Running toward history

By Shane Mettlen

Published: November 5, 2008

It was a historic weekend for the Virginia Tech men’s cross country team and no Hokie harrier had a better day than Culpeper-product Devin Cornwall. Cornwall finished third as an individual and led Virginia Tech to a third-place finish at the ACC Championships in Chapel Hill, N.C.

It was the best ever finish for the Hokies at the ACC meet and quite an improvement for Cornwall, a junior and graduate of Culpeper County High School, who came in 18th at the conference meet last year, just missing out on All-ACC honors. This year Cornwall left no doubt and the Hokies are now thinking about advancing to the NCAA championships.

“I could not be happier with the men as a group,” Tech coach Ben Thomas told the media after the race. “They ran our game plan very well. If we can get in the top three at the regional meet we should be able to make the NCAA Championships.”

Cornwall hung with the leaders, finishing just three seconds behind Virginia’s Ryan Foster, who won the 8K race in a time of 24:27.7. Boston College’s Tim Ritchie was second in 24:30 and Cornwall came across the line at 24:30.8.

The Hokies finished with 75 points, behind just U.Va. and North Carolina State and beat Florida State, which entered the meet ranked No. 15 in the nation.

It was Cornwall’s best 8K time of the season and 10 seconds better than his time at last year’s ACC Championship meet in Charlottesville.

Virginia Tech will host the Hokie Open Saturday in Blacksburg before heading to the NCAA Southeast Regional the next weekend in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Shane Mettlen can be reached at 825-0771, ext. 127 or

ACC Championships Results
1. Ryan Foster, Virginia, 24:27.7,
2. Tim Ritchie, Boston College, 24:30,
3. Devin Cornwall, Virginia Tech, 24:30.8,
4. Bobby Mack, NC State, 24:30.9,
5. John Martinez, NC State, 24:33