Mr. Luck,
I just had the misfortune to read your comments in a Charleston Daily Mail article that indicated that you are leaning toward Golf over Men's Cross Country and Track & Field. Among the reasoning for this were listed regionalism and economics. I fail to see how either is accurate. Financially, with Track and Cross Country, there is already a coaching staff in place (and an excellent one at that), travel expenses would not increase that much as the men would simply be going to the same meets that the women attend. There is already a venue used for Cross Country meets. For Golf, there would need To be a new and unproven coach and, as you noted, an agreement worked out for a venue. There would be new travel costs as the team would not be accompanying an existing team on its trips.
Concerning regionalism and the popularity of Golf, 109 West Virginia High Schools sponsored Golf in the 2010-2011 School Year with 1,041 student-athletes participating. 113 West Virginia High Schools sponsored Track & Field in the 2010-2011 School Year with 2,744 student-athletes participating. Golf is not a bigger sport in West Virginia than running, and certainly not more successful. WVU's Women's Cross Country team has developed into a nationally ranked unit that features some in-state talent. That program has produced multiple All-American performances over the last several years, and has had one recent graduate, Clara Grandt (Doddridge County High School graduate), within the last year complete the Boston Marathon in under 2:30:00 and finish 7th in the US Women's Olympic Marathon Trials. We've also had National High School Cross Country qualifiers recently in Jacob Burcham of Cabell Midland and Cody Pelliccioni of Morgantown. In addition, Jacob Burcham set a National High School Sophomore Record in the 1,500 Meter Run last summer. Further, Josh Simpson (Oak Glen graduate) and Maggie Drazba (currently at St. Marys HS) just qualified to represent team USA at the NACAC Cross Country Championships to be held in Trinidad and Tobago. We've also had runners represent the USA in the World Mountain Running Championships (Ravenswood Graduate Andrew Benford, Doddridge County graduate Levi Grandt, Morgantown graduate Maria Dalzot, and Hurricane graduate Alex Dent). West Virginia produces numerous Division 1 runners each year. Scott Mayle (Philip Barbour graduate) and Tone Belt (Berkeley Springs graduate) have performed well on the national stage in the Long Jump and High Jump, respectively. We currently have athletes on scholarship at WVU, Syracuse, Oklahoma, North Carolina State, East Carolina University, Winthrop University, Marshall University, Morehead State, Boise State, East Tennessee State, Ohio State, William & Mary, Ohio University, and the University of Illinois at the very least. How many of these athletes would have liked to have stayed home to represent their home state University?
You have a chance to right a terrible wrong that occurred several years ago when WVU pulled the plug on a very promising group of young athletes. Several of those athletes transferred to the University of Tennessee and were instrumental in them winning the SEC Cross Country Championships. You already have an excellent coach in place. Economically and historically, there is no better choice than to reinstate West Virginia University's Men's Cross Country and Track & Field programs.
As a final note, the inclusion of a Men's Track team can be used as a recruiting tool for football. There are a number of very fast athletes out there that could be very beneficial to a football team that is stepping up a level in competition. Some of these very fast athletes might like to have a track team on which they can showcase their speed (a la James Jett, another WVU Olympian).
Josh Weekley
RunWV.com
Oliver Luck can be contacted at (304)293-5621 and oliver.luck@mail.wvu.edu and PO Box 0877 Morgantown WV, 26507. If you choose to contact him, do not be belligerent or your comments will simply be thrown out with the trash. Be respectful and make your point quickly.