Coach winshonor

It was a banner year for the women's cross-country team.

In fact, Head Coach Ron Hopkins said it was the most successful year in his 24-year coaching career

The team won the NCAA Division II meet for the firsttime ever "People will know our name now because we won the regional meet," numberone runner Renee Viertelsaid.

The ladies took second behind Mary Washington College at the Virginia State Championship Meet,but settled the score lateratthe Mason-Dixon Conference Championship

The team defeated every opponent itran against oneon-one — including Navy and Radford forthe first time.

Viertel broke the school recordthreetimes. "I brokeitata dualmeet witha timeof 18:26; I broke it atthestatemeet with a timeof18:11; I brokeit atthe regional meet with a time of 18:06," shesaid.

The ladies represented the onlyDivisionIIteam togo tothe U Va Invitational where they competed against powerhouses such as Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, West Virginia University and Duke. The ladies didn'twin,buttheybeat VirginiaTech to placefifth.

In addition, Viertel,sophomore Annie Hunt, freshman Monica Carmona and freshman Robin Curry made allstate

The playersweren't theonly onesrewarded."Thecherry on top ofthe sundae" for Coach Hopkins was when he got coach-of-the-year at the NCAA Regional Championship.

The gun sounds and a lineofrunnersbreaks for thewoods.Veteran Nancy Knowles (left) moves intothe lead.Monica Cromona (38) and Robin Currie(39) withDonna Poole behind race Mt St Mary for position