Stafford athletes on track at JMU

HARRISONBURG — Heather Lambert and Brittany Wilhelm competed against each other in high school as top track athletes in Stafford County.

Now the two not only are freshmen teammates but also roommates at James Madison University in Harrisonburg.

Wilhem was a three-time Northwest Region 4 x 800 relay champion at Brooke Point High School. She is now a mathematics major at JMU with a minor in secondary education. Wilhelm, a former swimmer with the Wahoos summer program, also considered Virginia, William and Mary and East Carolina.

“It was a good mix between running and academics,” she said of JMU during a recent interview at the Harrisonburg campus. “I like it. The new part (of Harrisonburg) is a lot like Stafford.”

Wilhelm and Lambert are running under the guidance of Dave Rinker, the head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach. Rinker, in his 10th season at JMU, was the U.S. senior men’s cross country coach for the world championships in 2003.

"I chose to come to JMU because I liked the campus and heard the biology program is strong," said Lambert in a JMU track and field media guide. The distance runner set school records in the 800 meters, 1,000 meters and 1,600 meters at Mountain View High School.

Wilhelm and Lambert are two of four members of the women's track and field program at JMU hailing from Stafford County. The others are junior distance runners: twins Amber and Brittany Lussier.

Amber is a psychology major and was all-state in the indoor 1,600 and outdoor 3,200 and Northwest Region indoor 3,200 meter relay champion at North Stafford High. Prior to the 2007-08 season at JMU she had personal bests of 10:49.58 in the 3,000, 18:34.93 in the 5,000, 39:03.26 in the 10,000, 19:46 in 5K cross country and 23:06.20 in 6K cross country.
"I chose to come to JMU because of the running program and how much I loved the campus, along with its good reputation," she said.

Her sister, Brittany, an international affairs major, was a Northwest Region outdoor 1600 champion and indoor 3,200 relay champ at North Stafford. She has a JMU best of 4:47.15 in the 1,500 meters prior to the 2007-08 season.

"The accomplishment of which I am proudest is getting a scholarship to run at the collegiate level," she said.

That is a goal Wilhelm is aiming for with the Dukes, a Division I member of the Colonial Athletic Association.

“I just want to get faster and better and maybe get a scholarship,” said Wilhelm, who was a redshirt during the fall cross country season but has competed during the indoor season.

Wilhelm, who began cross country in seventh grade, runs about 40 miles a week and hopes to increase that total in the coming weeks. Her father ran cross country in high school.

Notes: Former Brooke Point standout April Sinkler is a sophomore at Clemson in South Carolina and is already ranked among the best in school history in the indoor and outdoor high jump…JMU is slated to compete Feb. 14 at the Liberty Quad in Lynchburg…Brittany Copeland (Brooke Point) is a sophomore distance runner at East Carolina University.

David Driver is a contributing writer for the Stafford County Sun. He can be reached at info@staffordcountysun.com.