Athlete of the Week - Matt Schiffbauer

The AotW for March 23rd-29th is Matt Schiffbauer. Mr. Schiffbauer earns his AotW for his 3:57.05/1:58.49 double at the University of Miami over the weekend, setting PRs in both the 1500m and the 800m. Matt is a University High graduate who runs for Coach Small and the Thundering Herd of Marshall University. "Schiffy" is coming off of a solid fall and continues to make leaps in his training and performances. Best of luck to Mr. Schiffbauer as he continues to crank out PRs this spring.

PHOTO UPDATED: I know the Schiffy MoHawk is all the talk right now and it's nice to have a photo highlighting that slick streamlined look. But I've been sitting on this ER photo for way to long, patienly waiting for a chance to use it for the enjoyment of us all. This picture is after Schiffy's spill at USA Jr. Cross Nationals sporting a nice hospital gown/racing uniform sipping on some Gatorade.

Athlete of the Week - Michael Hardbarger

The AotW for March 16th-22nd is The Michael Hardbarger of Rochester Institute of Technology. Michael ran in the D-III Indoor Track National Championships over the weekend and qualified for the Mile final in 4:12.47. He then finished 7th in a time of 4:11.60, garnering an All-America award. He was named the Empire 8 Conference Men's Track and Field Athlete of the Week for his efforts. The All-America award is the second of his career, following his 5th place finish last outdoor season in the 1500m. Looking onward, the 2009 D-III Outdoor Championships are to be hosted just across the Ohio River in Marietta College, from May 21st-23rd. Ritchie County is rumored to be already mobilizing for the invasion.

Athlete of the Week - Clara Grandt

The Athlete of the Week for March 9th-15th is Clara Grandt. Over the weekend Miss Grandt won the NACAC Senior Women's race while wearing the USA jersey. She won the race by ten seconds and led USA to victory in the team race, defeating the hated Canadians. Clara is a product of Doddridge County High School and currently attends WVU. She runs for the Mountaineers under Sean Cleary. Best of luck to her as she transitions to outdoor track. Also, best of luck to all of the West Virginians out there running in their respective NCAA Championships. Uncle W will have a preview of this weekend's action up on the message board just as soon as he recovers from his sojourn in Sin City.

Athlete of the Week - Michael Hardbarger

The AotW for March 2nd-8th is Michael Hardbarger. Mr. Hardbarger is a senior at Rochester Institute of Technology and earned his AotW via his dominating performance at the NYSCTC Championships. He ran a leg on the winning 4x800m, ran a 4:12 mile and got nipped at the line, then FELL DOWN in the 1000m and still won it in 2:33. He was named Men's Track Athlete of the Meet. He's run the 2nd fastest Division III mile time this season and also may be the fastest runner to ever come out of Ritchie County. (I haven't studied up on my Ritchie County history, so I'm not too sure about that.) If you don't know much about Michael, read up on him here. Best of luck at nationals.

Athlete of the Week - Keri Bland

The Athlete of the Week for February 23rd-March 1st is Keri Bland. Keri earned her award by winning the Big East Indoor Championship for the mile in a (deep breath) school-record, conference-meet-record, personal-best, NCAA-auto-qualifying, Most-Outstanding-Track-Performer-of-the-Meet-winning time of 4:34.78. She beat Megan Metcalfe's old school record by a second and took down Kate Vermeulen's conference meet record by about 5 seconds. Ms. Bland now sits (I believe) as the fourth seeded woman for NCAA indoor nationals later in March. Keri's a North Marion graduate and coached in Morgantown by Sean Cleary. Best of luck to Keri and the rest of the Mountaineers.

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Editorializing for a moment, I'll eat my hat if that wasn't the greatest indoor weekend in the history of the state. Roll back the clock to 1999 and remember the days when almost no high school kids ran indoors. Today, we've got a girl running 11:05, three guys under 9:40 (4 under 10), a sub-4:40, two sub-2:21s, one 2:01... in one weekend. In the collegiate scene we've got a 14:50, 16:21 (Clara Grandt's new WVU record, which should get her through to nationals), a sub-18, a 2:49 and 2:47 1000m (by the same girl), a 2:50 1000m, a 9:22, a 9:40 and another sub-10 3000m, sub-8:40, sub-5 mile, a 1:55 and a 2:12... again in one weekend. (I'm not even mentioning Carrier [5th Big East Pent., 2nd Big East 60H], Belt [Big East LJ Champion] and Cotten [Big East Pent. Champion]!) There was so much action, I'm probably missing some other good marks too.

In unrelated news, I've heard that little 10-year-old Bobby Noname won the kid's mile fun run this weekend in a record 7:23. He now leads the voting for the 2009 McCoy Award.