Athlete of the Week - Josh Simpson

Josh Simpson is the AotW for the week of July 28th - Aug. 3rd. Josh earned AotW honors for his 12th place performance at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 28:37.16. Josh is coached by Sean Cleary in Morgantown and has had a fantastic 2008 thus far. He's PB'ed in the 10,000m (28:22.25), 12th at the trials and was 8th at the U.S. Half Marathon Championships (1:03:54). Congratulations to Josh and keep it going. (Josh is third from right in the photo above.)

Athlete of the Week - Keri Bland

Keri Bland is AotW for the week of July 21st-27th. Keri PB'ed with a 4:16.05 1500m in the semi-finals of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, just missing the finals.. Keri is a Mountaineer and also a North Marion graduate. She is currently coached by Sean Cleary and will be returning for her junior season on the Cross Country team this fall. (In this picture from her semi-final, Keri is the third runner with Jordan Hasay trailing her. You can see the crowd is on their feet in the backgroud, which had to have been incredible.)

Athlete of the Week - Megan Metcalfe

Megan Metcalfe is the AofW for the week of July 14th-20th. Megan was named to the Canadian Olympic Team following her victory at the Canadian Olympic Trials. Megan is a former Mountaineer who won the NCAA title in the 5000m outdoors in 2005. She currently trains in Morgantown under Sean Cleary. She will be running the 5000m Semi-final in Beijing on August 19th. Her website is http://www.megontherun.com/ and the video above was shot by Marie-Louise Asselin's father Daniel in Windsor during Megan's 15:33 victory.

Athlete of the Week - Sean Cleary

Sean Cleary is the Athlete of the Week for July 7th-13th. While Sean did not do anything athletic (the picture is from 1987), he did happen to coach every runner that made the past weekend the greatest in West Virginia running history.

Keri Bland (North Marion) made the Olympic Trials 1500m Semi-final, missing the Final by .41 while running a PB of 4:16.05. Josh Simpson (Oak Glen) finished 12th in the 10,000m at the OT. Megan Metcalfe (WVU, based in Morgantown) won the 5000m at the Canadian Trials and got named to the Canadian Olympic Team. Sean is one of the top distance coaches in North America. WVU, not to mention the entire WV running community, is extremely lucky to have him. Hopefully WVU dangles some rather cost-effective carrots in front of him (Lights at the track, a Men's Team, Panera Gift Cards, ect...) and keeps him around for a long, long time.

Athlete of the Week - Josh Simpson

The Athlete of the Week for June 30-July 6 is Josh Simpson. Josh ran for Oak Glen High School, then Northern Arizona (one of the top distance universities in the nation) for a year and then came home to train under Coach Sean Cleary in Morgantown. His most recent breakthrough came at the Stanford Invite (pictured above) where he ran 28:22. He gets AotW status because he's racing at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 10,000m on July 4th at 9:20 p.m. (PST). His race will be televised live on the USA Network. **Update** With late scratches, Keri Bland grabbed a spot in the 1500m at the trials. The Quarterfinal is Thursday at 7:20 p.m. (PST). Any television coverage will be on USA Network that evening from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.