<p>That's a great story...thanks for posting it. I forwarded it to my son, who has applied to Haverford and hopes to play baseball there. He has been very impressed with the coach in that program as well.</p>
<p>It really was a great story. My son is actually hoping to continue cross country/track in college, so the article really spoke to him. Small world story -- my son's high school running coach is another Tom Donnelly success story. His coach brings the same philosophy to the high school program that Donnelly uses at Haverford. It has been a great experience for my son.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link. I met with him when I visited last year.</p>
<p>That was a great article. My brother is on the Haverford XC/track team. He's abroad now so I sent him the link. Thanks! He enjoyed the story, too!</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/25/sports/25haverford.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/25/sports/25haverford.html</a></p>
<p>Tim Shaffer for The New York Times</p>
<p>Tom Donnelly has coached at Haverford College for 36 years and has produced more than 100 all-Americans. As he ran toward the finish line at the N.C.A.A. Division III national championship course in Waverly, Iowa — he had stationed himself at the four-mile mark to urge his runners on — Donnelly frantically asked the first of them he saw, Anders Hulleberg, how he had done. </p>
<p>“I won,” Hulleberg said. </p>
<p>“No, you didn’t!” Donnelly answered. </p>
<p>Back at his office this week at Haverford, in suburban Philadelphia, Donnelly laughed while recalling the scene. </p>
<p>“I’m not sure Anders even believed it at the time,” he said. </p>
<p>And the news only got better. Hulleberg, a senior whose prerace hopes were to finish in the top 10, had not only won the individual title, but Haverford had also won its first national team championship. </p>
<p>The next wave of excitement came when Donnelly and the team returned to the hotel and received a call from Andrew Lanham, the team’s best runner a year ago, who told them he had won a Rhodes scholarship. </p>
<p>“It was an exclamation point on a day that already had 10 exclamation points,” Lanham said. </p>
<p>It was an extraordinary day even for Haverford, a cross-country power despite being among the country’s smallest liberal arts colleges. Donnelly has coached there for 36 years, producing more than 100 all-Americans, his teams capturing many N.C.A.A. regional titles. “These are just great, great human beings,” Donnelly said of his runners, who receive no athletic scholarships. “This school attracts this kind of kid. It’s the greatest thing about coaching here.” </p>
<p>His dedication seemed to pay off tenfold in one day. </p>
<p>Hulleberg, a senior, was having a strong season and entered the race believing he could finish in the lead pack over the 8,000-meter course, which is just under five miles. He was 89th in 2009, not a finish that marked him as a potential contender a year later. But he found himself among the leaders in the final half-mile, then kicked past them, finishing in 24 minutes 22.2 seconds. </p>
<p>“It was just really, really cathartic,” Hulleberg said of the finish. “To win a national title and have your team win a national title is what every runner fantasizes about. They had a scoreboard at the finish and to see Haverford’s name pop up there in first was really amazing.” </p>
<p>Haverford’s top five runners finished among the first 35, making the all-American cut. Chris Southwick, a senior, was 19th in 24:43.5. The senior Lucas Fuentes was 21st (24:45.6), the sophomore Jordan Schilit 31st (24:52.2) and the junior Eric Arnold 34th (24:53.9). </p>
<p>“I knew they could do well,” Donnelly said. “The main thing is, this team really trusts each other. They know if they put everything out there, it would be reciprocated.” </p>
<p>Back at Haverford, Lanham was nervously watching the race, more confident even than Donnelly that his former teammates could win. He had gone through his Rhodes scholarship interview that morning and was so focused on the race, he said, that he wasn’t even nervous for himself. </p>
<p>“I probably should have been,” Lanham said. “But my nerves were all tied up with the team out in Iowa.” He found out a few hours later that he was among 32 Americans chosen for the honor. He immediately called Donnelly and the team. </p>
<p>Lanham said that he had stopped by practice before the team left for Iowa and that Donnelly seemed as concerned with his Rhodes scholarship as he did with the team’s chances. And he told Lanham he believed he would win it. Lanham had spent the time since his graduation last spring tutoring underprivileged children near Philadelphia. He graduated with a double major in English and philosophy. </p>
<p>The thing that tied all of their successes together, the runners said, was Donnelly. </p>
<p>“He could be coaching world-class athletes,” Hulleberg said. “That he chooses to spend his life at a small Division III school, putting so much effort into coaching us, running for him is just an incredible honor.” </p>
<p>And those honors just keep rolling in.</p>