Ask Virginia Tech’s star cross country runner Will Mulherin about his individual goals. He’ll stress the importance of a team title, instead.
“I want to win a team title,” Mulherin said. “I probably want a team title more than I want my individual titles. I really want that team title.”
His thoughts are echoed by 10th-year head coach Ben Thomas, who believes this team has the potential to be one of the best he’s had at Tech.
“With cross country, it’s not just one or two people that have to do well,” Thomas said. “It’s five guys on the day that have to do well. If we can put that together and everyone has one of their best races, then we can be amongst the best in the ACC.”
Knowing he has one of the best runners in the Atlantic Coast Conference should make Thomas’ job that much easier. Mulherin, coming off a season in which he garnered All-ACC honors as a sophomore, is setting his personal goals even higher for his junior year.
“I want to be in the running for ACC champ in cross, I think that would definitely be one of the coolest ACC titles you can get,” Mulherin said. “It means you’re the best in all the distance, not just one event.”
Mulherin comes from a family of runners. Both his older brothers, Tim and Ben, ran cross country in high school. They thought about running in college, but decided against it, instead paving the way for their younger brother to shine at the next level.
Mulherin’s journey to Tech has been nothing short of amazing. He started running competitively in eighth grade for his junior varsity team, and it wasn’t until his senior year at Tabb High School in Yorktown, Va., that he felt he could run at the collegiate level.
“I think senior year I was flip-flopping on it, if I wanted to do it at all,” Mulherin said. “Then at (Virginia’s state cross country championships) I got third, and that’s when things started to accelerate. I kind of got pushed into it, kind of fell into it
after that.”
Mulherin had decided to come to Tech before he knew he wanted to run in college.
“I actually applied early decision to Tech, got in, then coach Thomas gave me a call because I was already coming here,” Mulherin said.
Thomas has been especially pleased with Mulherin’s rapid improvement in just two years with the team.
A version of this article appeared in the Sep 16 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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Is there a better writer than Matt Jones?
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Great profile by a great writer!
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