WVU Potomac State Cross-Country sees excellent results on the season

HUNTSVILLE, AL. (WV News) — After a successful season that saw the Women’s Cross-Country team compete at the NCJAA National Meet, the expectations for the team this year were high. So, too, were the expectations on the men’s side, with their main focus being just to accrue enough runners to compete as a team, not to mention having some individual success.

Those goals were realized in 2023, not just throughout the entirety of successful regular seasons, but also with the culmination of the season being at the NJCAA National Championships in Huntsville, Alabama.

There, the WVU Potomac State Women’s team competed as a whole, finishing in 16th place overall, just one spot behind the top-15 finish they were aiming for in a field consisting of 38 teams. Still, it was a great result, especially considering the Lady Catamounts improved upon a 22nd place finish last year by six whole places.

Individually, Arrisyn Amtower led the way in the 5K in 100th place with a time of 21:07. Alex Kile was next in 108th place in a time of 21:22, followed by Minka Amtower in 121st place (21:50), Hannah Hardy in 137th place (22:20), and Averi Everline 155th (22:37). Completing the results were Alexa Vanmeter in 208th place (23:52), and Leah McKenzie 230th (24:51).

“They have been running great towards the end of the season. They did well at a big field in Gettysburg and we won regionals. I thought going into the race the girls were up to the task of competing against the bigger, more accomplished schools. I urged them to push hard for the first two of their three miles,” WVU Potomac State coach Chris Biser stated.

According to Biser, “Through the first one and two miles of the race, we were sitting at about 13th, hitting that mark we wanted to hit as a top-15 team. We hit the hill at the end, and for some, it was like a wall for them. They kind of slowed up from where they were. I don’t want to say they had bad times.”

“In fact, six of the seven girls had the personal best of their college and high school careers. So, they really ran well. I just feel like we fell a bit short finishing up the race, compared to how we went out. I was really pleased with them, but I think the girls were a little disheartened when they saw our place. They wanted that top-15 place and we finished at 16th.”

On the Men’s side, there were also Catamounts represented at the National Meet as well. The men, however, ran an 8K race, as opposed to a 5K race. Griffin Paugh, Keyser’s own, competed as an automatic qualifier. Also competing was Will Haberlein.

Out of a total of 291 individual runners, Griffin Paugh finished in 142nd place in a time of 28:37. Will Haberlein finished 168th overall in a time of 31:17.

“The guys raced first. We are typically used to getting up early and going out and running. Our race was late in the day, and it was a pretty warm day, so our MOJO was a little off. The guys went in nervous, having to sit around all day,” Biser noted.

According to Biser, “It was a flat course, there were no hills until the end. I told them they had nothing to lose, go out hard or pace yourselves, whatever you want to do. They wanted to go out hard. Griffin ran a great race, where he was, 30 seconds faster would have moved him up 100 to 150 people. He was 10 seconds off his personal record. Will was having some injury issues, and didn’t have as good of a race as we had hoped.”

The trip to Nationals

“Last year to Florida was an interesting trip because only one of the gals had ever flown before. So, I had all the stress of driving to Baltimore and then flying into Atlanta, one of the biggest airports in the world. We also flew in right as an eye of a hurricane was passing through. A few other things happened, it was interesting,” Biser explained.

This time around, Biser made a request to take a charter bus. A van was initially in play, but there was a recall by Enterprise on their bigger vans. Ultimately, the team was able to take a charter bus. Thing’s got interesting there as well, but this time in their favor.

“We actually got to travel in Clay Walker’s old tour bus. There were bunks, showers, restrooms, two big couches, big TVs. We thought we were high class rolling down there. We ended up going through Lone Pine Buses out of Kingwood, West Virginia. They are a new bus company. We got it at a significant savings,” Biser detailed.

According to Biser, “It was nice to have the availability to roam throughout the bus, watch TV, play cards, and play video games the whole time. The trip was good.”

Expectations for 2023 entering the season

Expectations were high, but varied between the women’s and men’s programs.

“On the women’s side, we were really shooting for a top-15 finish at nationals. That’s what we thought we had, based on the talent on the team, both from the local girls we had and some of the other talent we signed,” Biser stated.

After such a successful season last year, Biser knew the tools were there on the women’s side to shoot for a top-15 finish. Just outside of that bubble by one spot, they essentially did just that. Mission accomplished.

According to Biser, “On the men’s side, we were mainly just shooting to finally be able to field a full team. We thought with some of the talent we had, we could be right around a top-25 team. We had the potential to win regionals, but ultimately that didn’t happen.”

The main objective for the men was just to get the five guys needed to allow them to score as a team. Mission accomplished.

Success was realized as the season moved along

The Lady Catamounts would ultimately win the Region XX championship and advance their entire team to the National Meet. The men would not win the region, but had Griffin Paugh and advance to Nationals as an automatic qualifier, and Will Haberlein make the trip to race as well.

“On both sides, we kind of tried some new things. Last year, being our first year in, we were sort of feeling out the waters on the women’s and men’s talent levels. I was testing the waters to see how dedicated the athletes really were, to see how far I could push them in the workouts,” Biser explained.

According to Biser, “On the women’s side, after a solid season last year, and with the goal of being a top-15 team, we really hit the ground running in terms of upping their mileages. We also tried some new threshold workouts. Things just clicked, and they were really invested in the program and doing well throughout the season.”

“The guys that we had, the three that I recruited in, I knew them all, they came from good running backgrounds, so I knew they were used to running the miles they were. The two that were more like walk-ons, they weren’t as used to running as much. It was nice to see the three guys lead the other guys and push them harder,” Biser noted.

The future is bright

Moving forward, there are increased expectations for what will be the 2024 campaign.

“A big focus next year is definitely going to be on the guy’s side. I would really like to have the guy’s team to where we’re making that regional championship run. We won several meets this year, but they weren’t the bigger meets. I just want to get the guys to where we have a solid five that is running competitively,” Biser explained.

According to Biser, “On the women’s side, we signed Addison Lease from Frankfort the other day. We have a few other girls I can’t mention just yet, but I feel like collectively they could be the best recruiting class we’ve had yet. I think we can definitely be looking at a top-10 national finish as a goal.”