Alex Gibby Named Southeast Region Coach of the Year

Third-year Coach Led Team to Region Title

11/21/05 11:00AM

TERRE HAUTE, IN - At the welcoming banquet on Friday (November 19), the United States Cross Country Coaches Association announced that head men’s cross country and track coach Alex Gibby was selected by his peers as the Southeast Region men’s Coach of the Year. This is the first regional honor for Gibby, and the fourth for a William and Mary head coach. Walt Drenth won it twice, in 1990 and 1995, and Andrew Gerard earned the recognition in 2000.

Gibby led the team this year to five team victories, including the Great American Festival, their sixth consecutive Colonial Athletic Association crown, and the Southeast Region Championship. With the victory in the regional, W&M qualified for its ninth-straight NCAA appearance, a streak that began in 1997, and that only five other teams can match. For the fifth consecutive season, a W&M runner won the CAA title, with sophomore Ian Fitzgerald (Glenshaw, PA) winning this season.

A 1997 graduate of the College, Gibby was a four-time All-CAA athlete, and won the 5,000m race at the 1997 conference championships. In cross country, he ran at the National Championships in 1994 and 1995. Also an IC4A qualifier in the 5,000m and 10,000m (an event he earned All-East accolades in), he was an NCAA provisional qualifier in the 10,000m. Gibby coached at W&M from 1997-2000, working with multiple-time All-Americans Matt Lane and Anders Christiansen before taking the head coaching job at Stephen F. Austin. He led the Lumberjacks to the school’s first two men’s cross country titles in 2001 and 2002, and in 2002 engineered the first ever sweep of the Southland Conference’s four cross country titles (men’s and women’s team and individual champions).