Mary Washington College has turned cross country into a winner in the last four seasons. The Blue Tide men can now boast of three Tidewater Conference championships and a conference second in four years, two NCAA national Division III meet qualifiers, and two winning dual meet seasons.
Mike Good (Woodbridge, VA), a sophomore, became MWC's second national meet qualifier in 1984 when he ran "the best race of his career," according to Coach Stan Soper, in the NCAA South/Southeast region meet. His 26:35 8000 meter time, the low by an MWC runner this season, placed him fifth in the field, high enough for a trip to the NCAA Division III nationals. Good has led the MWC team in each of his two collegiate seasons. He earned All Mason-Dixon and All Tidewater Conference status and paced the Blue Tide team in every event this season. He owns the five mile MWC course record by a Blue Tide runner, 26:55. Don Zdancewicz (Vienna,VA) has backed Good for two seasons. Zdancewicz was second for MWC in every meet of his sophomore season. At the regional meet, he overcame a fall on the muddy course for a 44th place finish and a 28:55 time.
Five runners took turns filling the third, fourth, and fifth positions in 1984. Two freshmen, Scott Mersiowsky (King George, VA), and Rusty Brown (Covington, VA), two sophomores, James Llewellyn (Salisbury, MD) and Mike Bobb (Fredericksburg, VA), and a senior, but first year runner, Neal Reed (Purcellville, VA) composed the group. That squad made steady improvement over the course of the season. Mersiowsky, Brown, and Reed capped the year with their best times and filled MWC's three, four, and five spots at the Tidewater Conference meet.
Mary Washington is a Division III, nonscholarship member of the NCAA and the Tidewater Conference, the Mason-Dixon track and cross country Conference, and the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC). All four organizations provide the MWC team with large, high quality, late season meets. In 1984, MWC was second in the Tidewater Conference and ninth in the 12 team Mason-Dixon Conference field.