Athlete of the Week - Cody Pelliccioni

The AotW for September 21st-27th is Cody Pelliccioni of Morgantown High School. Cody won the Oatlands Invitational on Saturday in a time of 15:49, beating the cream of the crop from a large portion of Virginia. His race consisted of 260 finishers and 39 teams, while the B race consisted of 386 finishers and 58 teams. Cody has certainly established himself as the favorite to win AAA Boys with this performance. Special tip of the cap to all the collegiates this past weekend, good job representing the state at your respective meets.

Athlete of the Week - Clara Grandt

The AotW for September 14th-20th is Clara Grandt. Clara won the Midwest Open in Kenosha, Wisconsin (site of this year's Big East Championship) and also earned Big East Runner of the Week honors. I'm sure she'll forget about the Big East award now that she's added to her AotW total. Ms. Grandt runs for the Mountaineers and is in her final cross country season there. Here's hoping that she can go out with a bang.

Athlete of the Week - Cody Pelliccioni

The AotW for September 7th-13th is Cody Pelliccioni of Morgantown High School. Cody was runner-up in Pittsburgh over that weekend at the Red, White and Blue Invitational, in a time of 15:36. The field consisted of 29 schools and 242 runners. Mr. Pelliccioni looks to defend his AAA title later this Fall, best of luck to him.

Tip of the Cap to all the other high school and college runners out there. It was a busy weekend and we had plenty of fine performances.

P.S. - WVU girls are ranked 4th nationally and 1st regionally in the first USTFCCCA poll. (Nationally: 1. Washington, 2. Oregon, 3. Fla. St., 4. WVU, 5. Villanova. Regionally: 1. WVU, 2. Villanova, 3. Princeton, 4. Georgetown, 5. Penn St.) Other schools of interest: Syracuse women (23rd/2nd) Illinois women (10th/2nd) Auburn women (NR/4th) Richmond women (NR/9th) Virginia Tech women (NR/12th) William & Mary men (15th/1st) Richmond men (NR/8th). Full poll is here: http://www.ustfccca.org/rankings/division-i-rankings

Athlete of the Week - Megan Metcalfe

The AotW for August 31st-September 6th is Megan Metcalfe. Megan ran two 3,000m races during that week, in Gateshead and Rieti, the second being much better than the first (9:12/9:01). Megan is based out of Morgantown and coached by Sean Cleary. This was the beginning and the end of her injury-plagued 2009 season. She will now enjoy the Fall and get ready for a much better 2010 campaign.

Special tip of the cap to Andrew Benford for his 13th place finish at the World Mountain Running Championships. He would have won AotW during almost any of the previous eleven weeks, but as is sometimes the case, a big performance ran up against a big performance. Good luck to him during his upcoming senior cross season.

Athlete of the Week - Brandon Doughty

The AotW for August 24th-30th is Brandon Doughty of Jefferson High School. Mr. Doughty ran 7:27.9 at the Knight Night Relays. Coached by Scott Biola, Brandon is set up to contend for the AAA boy's title later this Fall. His time was 24 seconds faster than the next fastest time and his anchor leg ensured Jefferson's victory. Brandon is coming off of a fine 2009 track campaign that saw him post marks of 2:00.72/4:29.93/9:43.58. He is a junior and should make an impact within the state over his final two years. Good luck to him.

Athlete of the Week - Maria Busienei

The AotW for August 17th-23rd is Maria Busienei of Charleston, WV. Ms. Busienei earned her AotW by virtue of her 9th female finish at the Parkersburg Half-Marathon. Maria moved to Charleston several years ago and, as best as I can tell, races almost exclusively on the roads. A native of Kenya, she has had good finishes at just about every major road race in WV this year. best of luck to her over the rest of her racing year.

P.S. - The winner of the Parkersburg Half-Marathon, Alena Reta, is a convicted drug cheat who has recently been suspected of more drug shenanigans. I wish the Parkersburg Half would consider barring him from the 2010 race.