Head Coach:
Ben Thomas (14th Year)

Last Year:
5th ACC 

5th South East Region 

No NCAA

 

Probable Top Five:

SR Thomas Curtin - (8:07 3k; 13:58 5k; 4th SE Region '13, 69th NCAA '13)

SR Jared Berman - (8:12 3k; 8:43 3k Steeple; 30th ACC XC '13)

SO Patrick Joseph - (3:43 1500m; 14:19 5k)

JR Stuart Robertson - (14:34 5k; 8:48 3k Steeple)

JR George Carter - (3:47 1500m; 14:38 5k)

 

Impact Freshman/Recruits:

Biruk Amare - Robert E. Lee, VA - (9:18 3200m; 5th VA XC State Meet)  

Andrew Eason - Hickory, VA - (9:21 3200m, 2nd VA State 3200m '14)

 

It’s 283 miles from Blacksburg, Virginia, home of Virginia Tech, to Leesburg, Virginia, home of Thomas Curtin and Patrick Joseph. Whatever mileage Coach Ben Thomas put on his car between these two ends of Virginia, was more than worth it, as Curtin and Joseph constitute the true stars of this Hokie team.

Curtin had a nice breakout year last year, filling in nicely for the loss of Will Mulherin, the V-Tech standout of a year ago. His 4th place at the South East Regional and his 69th at the NCAA were solid performances. Curtin should move up in both meets this year and lead Thomas’s team to the big meet in Terre Haute.

Patrick Joseph, the other Loudon County High School star, had a great spring and summer, qualifying for the World Junior Track and Field Championships, and represented himself, the country, and Virginia Tech well. His 3:45 1500m is about a 4 second improvement over his previous year. Another leap in cross country should make him a leader on this team as a sophomore.

Two steeplechasers, Jacob Berman (8:43) and Stuart Robertson (8:48) add strength in the middle for this team. The two top recruits were both better cross country runners than they were tracksters. Biruik Amare was fifth in the Virginia State meet last fall and fellow Hokie, Andrew Eason, was two better in that same meet.

 

The man who beat Eason was Andrew Hunter, an underclassman and a rising star on the national cross country high school scene.

 

Hunter’s high school? Loudon County in Leesburg, VA. No doubt some more mileage for Coach Ben Thomas’s car. He knows the way.

#26 Princeton Women
#27 NC State Men