Athlete of the Week - Andrew Benford

The AotW for July 20th-26th is Andrew Benford of the University of Richmond. Mr. Benford finished second in the Cheyenne Canon Mountain Race in Colorado Springs, Co. over the weekend. That finish puts him on the 2009 USA Mountain Running Team. He now gets to travel to Italy on September 6th to race in the World Championships for mountain running. Andrew is going to be a senior this year for the Spiders and runs for Steve Taylor. This past track season he was the 2009 A-10 Track Athlete of the Year. Hopefully his mountain running exploits serve as a springboard to great cross country sucess this Fall. Best of luck to Andrew in Italy.

Athlete of the Week - Savannah Rutherford

The AotW for July 13th-19th is Savannah Rutherford of Spring Valley High School. Ms. Rutherford earns her AotW for her :58/2:21 double at the USATF Region V Junior Olympic meeet in Charleston. (If anyone has an shot of Savannah running, please forward it to me.) It's nice to see a mid-distance girl doing some summer season racing. Ms. Rutherford will be part of the terrific 400/800 group of returning girls next year in AAA. Best of luck to her in her senior year.

Athlete of the Week - Bubby Dent

The AotW for July 6th-12th is Bubby Dent. Mr. Dent ran the USATF Master's Nationals 5000m in Wisconsin on July 9th and finished 8th in a time of 16:47. He also has some sub-16 minute finishes to his credit on the roads this summer. He ran in college at Glenville State (fixed) and still holds the 800m AAA State Meet record. On top of that, he's the dad of some very fast girls and, apparently, cross-trains by savings lives. (http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/50549972.html) It's great to see a West Virginian athlete go and seek out the roughest competition. Hopefully Bubby will inspire others to do the same.

Athlete of the Week - Jennifer Davis

The AotW for June 29th to July 5th is Jennifer Davis. Ms. Davis is an Assistant Coach at WVU and trains under Sean Cleary. During the July 4th weekend she ventured up to Pittsburgh and won the Brentwood 5K in 17:02. That is a very impressive time and an indication that her training is going very well at the moment. Jen and her twin Susan were an integral part to the 2005 WVU women's squad who had (prior to the current Dream Team) the highest finish at NCAAs in program history. Best of luck to Jen as she moves through the rest of the road racing season and, hopefully, into a sucessful year on the track.

Athlete of the Week - Matt Schiffbauer

The AotW for June 29th through July 5th is Matt Schiffbauer of Marshall University. Schiffy went out to Eugene over the weekend and ran 3:50.95 and 3:52.65 on back-to-back days to finish 5th in the 1500m at USATF Junior Nationals. TriStateRacer.com also went out to Eugene to watch the action. He wrote some great re-caps and took some incredible photos (like the one above) while at the meet. Everyone ought to take a few minutes and check it out, the photos alone are worth your while. At any rate, great job by Schiffy, clearly he is being well-coached and he will be going great places sooner rather than later. Best of luck as he prepares for his cross country campaign.

Special mention to Clara Grandt for running 34:13 in Oregon off of a tough two-week turn around from NCAAs. Great season, Clara.