FARMVILLE, Va. -- Team managers at the Division I college level rarely get much notoriety. Many of them work long hours behind the scenes and don't get the same media or public attention as their student peers, whose statistics are recorded for posterity at every level no matter their level of performance.
But it is hard to ignore the story of Clint Mooney, 21, a team manager for the Longwood University cross country program. Mooney grew up in Farmville and ran cross country at Prince Edward High, where he became the first runner in more than 15 years from the school to qualify for the Virginia state meet.
While in high school, on occasion, he would quietly watch the Lancers' runners work out and he got to know head coach
Catherine Hanson. Mooney applied and was accepted by Longwood and joined the cross country team as a freshman for the fall semester in 2009.
But then tragedy struck. Just weeks into his college cross country career, Mooney was in an accident when he swerved to miss a deer while driving his truck on Oct. 3, 2009. He spent time at the MCV Hospital in Richmond, but the accident left him paralyzed from near the chest down.
“He ran two weeks with our team and the team photograph has him in it. It had a huge impact on the team and me. It was devastating,” Hanson said of the accident. “Running at the Division I level was truly something he never felt entitled to. He came in fit and gung ho.”
After Hanson was hired as the Lancers' coach in 2007 she got a call from Lisa Mooney, the mother of Clint and a human resources manager in Classification & Compensation at Longwood.
“She told me he was a sophomore at the local high school,” Hanson said. “I met him and periodically we would see him spy on us at practice. By his senior year I was meeting with about his grades. He got into Longwood on his own merits. He practiced with us for two weeks before the accident occurred.”
Mooney stayed away from the cross country team for about a year after the accident before he returned to the squad as a manager while getting around in his wheelchair. He returned to classes in the fall of 2010.
“I try to go out every day, but probably make three of five practices a week,” he said. “I go on runs with the men's teams on roads that are accessible.”
What does he enjoy the most about being a manager? “Just being able to still be with them and with (cross country) after all that happened,” he said. Mooney said he is good friends with several members of the team, especially senior
Sean Flynn, who also came to Longwood in the fall of 2009.
“He shows up for every practice. He goes where we are, whether it is 20 miles away or five miles away,” said Hanson, whose team has raised funds to help Mooney cover medical expenses. “He rides with the boys. It is wonderful to see. For me personally just to have him part of the program again is great.”
He reached another milestone on Oct. 28, 2012 when he took part and completed his first Marine Corps Marathon in a route through Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C.
“It has always been a goal of mine to check off the bucket list,” he said of competing in the Marine Corps Marathon. “It was nice to get back into competing.”
Mooney finished No. 41 of about 80 competitors in the hand cycle division in a time of 2:16.20.
He competed with a hand cycle that was given to him by Dean Schwartz, who grew up in Keysville and joined the Virginia Army National Guard's 189th Engineer Company in Big Stone Gap in 2002 as a bridge builder before he was injured in military service in 2004.
“Dean was then transferred to 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 276 Engineer Battalion also of the Virginia Army National Guard headquartered in Richmond. The 276 Engineer Battalion was then deployed to Mozul, Iraq in early 2004,” according to his wife, Dawn, the Senior Manager of General Accounting and Financial Reporting at Longwood. “On May 8, 2004, 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company was on a mission to repair a crater that was created by a roadside bomb. While pulling security from the back of a truck for the other members of the platoon who were repairing the road, Dean's truck was hit by a Rocket Propelled Grenade. The blast resulted in the loss of Dean's left leg above the knee and nerve damage to his right hand.”
Mooney was grateful for the donation made by Schwartz that helped him compete in his first Marine Corps Marathon. He hopes to take part in other races in the future.
“Clint is very competitive,” said his mother, a Longwood graduate. “The fact he competes still in some form is great for him. We are so thankful the cross country team allows him to work out with them.”
Hanson said Mooney's Christian faith has played a big role in his recovery. “That is what has kept him strong,” she said. His father, Doug, is the police chief for Farmville and his sister, Rachael, is a Longwood graduate and teacher at Prince Edward Elementary.
“Clint has been an inspiration to my husband and I,” Mooney said. “He is very involved at Farmville United Methodist. We could not have gotten through this without them and our faith. We just keep looking forward.” Mooney, a member of the church, helps out with the youth group at the church and has been a chaperone on weekend trips.
Mooney is now a junior business major who would one day like to open a store in Farmville devoted solely to hunting and fishing. “Because we don't have one of those,” he said. That would be something else he could add to his bucket list.
Editor's Note: Special consultant David Driver is a Virginia native and has covered college sports in the state for more than 20 years. He has been a staff writer for newspapers in Arlington, Springfield and Harrisonburg and has contributed to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Washington Post, Stafford County Sun and The Potomac News in Woodbridge. He was also the first sports editor for the daily Baltimore Examiner. He will continue contributing special feature content to longwoodlancers.com throughout the upcoming 2012-13 academic year as well. A former Division III baseball player at Eastern Mennonite University, David can be reached at www.davidsdriver.com.
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