Heritage High School alumna Weini Kelati, racing for New Mexico, won the NCAA Division I cross country championship Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Ind. She ran 19:47 over 6k for a nearly 10-second margin of victory over Wisconsin’s Alicia Monson.

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• A slew of Division I collegiate runners with local connections will race in the NCAA Championships Saturday in Vigo County, Ind. (let me know if I missed anyone, I imagine I left someone out in D III)
  • Georgetown’s men qualified as a team, with Nick Wareham, Spencer Brown, Jack Van Scoter, Price Owens, Matthew Bouthillett, Rusty Kujdych and Shea Weilbaker ran for the Hoyas at the Mid-Atlantic Regional. Madeline Perez and Sami Corman qualified individually, as did George Washington’s Suzanne Dannheim.
  • Loudoun Valley alumnus Peter Morris, Lake Braddock alumnus Alex Corbett and Richard Montgomery alumnus Rohann Asfaw will race for the University of Virginia.
  • Tuscarora alumnus Fitsum Seyoum and Northwest alumnus Diego Zarate will race for Virgina Tech, as will Westfield alumna Sara Freix, who qualified individually.
  • Sidwell Friends alumna Taylor Knibb and Loudoun Valley alumna Natalie Morris will race for Cornell University.
  • Patriot alumna Rachel McArthur will race with the University of Colorado team.
  • Hetiage alumna Weini Kelati, last year’s runner-up, will race with the University of New Mexico team.
• Saturday, in Louisville-Jefferson County, Ky. the following local cross country runners would appear to be competing in the NCAA Division III Championships.
  • Edison alumnus Jeff Gibson will race for the University of Mary Washington.
  • Chantilly alumnus Tyler Amos will race with Johns Hopkins University’s team.
  • Quince Orchard alumnus Liam Walsh will race with Carnegie Mellon University’s team.
  • Georgetown Day alumnus Tristan Colaizzi will race with Williams College’s team.
  • Westfield alumna Didi Pace will race with the Washington & Lee University team.
  • Chantilly alumna Ana Morris will race with the Emory University team.
• Four more runners with local connections recently qualified for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Georgetown alumnus Nick Golebiowski ran 2:18:39 at the Monumental Marathon Nov. 9 in Indianapolis, and Lake Braddock alumna Kathy Newberry ran 2:43:47. Eleanor Roosevelt alumna  (and swimmer) Hannah Cocchiaro, of Columbia, Md., ran 2:40:08 at the Richmond Marathon, ahead of George Mason High School alumna Susanna Sullivan, who lives in Reston and ran 2:43:21.

• Keira D’Amato, an alumna of Oakton High School and American University, was the fifth American woman across the finish line at the Berlin Marathon, running 2:34:55.
• Sara Freix, a Westfield High School alumna, was named Virginia Tech Athlete of the Week after winning the Hokie Alumni Race.
• Heather Delplaine, a Damascus High School alumna, was named the Capital Athletic Conference’s Athlete of the Week for her second place finish, for Salisbury University, at the Hornet Harrier Invitational. The University of Mary Washington’s Jeff Gibson, an Edison alumnus, was Capital Athletic Conference’s Athlete of the Week following his victory at the same race.
• Catholic University’s Alex Filiault and John O’Rourke were named Landmark Conference Athletes of the Week, also for their races at the Hornet Harrier Invitational.
• Quamel Prince and DuVal High School alumnus Edose Ibadin, both members of the District Track Club, competed in the preliminary heats at the IAAF World Championships in the 800 meters. They represented Guyana and Nigeria, respectively.

• A man has been attacking women on Rock Creek Park’s Piney Branch Trail. More from Prince of Pentworth.
• The IAAF World Championships start this week, and they will include Georgetown alumna Rachel Schneider in the 5,000 meters and DuVal alumnus Edose Ibadin running the 800 meters for Nigeria. Following a variety of foot injuries, Loudoun Valley alumnus Drew Hunter will not be racing the 5,000 meters.
• Richard Montgomery alumnus Rohann Asfaw , now a junior at the University of Virginia, was named ACC Cross Country Performer of the Week Sept. 18 after winning the Cavalier Classic.
• Georgetown’s Spencer Brown and Madeline Perez, both graduate students, were named Big East Cross Country Athletes of the Week Sept. 18. Both were second at the Spiked Shoe Invitational.
• George Washington University senior Suzanne Dannheim was named Atlantic 10 Women’s Performer of the Week Sept. 17 for her victory at the Mason Invitational.
• Fairfax’s Bethany Sachtleben was awarded a grant from the Road Runners Club of America for support as she trains for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. She is one of 17 runners, including 2012 Marine Corps Marathon champion Augustus Maiyo, to receive part of  the $45,000 total.
• Rockville’s Julie Sapper was a guest on the Rambling Runner podcast.
• Montgomery Blair alumna Ashlyn Sinclair has started work as an assistant coach at Catholic University.
• Georgetown alumna Sam Nadel has started work as an assistant distance coach at the University of North Carolina.
• The Washington Nationals’s Runner’s Night is Tuesday, Sept. 24. For ticket prices and more information, check here.

• The Klingle Valley Trail will be closed, possibly until December, to allow for installation of a new storm drain, concrete manholes and a concrete headwall.
• Following outcry from its decision to add two lanes of traffic near a Capital Crescent Trail crossing, the Montgomery County Planning Board voted to delay funding, for five years, that would shift the trail to a controlled intersection for users to cross Little Falls Parkway. The current configuration, which restricts traffic to one lane in each direction at the trail crossing, will remain.
• The W&OD Trail is closed under Wilson Boulevard for a few weeks to allow for the removal and replacement of the underpass.
• Montgomery County is launching a pedestrian master plan.

• The Washington Area Bicyclist Association is circulating a letter asking the Montgomery County Planning Board to reconsider its decision to shift the Capital Crescent Trail at Little Falls Parkway in Bethesda to a nearby controlled intersection while removing traffic calming improvements that have been in place near the current crossing.
• Georgetown Day School rising senior Ziyah Holman ran a leg of the United States’ world record-setting 4×400 meter relay at the Pan Am U20 games. She split 51.54 seconds.
• Good Counsel alumna Rachel Pocratsky reached the semifinals of the 800 meters in the World University Games in Naples, Italy.
• Seven runners with local connections will race the 5,000 meters at the U.S. Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa July 25-28. Six locals will run the 800 meters and one will run the 3,00 meter steeplechase. They include Drew Hunter, Josette Norris  and Stephanie Garcia in the 5,000 meters. The meet will be broadcast on NBC Sports Gold.

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• The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named several track coaches coach of the year for their respective states (or federal districts):

Boys

• D.C. – Michael Cooley- Sidwell Friends

Girls

• D.C. – Desmond Dunham – St. John’s College
• Maryland – Darryl Hamilton – Largo
• Virginia -Scott Raczko – South Lakes

• Patriot alumna Rachel McArthur elaborated to The Stride Report on her decision to transfer to the University of Colorado from Villanova University.
• South Lakes alumnus Alan Webb has been named associate head cross country and assistant track coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
• Georgetown alumnus and former director of track and field Chris Miltenberg has been named director of track and field at the University of North Carolina. He coached the 2011 Georgetown women’s cross country team to an NCAA championship.
• George Mason rising sophomore Siobhra O’Flaherty will represent Ireland in the 10,000 meters in the European U23 Championships July 12 in Galve, Sweden.
• Quince Orchard High School named its inaugural athletics hall of fame class, which includes distance runners and contributors:
  • Wayne Bartholomew
  • Karen Pulliam Egan
  • Troy Harry
  • Coach Jerry Link
  • And track and field athletes Ruth Kura, Ariel Nehemiah, Aron Dorsey, Bani Gbadyu and Travis Hawkins

• Fairfax resident and George Mason alumna and assistant coach Bethany Sachtleben will race the marathon July 27 at the Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru this July and August. Sam Roecker, who attended graduate school at Georgetown but did not compete there, will also race the marathon. 2012 Marine Corps Marathon and 2016 Army Ten-Miler champion Augustus Maiyo will also run the marathon. Lee High School alumnus Josef Tessema was initially on the 5,000 meter team.
• Tuscarora alumnus and Virginia Tech student Ben Nibbelink will compete in the U20 Pan American Championships in the 3,000 meter steeplechase in San Jose, Costa Rica this July.
• Georgetown freshman Sandy Corman won the USATF U20 championships in the 1,500 meters, running 4:29.81, gapping Rachel Huckey of Illinois State by more than a second.
• Georgetown alumna Rachel Schneider was a guest on the Morning Shakeout podcast.

• The Montgomery County Planning Commission voted 4-1 to move the Capital Crescent Trail crossing at Little Falls Parkway roughly 160 feet to the west to Arlington Road, which has a traffic light. The WashCycle reported that was not among the three options presented in 2018. The intersection had been narrowed to one driving lane since a recumbent cyclist was killed in the intersection in 2016.

Local resident and runner Paul Karlsen was disappointed in the decision and remarked that the chosen solution will almost certainly result in longer delays for the motorist, as the Little Falls to Arlington junction must become a ‘no turn on red.’ He felt safe, as a runner, with the current layout.

The new layout will restore four driving lanes, which he felt would be more dangerous. And, for running, the new layout will be a loser.

“It will restrict my use of that section of the trail,” he said. “I have often used this section of the CCT for tempo and marathon-paced runs but that will not really work out any more due to the crossing delay.  Also, I will feel less safe having my kids cycle on the trail.  We chose to live in the adjacent Sumner neighborhood for access to a trail where  motor vehicles do not take precedence over pedestrians.  That, sadly, will be gone.”

• Georgetown alumna Katrina Coogan ran 15:14.13, which is a cool time but more importantly a world qualifier, at the Adrian Martinez Classic. (Thank you to Fast Women for pointing that out.)
• The Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail is now a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization.

• Heritage High School alumna Weini Kealti, a sophomore at the University of New Mexico, won the NCAA 10,000 meter championship, running 33:10.84 for a roughly half-second edge over Oregon’s Carmela Cardama Baez. West Springfield alumna Caroline Alcorta, a graduate student at Villanova, was fifth in 33:20.68. The pair raced again in the 5,000 meters, finishing behind Georgetown’s Josette Norris (fourth, 15:52.05). Kelati was fifth in 15:54.46 and Alcorta was 11th in 16:18.66.
  • Kelati first showed up at Heritage in the fall of 2014 and went on to win the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in 2015. Ashley Davidson wrote at length about her for our Spring 2016 issue and Dave Devine wrote the story I wish I had about her last year of high school, when she couldn’t compete.
• The District Track Club held the DMV Meet of Champions Sunday at the University of Maryland. Check out results here.