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Championships. It marked the first for the
men since 2012 and just the program’s second
since 1987. The Hokies, who finished fourth
at the ACC Championship, came in 27th at
the NCAA meet.
In addition to losing Curtin, the Hokies
also saw steady Darren Barlow depart, along
with Juan Campos. Barlow usually finished in
the top 40 of every meet and was consistently
among Tech’s top five runners.
Despite those losses, the men’s team
returns the bulk of its roster once practice
starts in mid-August, leading to optimism
about the 2016 campaign. Much of that
optimism centers on rising seniors Stuart
Robertson, Neil Gourley and Patrick Joseph.
Robertson earned All-Southeast Region
honors a year ago after finishing 24th at the
NCAA Southeast Regional meet held outside
of Charlottesville. He also finished 24th at the
ACC Championship and 34th at the NCAA
Pre-National meet and may well have been
the Hokies’ most consistent runner outside
of Curtin.
Gourley and Joseph excel more in the
middle distances as track runners than in
the longer distances of cross country. Yet
Gourley finished 30th or better in half of the
races in which he ran, and Joseph earned
All-Southeast Region honors two years ago
before battling injuries last season. He only
ran in three races before sitting out the rest
of the year.
“Patrick just had a rough year last year, but
you saw what type of talent he had when he
nearly won an ACC title during the outdoor
season [in the 800] and was an All-American
[in track],” Thomas said. “He’s a guy that has
the talent to pick up where Tommy left off, if
all goes well.
“Neil started that process last fall. He had
tremendous progress from the fall before to
last fall, and if he continues to have that type
of improvement, he can definitely be All-
ACC. He has to work for it, but on the day,
he’s a tough racer. And Stuart has been an all-
region racer. We just need for him to be solid
and steady and get slightly better than he’s
been in the past. I think he has the potential
to do that.”
Thomas also expects improvement from
guys like Peter Seufer, Brent Musselman,
Daniel Jaskowak and Andrew Gaiser. Seufer
was the ACC Freshman of the Year last fall as
the highest finishing freshman. He came in
34th at the ACC Championship and gained
valuable experience after earning a spot in
Tech’s lineup for the ACC Championship,
the NCAA Southeast Regional and the NCAA
Championships.
MusselmanandJaskowak, like Seufer, were
usually regulars in the lineup. Musselman had
four top-50 finishes, while Jaskowak came in
31st at the ACC Championships and 33rd at
the Virginia Tech Alumni Invite. Gaiser dealt
with injuries for much of the season, but he
returned later in the fall and actually won the
Hokie Open in early November when Thomas
rested some of his regulars.
Other runners could factor in, including
Diego Zarate—who qualified for the
IAAF U-20 World Championships in the
1,500—Vince Ciattei, Andrew Eason, Kevin
Cianfarini and Andrew Goldman. Thomas
also expects Fitsum Seyoum, an incoming
freshman from Northern Virginia, to be in
the mix.
Thomas understands that he probably
doesn’t have another runner like Curtin on
the roster—those rarely come around—but
collectively, the Hokies may have enough to
make up the difference and improve on their
fourth-place finish at the ACC Championship.
“Some of the things we talked about before
they went home for the summer was could
we lose Tommy and potentially be a better
team next year just by having better depth?”
Thomas said. “We should have good depth.
We had good depth last year. I’m just hoping
the No. 5 guy can be in the top 25 instead of
the top 35. That makes all the difference at
the ACC meet. With 15 teams, there’s a fine
line between being at the top and in the top
five.”
On the women’s side, the Hokies
return nearly everyone on the roster—a
stark contrast to last fall when they saw
seven seniors depart. This time, they only
lost two seniors (Julie Wiemerslage and
Shalonda Mitchell) and Thomas expects
much-improved performances, both from
individuals and as a team, from the group that
finished eighth at the ACC Championship and
sixth at the NCAA Southeast Regional.
The Tech women lacked that lead runner
a year ago—someone with the ability to run
near the front and contend for a win. Two
years ago, Sarah Rapp and Paige Kvartunas
both filled that role and usually finished in
the top 15 of every race.
This season, seniors Abigail Motley,
Shannon Morton and Hanna Green are
among many vying to move into that role.
Without question, they serve as the leaders of
this squad.
“We have an experienced group coming
back,” Thomas said. “They did a pretty
solid job last year to be in the top half of
the conference. We had good depth, but we
didn’t have a frontrunner. This group could
certainly improve from last year.”
Motley is the better of the trio at longer
distances, as both Morton and Green run the
middle distances during the track seasons.
She was Tech’s top finisher at the ACC
Championship, coming in 37th.
Despite being more of a middle distance
runner, Morton ran fairly consistently in