March 30, 2010 -- World Junior XC Championships

Post date: Nov 4, 2010 2:42:02 AM

CNU's new distance coach, Patty Ley, was selected as teh Head Coach of the USATF Junior National Cross Country team at the 2010 World Championships held in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Coach Ley Serves As National Coach For World Junior XC Championships

Patty Ley, newly hired distance coach of the Christopher Newport University Track & Field team, was named the junior women’s coach (19 and under) for the team representing the United States at the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland on March 28th. She joined senior’s coaches Danny Green (Texas) Mary Shea (California) and men’s junior coach Robert Chapman (Indiana) as support staff for the athletes.

Team members were selected by place after the USATF Cross Country Championships on February 13th. All four teams were represented by some of the best distance runners in the United States. The junior women’s team of Shelby Greany (Providence College), Emily Sisson (Missouri, high school), Emily Jones (Georgetown), Juliet Bottorff and Sophia Ziemian (Duke University) and Laura Tremblay (University of Colorado, Boulder) raced very well to place 6th overall led by Sisson in 18th and Greany in 28th. The junior men were 8th, senior men 9th, and the highlight of the weekend was the 3rd place podium finish of the senior women.

In reflection, Ley said “it was an amazing experience to be able to work with, and for some not only outstanding athletes, but outstanding people of character. The senior women’s team immediately took the juniors under their wing and spent time teaching, motivating and inspiring the future of the sport. It was awesome to be able to see the ‘present’ of the sport giving so much to build the ‘future’ of the sport. This experience will definitely affect my approach to coaching and training developing athletes.”