Roth Report
Television & Radio
Travel Center
Distance Coach
Ben Thomas has been Virginia Tech's head cross country coach since 2001 and now has 13 years of collegiate coaching experience. During eight seasons of coaching at Tech, the Hokies have emerged as contenders in not only the Atlantic Coast Conference and the NCAA Southeast Region but in the entire nation. Thomas is familiar with the Hokie program, having competed in cross country and middle distance for Tech from 1988 to 1992.
E-Mail: bethoma1@vt.edu
Phone: (540) 231-9978
Virginia Tech (2001-Present)
Brevard College (1999-01)
Appalachian State (1995-99)
YEAR-BY-YEAR SUCCESS AT TECH
Under Thomas' tutelage in 2008, Tasmin Fanning put together one of the best seasons ever for a Tech cross country runner. The Charlottesville, Va., native won the NCAA Southeast Regional, a Hokie first, placed second at the ACC Championships and secured Tech's highest individual finish ever at the NCAA Championships with a third-place showing. Thomas also helped the men's squad to a third-place effort at the ACC Championships, the best finish for the Tech men since joining the ACC. The Hokie women took fifth at the meet, and both squads placed seventh at the NCAA Southeast Regional.
In 2007, Thomas guided Fanning to an All-American performance at the NCAA Championships, where she placed 12th out of 255 runners. She became the second NCAA cross country All-American in school history and the first since 2003. Led by Fanning, the women's squad barely missed a second straight trip to the national meet, earning fifth place at the NCAA Southeast Regional. The men's squad took seventh place in a field of 29 teams at the regional meet. Both teams placed fifth at the ACC Championships.
Thomas led the women's squad to the best season in program history in 2006 by posting an 18th-place finish in their first-ever appearance at the NCAA Championships. The Hokie women reached the national meet following a third-place effort at the NCAA Southeast Regional behind an unprecedented five all-region performers. The Hokies also earned a fifth-place finish at the ACC Championships and an all-time high ranking of No. 20 in the USTFCCCA poll.
The men captured their best-ever point total at the ACC Championships and had their best performance in the NCAA Southeast Regional since 1995. Paul LaPenna became the first Hokie to earn all-region honors since 2003, while Devin Cornwall was named the ACC Freshman of the Year.
The women's team placed 12th at the 2005 NCAA Southeast Regional Championships as Fanning earned all-region honors after her 22nd-place finish. The Tech men's team improved two spots from the previous season with a 13th-place finish at the regional meet and finished sixth at the ACC Championships, a three-place improvement from the previous season.
The women's squad placed seventh in its first-ever ACC Championship meet in 2004, when Jessica Fanning became Tech's first All-ACC runner with a 13th-place finish. Thomas also guided that team to a top-10 NCAA regional finish while helping Jessica Fanning earn all-region honors.
Marlies Overbeeke became Tech's first NCAA All-American on the women's side in 2003, and the men saw the first Hokie since 1999 earn all-region honors.
In Thomas' first season at the helm, the women's team finished seventh in the 26-team field at the 2002 NCAA Regional Championships. Stacey Vidt and Jessica Morris earned All-Region honors, with Vidt qualifying for the NCAA National Championships. Vidt and Morris were the first all-region honorees for the program in over a decade.
On the track, Thomas has coached a distance crew that has broken school track records in the outdoor 800m, 1,000m, 1,500m, 3,000m steeplechase, mile and indoor 5,000m as well as the 4x800m, the 4x1,500m and the distance medley relays. Last season alone, Thomas' distance unit broke five Tech records and won seven ACC individual championships. Natalie Sherbak earned All-America honors for the first time in her career, finishing ninth in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
PREVIOUS COACHING EXPERIENCE
Thomas served as the men's and women's distance coach at the University of Georgia for six months before arriving in Blacksburg. Prior to that, he was the head track & field and cross country coach at Brevard College in North Carolina for a year and a half. At Brevard, Thomas was named 1999 NAIA Region XII Coach of the Year after leading the men's cross country team to the NAIA Region XII title. The team went on to place fifth at the NAIA Cross Country National Championships. In 2000, the men's team took fourth at nationals while the women finished 14th. He coached four All-Americans during his stint at Brevard, including three-time NAIA national champion Alexis Sharangabo.
Before Brevard, Thomas was the women's cross country coach and assistant track coach at Appalachian State University from 1995-1999. He coached several all-conference performers, including the 1999 and 2001 NCAA 1,500m champion, Mary Jayne Harrelson. The ASU women were Southern Conference champions in 1996 and North Carolina Collegiate Conference champions in 1996 and 1998.
PERSONAL
A native of Lynchburg, Va., Thomas earned a B.A., in English from Virginia Tech in 1992 before completing coursework for an M.A., in education from Lynchburg College in 1999. Thomas began his coaching career with the track & field team at E.C. Glass High School (1992-94) in Lynchburg and later coached cross country at Blacksburg High School (1994-95).
Thomas and his wife, Ann McGranahan, who is the men's and women's head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach at Radford, reside in Blacksburg.
