State Meet/ WV HS All-Time guys distance records are on Death Row... get ready for some bombs to get dropped this spring.

Photo: midlandrunning.com

Athlete of the Week - Cody Pelliccioni

The AotW for Nov. 22-28 is Cody Pelliccioni of Morgantown High. Cody wins via his 7th place finish at Foot Locker South and qualification to Foot Locker Nationals. He joins the very, very select group of Taylor, Redman, Cox and Simpson to have the title of "Foot Locker Qualifier." His time of 15:04 is the fastest ever by a West Virginian at Foot Locker South in the McAlpine era. He ran a smart, tough race and has rightfully earned his place as one of the greatest cross country runners to ever come through West Virginia. Enjoy the trip to San Diego, live it up.

Special tip o' the cap to Jacob Burcham of Cabell Midland for his 5th place at NXN SE and resulting bid to NXN in Portland. It's another great accomplishment on his resume and I'm sure he'll do a great job representing WV out west as well. Other special tips o' the cap: the NCAA crew for their great job in Terra Hault; Katie Gillespie for her All-American for the Mountaineers; Sami Harris and Eric Graf for cracking some skulls outside the Seeded races; and Kate Harrison for winning Canadian Senior XC.

Incredible Cross '10 for the state. FL qualifier, NXN qualifier, three guys at D-I Nats, two girls at D-I Nats, one A-A, one guy to D-II Nats, a new course record at Cabell, EIGHT new top-25 WV performances at FL South, a BoP champion, a Canadian Cross champion, and the list goes on. Cross is almost over... and track has almost begun!

Athlete of the Week - Andrew Benford

The AotW for November 8th-14th is Andrew Benfored of the University of Richmond. (The picture above is too awesome to only use once.) Mr. Benford ran 30:30 at the UL course to finish 10th at the Southeast Regional. His finish helped propel his team to an at-large bid to Nationals. Being an integral part of your team reaching nationals, as a senior, must be a dream come true. With Levi at the #4 spot and Steve at the helm, Richmond doing a great job bringing some WV to the national meet.

Special hat tip to Dustin Hall, Katie Gillespie and Sarah-Anne Brault for their individual qualifications to Nationals.