Athlete of the Week - Jacob Burcham

The AotW for May 23-29 is Jacob Burcham of Cabell Midland. Usually I lead the AotW (when I get around to doing it, right?) with a picture, but the picture for this week has been found EVERYWHERE: Letsrun, Flotrack, Milesplit, Tristateracer, Facebook... "The Dive" In a weekend that will go as the greatest triple in the history of the WV State Track Meet (until next year), that picture captured the intensity of it all. This sophomore took everyone's best shot and showed the state just what "talented" can really mean. 9:12/4:08/1:54 was incredible to watch. The highlight in terms of raw performance was the last 1200m of the 3200m. I had it as 3:05, and that's with a dawdling first 100m! On to the post-season...

Very special hat tip to Shawnee Carnett of Concord University. She won the D-II 800m national title, and on most any other week would have been the headliner. Also a sophomore, her future is very bright. Another hat tip to Kate Harrison for winning the NCAA East Regional (or prelim, whatever they call it now) 10,000m. Congrats to all the WVU girls on their way to nationals.

Athlete of the Week - Megan Wright

Watch more video of 2011 BU Valentine Invitational on flotrack.org

The AotW for February 7th-13th is Megan Wright. Megan won the 5,000m at the Valentine Invitational at BU in a Canadian Indoor Record of 15:25.15. That's the end of Megan's indoor season, and thankfully she ended it with a bang. Collegiate conference meets are this weekend and the high school outdoor season is about to start. Here comes Spring!

Athlete of the Week - Megan Wright

The AotW for January 31st-February 6th is Megan Wright. Megan ran 8:52.01 at the Boston Indoor Games for third place, just squeezing by Kalkidan Gezahegne of Ethiopia, the defending 1,500m World Indoor champion. The ESPN coverage is on the Boston Indoor Games Facebook page. Megan finishes her indoor season next week, in Boston.

Special tip o' the cap to Andrew Benford for running 8:09.34. That's a ridiculous indoor 3k.

Athlete of the Week - Karly Hamric

The AotW for January 24th-30th is Karly Hamric. Ms. Hamric ran at the Aviva International Match finishing third in the 1,500m in a time of 4:21.41. The first-year pro got the nod to be on the USA team and got to race in Glascow, Scotland. Running for Riadha, Karly has had a busy and fast (2:07.72/2:45.56) indoor season.

Athlete of the Week - Matt Schiffbauer

The Athlete of the Week for January 17th-23rd is Matt Schiffbauer for his performance at the Gladstein Invitational in Indiana University. He ran the 3,000m in 8:20.29 in a stellar field. Great run, best of luck the rest of track season.