University of Richmond senior pitcher Alex Hale was drafted Friday, taken by the reigning World Series Champion Boston Red Sox in the 30th-round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft. Hale was the 922nd pick overall by Boston and represented the 16th Spider drafted in the last seven years.

[via CSTV]

The USA Triathlon Duathlon National Championships come to Richmond this weekend. If you are not racing, consider volunteering or being a spectator. This is a huge two-day format featuring off-road events on Saturday and on-road events on Sunday. The National Duathlon Festival has attracted a broad range of athletes from far and wide plus the opportunity to watch the winner of national championships cross the finish line. Here is the official schedule and the all important road closures.

Official Schedule

Saturday, April 26, 2008

7:30 a.m. Off-Road Youth Age Group Races (7-8, 9-10, 11-12) –1k run, 4k bike, 1k run 8:30 a.m. Off-Road Junior Age Group Races (13-15, 16-19) — 5k run, 10k bike, 2.5k run
Sport Race (non-championship) — 5k run, 10k bike, 2.5k run 10:30 a.m. Off-Road Championships –10k run, 30k bike, 5k run

Sunday, April 27, 2008

7 a.m. Age Group Races — 10k run, 40k bike, 5k run 9:30 a.m. Elite Races –10k run, 40k bike, 5k run - Draft Legal 11:30 a.m. Youth Nationals (7-8, 9-10 and 11-12) — 1k run, 5k bike, 1k run 12 Noon Junior Nationals (13-15 and 16-19) — 5k run, 20k bike, 2.5k run - Draft Legal 1 p.m. Sport Race (non-championship) –5k run, 20k bike, 2.5k run

Road Closures for Friday, April 25th
2nd Street from Byrd Street to Lee Bridge closed – 7:00 p.m. Friday through 1:00 p.m. Sunday

Road Closures for Saturday, April 26th
2nd Street from Byrd Street to Lee Bridge closed – all day.
Byrd Street between 2nd Street and 3rd Streets closed – all day.

Road Closures for Sunday, April 27th
2nd Street from Byrd Street to Lee Bridge closed – Until 1:00 p.m.
Byrd Street between 2nd Street and 3rd Streets closed – Until 1:00 p.m.
The curb lane of the Lee Bridge closed in both directions — 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Riverside Drive closed from Lee Bridge access ramps to 42nd Street — 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
42nd Street from Riverside Drive to Springhill Avenue partially closed, police present to monitor and control — 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Parking on both sides of 42nd Street prohibited — 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Julie Rechel, age 20, of the University of Richmond, finished as the first place female at the Twenty-12 Talent Identification Triathlon in Tuscaloosa, Alabama this weekend. She won the race with at time of 1:06:57.
Sunday’s race was a chance for USA Triathlon or USAT officials to scout and develop talent for the Olympic Games in 2012 or 2016.

Rechel, a student at the University of Richmond, said she didn’t expect to be out front on the bike in the women’s race. “I just held on and brought it home on the run,” she said.

[via]

The University of Richmond will hold two public meetings to update the community on plans to expand First Market Stadium, the campus multipurpose stadium.
The first will take place April 1 at 7 p.m. at Jepson Hall, Room 118. The second will be held April 29 at 7 p.m. at Weinstein Hall in the Brown-Alley Room.
To register to attend the sessions or for more information, call (804) 289-8694. For information about the stadium project, visit the First Market Stadium Expansion Info Center online .

[via]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks the University of Richmond is crazy for thinking that Three Chopt Road could handle all of the traffic of a real university football stadium and run it through their petite entrances on extremely narrow streets. This week, Style Weekly writes about the big players involved.

While the University of Richmond moves forward with pre-season deals to expand its on-campus football stadium, neighbors have made an aggressive draft pick to help voice their traffic concerns.

Anticipating ongoing negotiations with the city and the university, the Three Chopt Road Civic Association has retained Ralph “Bill” Axselle Jr. — an attorney who parlayed his 16 years of service in the House of Delegates into a career as a powerful lobbyist.

“We’re confident the city will, at the end of the day, impose the appropriate conditions,” says Axselle, who received his law degree from UR.

For years the university has wanted to move its Spider football team home from the old, hard-to-fill 22,000-seat city stadium south of Carytown. In January, UR announced that a $5 million donation from the Robins Foundation had pushed it over the $25 million fundraising goal line. The school filed for a special-use permit with the city Feb. 20 seeking clearance to enlarge the existing on-campus First Market Stadium from 3,000 seats to 8,700 seats.

Three Chopt Road Civic Association’s president, William Berry, says he’ll monitor modifications to the sound and lighting scheme, but neighbors are worried most about the traffic.

“We’re not opposed to the stadium; we just want them to do it right,” says Berry, former president of Dominion Resources and a UR alumnus. He says the university needs to consider adding an additional entrance or exit to the stadium to keep traffic from clogging Three Chopt Road.

Adding another entrance or exit could get tricky. The backside of the property touches Henrico County. Tuckahoe District Supervisor Pat O’Bannon says residents along Horsepen Road are also wary of traffic and are opposed to a proposed new road connecting Horsepen to the university.

John McCulla, UR’s community relations director, says the university has brainstormed ideas to stem the traffic: reserving the lots nearest the field for vehicles with four or more fans, installing more bike racks, providing an internal shuttle system to make inconvenient parking less so and launching a campaign to make visitors more aware of other campus entrances.

He says the indoor basketball arena next to the stadium, the Robins Center, seats just more than 9,000, and the university has responsibly managed traffic from the season’s 15 home games for years.

The specter of those extra few days of heavy traffic may provide an opening for the neighbors to address the situation.

“If you come up with another entrance and exit,” Berry says, “then you’ve solved a problem for football, but you’ve also solved it for the Robins Center and the rest of the university. It’s a three-fer.”

City residents can register their children to play spring soccer at the Richmond Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Faculties’ Humphrey Calder Community Center between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. March 3 through April 4.

• Registration for non-city residents will be held at the same times beginning on March 10.
• Teams will be formed for boys and girls ages 6 through 15 on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Registration is $25 for city residents and $45 for non-city residents, and a birth certificate is required for registration. A $20 uniform fee is also required.
• Teams practice on week nights and games are played on Friday evenings or Saturday mornings.
• The Humphrey Calder Community Center is located at 414 N. Thompson Street beside the fire station at the corner of Patterson Avenue. For more information, call 646-1780.

The University of Richmond football saga continues….

Highland Springs High School football coach Scott Burton has resigned to take a position as an assistant to newly hired coach Mike London at the University of Richmond.

Burton has been the Springers’ coach for nine years.

A 1995 graduate of UR, Burton was a four-year letterman at safety and ranks second behind Jeff Nixon on the school’s career interception list with 16.

The Springers compiled a 72-26 record during Burton’s tenure. They qualified for the Central Region playoffs the past seven seasons. Highland Springs was region runner-up in 2001 and 2006.

Burton’s departure means four Henrico County high schools are looking for head football coaches. Gary Chilcoat (Varina), Jesse Chavis III (Henrico) and Chris Didlake (J.R. Tucker) also have resigned.

[via]

We also came across this excellent commentary, courtesy of P Keip’s Hype, concerning University of Richmond’s new football coach, Mike London.  Keip mentions everything from London’s background in hailing from Hampton, Virginia to his years as a defensive back at UR to the upcoming new stadium and how London will use his NFL experience to put the Spiders ahead of their competitors.

Mike London wasn’t going to stay at the University of Virginia forever. In fact, his second stint in Charlottesville was more like a nice addition to a resume University of Richmond Athletic Director Jim Miller wanted to get his hands on (again)

In addition to University of RIchmond football coach Dave Clawson leaving UR to head for Tennessee,, Richmond wide receivers coach Latrell Scott head to UT as well, as a wide receivers coach.

Scott, 31, interviewed with Fulmer on Friday, the same day Tennessee officially announced it had hired Richmond coach Dave Clawson as its offensive coordinator.

On Saturday, Scott joined his former head coach at a press conference in the Neyland-Thompson Sports Center to announce their arrival.

[via]

It’s official. According to Go Vols Xtra, University of Richmond football coach Dave Clawson will head to University of Tennessee to become UT’s offensive coordinator.
Now, the next question: who will Richmond hire?

Clawson, 40, met with Richmond athletic director Jim Miller on Thursday night, and the Spiders moved up a previously scheduled team meeting to 3 p.m. today.

On Thursday night, Richmond sports information director Mike DeGeorge confirmed an Associated Press report that said Clawson had been offered the job. DeGeorge could not confirm whether Clawson had accepted the job.

Tennessee is expected to announce its new offensive coordinator sometime this weekend.

Spiders wide receivers coach Latrell Scott also is expected to join Tennessee’s staff as an assistant coach, the source said.

I came across an article about a former University of Richmond swimmer and about how the U or R swim program wasn’t a great fit for her, but despite that she was able to come back to win a national title.
I wasn’t sure If I wanted to post the article, because it is not very flattering of former University of Richmond swim coach, Matt Kredich, who is also my former swim coach, and a friend. But, for the sake of telling two sides of the story, I am posting it.

Michelle Coombs, the swimmer, featured in the story, obviously has bad memories of her time swimming for U of R. She even recalled her coach as Mark Kredich, instead of Matt Kredich (or perhaps the reporter made this error). Coombs, was burned out, and needed a break from swimming. It was obvious she was unhappy in the swim program at U of R.

“I was just miserable overall and it really did show,” she said. “It was not much in my swimming but I would come to practice miserable and not happy. One day, coach pulled me into the office and said I was being a cancer to the team. It was hard to hear. I could see it, but I wasn’t enjoying swimming at that point.”

Coombs said she withdrew into herself and started to feel isolated from the rest of the team. “I didn’t feel a lot of support from my teammates,” she said.

I’d like to say that while I’ve never been a collegiate swimmer under Matt Kredich, I did train under him and found him to be an amazingly inspirational coach. In fact, I can easily state his is the best and most patient swim coach I’ve ever had.

Having trained for a Half Ironman 70.3 last year (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) and as I am currently training for the 4.4 mile Great Chesapeake Bay Swim – both events that require many workouts longer than 4 hours and often training 12-14 hours a week. I can say that unless you are taking care of your body, sleeping right, eating right and coming to practice in the right frame of mind, there is no way you can make your body perform, even if you are not fighting an illness. I have no doubt that it was a tough situation for both parties involved, but If Matt called her a cancer to the team, her heart wasn’t in it and didn’t feel like she was part of the team, it was likely true.

I love comeback storeis, and I’m happy that Coombs was able to find a coaching program that worked for her and helped her to a national title, but I wish she hadn’t tarnished the name of such a great coach in the process of telling her story.

As a triathlete myself, I guess I have a more personal interest and excitement in announcing that Richmond will host the 2008 National Duathlon Festival. This downtown Richmond hosted the 2007 McDonald’s ITU Duathlon Long Course World Championships in October, but this newly announce April event will bring even more athletes from all parts of the country to our beautiful city.
These are athletes who will come and spend lots of money here and then go home and tell their friends what a great place Richmond is. It is just the sort of thing we need. One of the best parts of all is that in addition to the regular National Championships, there will also be Junior National Championships (think kids and their families) and Duathlon Off-Road Championships showcasing our beautiful and unique urban off road bike and run trails. The festival will also occur here for 2009 and 2010. Richmond really has an oportunity to make a huge impression on these athletes and showcase what a great city we are.

Online registration for the 2008 National Duathlon Festival is now open at www.duathlonnationals.com

Pros, age groups, youth/junior, age group participants will all be running and biking along much of the same course that made the 2007 McDonald’s ITU Duathlon Long Course World Championships such a rousing success. The National Duathlon Festival also marks the first time that the USAT Duathlon National Championships and the Off-Road Duathlon Championships will be combined on the same weekend.

The same start, finish and transition area as the World Championships will be used and a closed bike course very similar to the World Championship course will be challenging and technical but easy enough for the citizens races. The downtown Richmond location allows for a proven off-road duathlon location, having hosted the past eight XTERRA East Coast Championships at this site. The location is also easy walking distance from downtown hotels, restaurants and parking.

The schedule (and event distances) for the National Duathlon Festival are as follows:
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Off-Road Duathlon Championships (10k run, 30k bike, 5k run)
Off-Road Duathlon Junior Race (5k run, 10k bike, 2.5k run)
Off-Road Youth Race (1k run, 4k bike, 1k run)
Off-Road Duathlon Sport Race (5k run, 10k bike, 2.5k run)
Sunday, April 27, 2008
USAT Duathlon National Championships (10k run, 40k bike, 5k run)
USAT Duathlon Junior National Championships (5k run, 20k bike, 2.5k run)
USAT Duathlon Youth National Championships (1k run, 5k bike, 1k run)
Duathlon Sport Race (5k run, 20k bike, 2.5k run)
Sports Backers is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization founded in October 1991 to build a more vibrant community through sports. The mission of the organization is to maximize the community benefits of sports tourism in the region by:
Creating, attracting and improving significant sporting events,
Serving as a resource in the development and utilization of sports facilities and
Aiding area youth through sports outreach programs.
These activities and programs strengthen the economy, provide health benefits to participants and make the region a more desirable place to live.

[via]

Kudos to Henrico County Public Schools for incorporating heart rate monitors into physical education classes to help better educate students about how exercising affects their body — all in an effort to fight childhood obesity.
And kudos to state legislators, the Richmond Sports Backers, and Henrico Schools for finding new ways to fight children’s obesity and making it a priority.

The students love it, said Bonnie Conner-Gray, an educational specialist for health, physical and driver education for Henrico County Public Schools, describing the program to members of a legislative panel studying ways to reduce childhood obesity.

What works to reduce childhood obesity is getting the attention of Virginia legislators and others.

The study panel that Conner-Gray testified before this year is expected to propose several policy changes, including one that would require schoolchildren to get 150 minutes of physical education per week.

Childhood obesity is also the focus of a Tuesday conference coordinated by Richmond Sports Backers, the group that organizes popular races such as the SunTrust Richmond Marathon.

“I don’t think anything is more important than the physical activity,” said Del. John M. O’Bannon III, R-Henrico, who chaired the study panel that will submit recommendations to the General Assembly.

[via]
In Richmond City Schools, my daughter gets P.E. once a week. This is not enough — 150 minutes a week sounds more like it. Thank goodness her teacher knows how important exercise can be to learning and just overall health in a child. She has her students run or run-walk the gravel track at the school about 4 days a week.

University of Richmond has a great women’s swimming program. I know firsthand. From 2002-2004, I swim for their head coach, Matt Kredich, as part of the Triathlonmoms team his wife ran. Since then, the pool has been revamped and the coaches have changed, but the heart of the program is the same.
The Bridgeton (N.J.) News reports this week that they’ve gained another great swimmer, Jill Smaniotto.

“They have a girl that going in as freshman swam 57 (seconds) in the 100 fly and now as a junior she is doing 53 (seconds),” she said. “In a year and a half she dropped four seconds. Their style of training is just phenomenal.”

That style features a more personal approach that focuses on what each swimmer’s heart rate should be at different intervals. It is a new, more scientific, approach that Smaniotto said is starting to get notice from other schools.

According to an article from the Times-Dispatch, the University of Richmond has gained Harry Lee Daniel, a Highland Springs senior, via a verbal commitment.

Daniel was a key offensive element for the Springers, who were 10-0 in the regular season. Highland Springs was No. 1 in The Times-Dispatch Poll and was ranked No. 5 in the final Associated Press poll before being eliminated by Hermitage 21-20 in the Central Region playoffs.