There is a new force in Southeastern Virginia team running that has blitzed its competition in major races like the Anheuser- Busch Colonial Half Marathon and Shamrock Marathon in both 2005 and '06. Its name, appropriately, is Team Blitz, and it is a unique hybrid of an NCAA collegiate running program and a college fraternity, combined with the best attributes of a local running club. Deceptive in its simplicity, it's a revolutionary idea appropriate for the "Colonial Capital" of Williamsburg, VA, where the club is based; an idea that should be a template for other college campuses around the region.

The common bond for all members of Team Blitz is that they are current or former undergraduate or graduate students at the College of William and Mary, they love to run, and they love to compete at the highest levels. The team co-founder and driving force is Bert Jacoby (23), who ran for Stafford High School in Stafford, then graduated from W&M in 2005 (classical studies), and is now a grad student pursuing his Masters in elementary education at the W&M School of Education.

The other team co-founder is Ryan Stevens (22), of Drums, PA, who also graduated from W&M in 2005 (art history and mathematics), and is now a first-year student at W&M's Marshall- Wythe School of Law (class of '08).

The William and Mary men's distance running program is a traditional collegiate power, one of just six NCAA Division I programs to have qualified for each of the past nine NCAA cross- country championships. Many great high school runners enter colleges like W&M each year, but not all can handle the high mileage or high-intensity workouts necessary at a Division I program, or fall by the wayside due to academics, injury, or burnout. For too many collegiate runners, it's all or nothing. Team Blitz is an ideal middle ground.

While some from Team Blitz were at one time or another on the W&M cross-country or track teams, Jacoby emphasizes the separation of the two. "We are students here, not student- athletes. We just like to run fast too." And, although co- founders Jacoby and Stevens are both members of the Colonial Road Runners, and used to be regulars at the CRR's weekly interval workouts at the on-campus Barksdale Field, Team Blitz is not a typical running club like the CRR or the William and Mary Running Club, both broad-based groups attracting all paces.

The Team Blitz roster currently includes just male runners between 18 and 23 years, so it is like a fraternity in terms of recruitment and acceptance. Because they're also a social group (they regularly eat dinner together, and party together), not all runners are a good fit. "We have to like someone, too. They've got to click," said Jacoby. They also need to be able to run consistently under 7-minute pace to be able to handle the team workouts. Jacoby and others regularly gets e-mails or calls from prospective members. "I don't know where the kids are hearing about us, though," said Jacoby. "I credit the [W&M] girls' cross-country team as my biggest recruiters. They meet boys who try to impress them by saying that they run too, but that they don't have anyone to run with. Then when the guy wants the girl's number, she'll give him mine instead."

Besides success at campus and major road races, the team's recognition comes from their team clothing (singlets, shorts, red or dark-blue T-shirts, dark blue hooded sweatshirts and long- sleeve dri-fit shirts), all of which are emblazoned by Colonial Sports with the Team Blitz logos. On the back of the training shirts is "Established 2002. Williamsburg, Virginia."

The team has an unofficial "headquarters," the townhouse shared by Jacoby, Stevens, and Marshal Miller on Staffordshire Lane in the Midlands, conveniently located across Strawberry Plains Road from the Lake Matoaka college woods, with its series of dirt trails. After Jacoby completes his Masters degree in August, Trevor Cable will take his place in the townhouse. Most team workouts start on campus anyway.

The Team Blitz highlight the past two years has been winning the men's open team title at the Shamrock Marathon. Team Blitz averaged 2:35:26 in 2006 to beat Final Kick (2:44:38), Colonial Road Runners (2:52:52) and Tidewater Striders (3:04:26), earning $900 in individual prize money with a 3-4-5 finish. Tommy Antenucci led the way with his third-place PR 2:33:27 for $400, and Jacoby (2:36:24, also a PR) and Jon Healey (2:36:25 in his marathon debut), shared the $300 and $200 for fourth and fifth. Although not scoring, Team Blitz also was seventh (George Ingham, 2:39:16) and 12th (twin brother Chris Healey, 2:44:38).

In 2005 Team Blitz also won the Shamrock Marathon, with Cable placing third (2:32:57) for $400, Jacoby eighth (2:40:37), Stevens 11th (2:47:12), and Chris Healey 17th (2:50:39). In the two-person Shamrock Marathon relay, Team Blitz took first (Ingham and Miller in 2:30:57) and third (Benjamin Beiter and Antenucci in 2:36:11).

At the 2006 Colonial Half Marathon, three Team Blitz runners made the top ten--Antenucci (7th, 1:13:09), Ingham (9th, 1:13:53) and Jacoby (10th, 1:14:52), with Matthew Dinan (1:22:12) and Joshua Haney (1:24:39) among the age-group leaders. At Colonial 2005, Team Blitz had Cable fifth (1:11:35) and Jacoby 10th (1:13:23), with Ingham (1:14:28), Antenucci (1:17:09), and Miller (1:17:14) sweeping the 19-and-under awards, and Chris Healey (1:15:07) and Stevens (1:17:26) taking 2nd and 3rd for men 20-24.

Team Blitz was founded in the fall of their sophomore year by Jacoby and Stevens, who decided "that they weren't finished with their running careers, no matter what anyone else told them." Jacoby was training for the 2002 Marine Corps Marathon, and Stevens was interested in cross-country, as well as triathlons. In the fall of 2003, his junior year, Jacoby ran several collegiate cross-country meets, and jokingly said "I'm Team Blitz," as "blitz" was his favorite catch-all word. That spring Jacoby ran the 2004 Boston Marathon, while Stevens competed in his first triathlons.

It wasn't until their senior year (fall of 2004) that Team Blitz finally took off and was composed of more than two guys. Some students who weren't on the W&M team any more were looking for others to run with, and Jacoby told everybody to meet at his apartment daily at 3:30 pm. Newcomers included Chris Healey, Billy Bylund, Beiter, Mike McGinnis, Cable, and Ingham. They trained together and hung out together. They got team T-shirts. They ran in a few low-key campus road races. Then Jacoby organized a 3,000-meter track race in November, just to see what they could do. Jacoby wrote, "That same day the W&M team lined up with [us] for a nice friendly time trial. Some of the guys on Team Blitz surprised themselves as well as members of the W&M team, who didn't really know what Team Blitz was, and just thought it was second rate."

After this success at being able to run at the highest levels, Stevens and the other W&M seniors decided the Shamrock Marathon would be the next goal, with the Colonial Half (or Shamrock Marathon relay) available for those preferring a shorter race.

Fall 2005 saw more additions to the team that now numbers 15-- others include Billy Bylund, Charlie Hurt, Corey Miller, Nick Patin, and Andrew Pike. After the success at the 2006 Colonial Half and Shamrock Marathon, Team Blitz is here to stay, even with co-founder and main organizer Jacoby looking for a job elsewhere in August. Stevens will be around until 2008, there is a regular message board for the daily workouts, etc., and the group has developed that critical mass necessary for its future.