Men’s Cross Country Announces 2007 Racing Schedule

Tribe Squad Aims for 11th-Consecutive NCAA Bid

08/08/07 3:42PM

WILLIAMSBURG - William and Mary’s men’s cross country coach Alex Gibby announced the Tribe’s 2007 competition calendar today at the start of his fifth season at the helm of the College’s squad of harriers. Featuring the customary mix of top-notch regional and national competition, the schedule includes a pair of home meets as well as the 49th Annual High School Invitational.

Complete Racing Schedule

The season opens on September 8 with the Lou Onesty Invitational in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Tribe has placed third at the meet in each of the past two years as it breaks in new runners and rehabilitates veterans after the summer holidays. A three-week hiatus follows, a time that include the W&M High School Invitational on September 22 at Eastern State Hospital. Now in its 49th year, the High School Invitational draws nearly 4,000 runners annually from all over the Eastern seaboard.

Competition for the College’s squad resumes on September 29th with the Colonial Inter-Regional Challenge at Eastern State. W&M won last year’s Challenge in an upset over the 13th-ranked Georgetown squad, and will look to duplicate that feat this year against a field that will include teams from six of the NCAA’s nine regions.

Two meets await on October 13, the Tribe Open in Williamsburg and the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana. The Tribe Open annually showcases young and up-coming runners from around the state, and has been won by the College each of the past two years. The Pre-National Invitational is held on the same course as the NCAA Championships, and attracts a field of over 80 teams including most, if not all, of the national top-30.

Championship season starts on October 26 with the Colonial Athletic Association Championships, being hosted this year by Hofstra University at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, New York. The College is aiming for its eighth-straight and 15th overall conference title, which would match the 15 crowns amassed in the Southern Conference by William and Mary. The regular season draws to a close on November 3 with the Cavalier Open in Charlottesville, an individuals-only race that is invaluable in providing another racing opportunity for the younger members of the team.

The march to the national championships begins in earnest with the Southeast Regional Championship on November 10 in Louisville, Kentucky. One of nine regional meets taking place that day, the Southeast Region includes schools from Virginia, Kentucky, and the Carolinas, and awards two automatic bids to the NCAA Championships. Runners-up last season, William and Mary has been to the NCAA meet every year since 1997, and has a pair of region crowns during that time.

Saturday, November 17 will find at least part of the Tribe’s team at the 99th IC4A Championships in New York City. The Green and Gold will look to repeat last year’s performance, when they won the IC4A title for only the third time. That same weekend, the top eight runners will hopefully be back in Terre Haute for the 69th Annual NCAA Championships. In 2006, William and Mary posted its best finish since 1973 with an eighth-place showing in the mud and muck.

The College returns four of its seven competitors from last year’s NCAA squad, including two-time All-American Christo Landry (Falls Church, Va.), who will try to join Matt Lane ’01 as the Tribe’s only three-time All-Americans in cross country.