University of Virginia Library

Meyer Sets Sights On NCAA Championship

By STEVE GASKE

Phil Meyer is alive and well
and still in the NCAAs.
Although it was erroneously
reported that Meyer did not
qualify for the national
championship with a 14th
place finish in the Southern
District last weekend, Meyer
will travel to Houston over the
weekend for Monday's NCAA
Championship.

This year Meyer has been
somewhat of a surprise to most
observers of cross country
Until the District, he had lost
to only two people all year and
had set course records in
several meets.

His only losses came at the
hands of North Carolina's
Reggie McAfee in a dual meet
earlier in the year and Duke's
Roger Beardmore in the ACC
Championship.

Meyer's 14th place finish in
the District qualified him for
All-South honors and allowed
him to continue on to the
nationals as an individual
entrant.

When asked about his
amazing success this year,
Meyer said this was the first
summer I ran all summer and I
came back to school the
strongest I've ever been."

Hailing from Lexington,
Kentucky, Meyer described his
daily summer training by
saying, "I live out in the
country and if I go out and run
around the block, it's 10
miles."

During the season he runs
twice a day and admits he tries
to push himself pretty hard
when he trains. As captain of
the team he has consciously
tried to get everyone on the
team to train harder.

Coach Lou Onesty has
nothing but the highest praise
for Meyer and says, "I wish I
had a whole team like him."

Whenever people think of
runners the inevitable question
eventually arises: Why do they
run.?

For Meyer it was a question
of coming from a private to a
public high school in tenth
grade. "I didn't know anyone
and I had always liked to run
around, so I started running,"
Meyer explains.

When he ran a 4:42 mile his
first year of running, several
small colleges started trying to
recruit him. In his junior year
of high school he had a 9:56
2-mile time, which was the best
in the state before he injured
his hip.

That same year he visited
Virginia and decided right
away that he wanted to come
her. He explains his reason for
deciding to come here by
saying, "They really gave me
the treatment. Also, Coach
Onesty impressed me as the
most likable of the coaches I
had talked to."

Last week, Meyer was
inducted into the Raven
Society, which is not that
surprising since, besides his
athletic achievements, he will
ate next year with highest
ors in Engineering.

About the nationals, Meyer
I think I can make the
50, but I'd like to make
top 25 (which is
All-American)."

When asked what he's liked
most about the season so far,
Meyer smiles and sums it up
simply "winning."