West Liberty University Athletics

    Heading into his seventh year as West Liberty University’s men’s and women’s track and cross-country coach, Justin Simpson has the Hilltopper programs beginning to make their presence felt at the conference, regional and national levels.
    The 2021-22 academic year was a thrilling one on the trails and the ovals for Simpson’s thinclads. The men’s and women’s cross country teams each spent the majority of the season ranked in the Atlantic Region Top 10. Phil White and Michael Harriman were All-Region selections on the men’s side after leading the WLU men to a 7^th-place finish at the regional championships. Two-time MEC Cross Country Runner of the Year Hannah Kemp just missed qualifying for Nationals with a Top 10 regional finish.
    West Liberty turned in a strong indoor season, as well. The women were runners-up in the MEC Indoor Championships while the men placed third. The teams combined to set 13 indoor school records and Adam O’Donnell was named MEC Indoor Field Athlete of the Year.
    O’Donnell made it a clean sweep at the MEC Outdoor Championships, running away with the decathlon crown and placing in several other events to earn MEC Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year honors. Simpson’s women’s team finished second in the MEC Championships, as well, and both teams returned home with multiple All-MEC honors. Senior thrower Kelsi Hulit became West Liberty’s second NCAA Division II All-American with a 9^th-place finish at the NCAA Division II Nationals hosted by Grand Valley State (Mich.) University.
    Simpson is no stranger to Ohio Valley sports fans. A record-setting three-time state champion at Oak Glen (W.Va.) High School during the early 2000s, he is one of only five West Virginia runners ever to qualify for the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships.
    He did that by finishing seventh in the 2002 Foot Locker South Regional Championship in Charlotte, N.C. with a 5K time of 15:06.09 – still the second-fastest South Regional time ever posted by a West Virginia runner. Two weeks later, competing against the nation’s top high school runners, Simpson finished 23rd in the Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego, Calif. with a time of 15:40.5.
    He and his twin brother, Josh, originally signed to run for legendary track and cross country coach Sean Cleary at West Virginia University but wound up at NCAA Division I cross country power Northern Arizona University when WVU dropped its men's track program. After a year in Flagstaff, the twins returned to the Mountain State to complete their education while training with Cleary.
    Simpson continued to compete at a high level in distances from 5K through marathons. He earned a first-team All-South spot in 2011 with a third-place finish in the men’s Open 5K at the Foot Locker South Regional and also ran the 2014 Boston Marathon.
    Along with his racing exploits, Simpson brings a strong coaching background to the hilltop. He spent 10 years as a volunteer assistant coach with Cleary at WVU and was co-owner of the prestigious West Virginia Flyers running club, helping develop numerous elite high school runners in the tri-state area.
    Simpson resides in Weirton, W.Va.