As middle-distance and cross country runners for Hanover and Lee-Davis, Taylor Clevinger and Amanda Lineberry faced off in both cross country and track early in their high school careers. As such, the pair, who are separated by a year in age, were friendly but not exactly friends. “We knew each other but we were also competitors,” Lineberry said. “She was in my district so I was racing against her for that district title in the 800 every season. We didn’t really hang out or anything but we were friendly competitors.”

  That can no longer be said as now the two are training partners, friends and teammates at the University of Richmond.

  As a high school junior Clevinger transferred to St. Catherine’s while Lineberry finished out her outstanding career at Lee-Davis.

  In 2010, Lineberry earned her way onto the University of Richmond campus with an academic scholarship but decided to also run with the Spiders.

  This past fall, Clevinger made the choice to be a Spider as well and UR coach Lori Taylor could not be more pleased. “They’re both just great kids, smart kids and just great people to have at Richmond,” she said. “On top of that they’re great local runners.”

  Developing an influx of local talent has been a goal of Coach Taylor’s therefore she hopes the success of both Lineberry and Clevinger will open the campus to further consideration. “There’s always good runners in this area and good students,” she said. “We’re pretty excited about some of these better kids that are considering staying in Richmond and going to school and being able to get them in our program.”

  At Richmond, Lineberry’s freshman season of cross country was highlighted by an eighth place finish in the Spider Alumni Open and a respectable 68th place finish in the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships. During the track and field season, Lineberry notched fifth place finishes in the 1500 at the Ram Invitational and the James Madison Invitational. At the A-10 Championships she finished just out of the championship round in 22nd place.

  This season as a sophomore, Lineberry’s produced more consistency, finishing 5K’s in approximately 19 minutes and 6Ks around the 23 minute mark. Lineberry finished 6th out of 38 runners at the William & Mary Invitational, 66th out of 128 runners at the A-10 Championships and 136th out of 240 runners at the NCAA Southeast Regional meet.

  “I was definitely more consistent and because we graduated four of our top five runners last year, I got to be up in the top five consistently,” Lineberry said. “I felt like I really mattered to the team and that posted that positive pressure for me to do well more often because my performance effected the team as a whole.”

  Clevinger competed in two cross country races last fall with respectable but not remarkable finishes.

  However,  the freshman exploded onto the scene when the Indoor Track season arrived. In the January 28, Navy Classic, Clevinger won the 800 meters with a time of 2:14.48, which ranks as the third fastest time in the A-10 this season. She followed that performance by joining her teammates to win the Distance Medley Relay and set a Wesley A. Brown Field House record time of 11:51.34, nearly a second ahead of the previous mark.

  Clevinger’s performance earned her A-10 Rookie of the Week honors and was one that even she had not expected.

  “I was definitely surprised,” she said. Her 800 meter time matched her best performance in all of last season, and the Richmond coaches told her she would definitely improve upon that this year.

  “Taylor is really coming into her on as we’re starting off the indoor season,” Coach Taylor said. “She’s just a real special kid all the way around and as an athlete very gifted…She’s just a competitor and she competes. You put her out there and she’s ready to go. I feel sorry for those she’s racing against because they’re really, really going to have to out race her and that’s hard to do.”

  This past weekend at the New Balance Collegiate in New York City, Clevinger took ninth in the 1000 with a time of 2:52.11 while Lineberry came in 21st at 2:54.62. Clevinger and her 4x800 Relay team also claimed a fourth place finish.

  The effort earned Clevinger her A-10 Rookie honors for the second consecutive week.

  With the A-10 and NCAA Regional Indoor Championships rapidly approaching, both runners are preparing to improve their performances.

  Lineberry has a definite goal. “I want to make the finals for the 1000 in the conference, which I didn’t do last year,” she said. “I just missed it.”

  A year older, Lineberry feels she has a better comprehension of where she stands among the A-10 competition this season- “having gone through that last year and knowing where I am this year,” she said. “You need to set goals. I know what I want to do.”

  On the other hand Clevinger has not set any goals for herself for her first go-round. “Just race hard, race smart and try to do my best and do the best for my team,” she said.

  Regardless of the outcome, both runners, along with local products Sarah Nuttycombe (Patrick Henry) and Ann O’Toole (Atlee), are serving as ambassadors for local track athletes to succeed at Richmond. “It doesn’t matter where they went to school, they all know each other,” Coach Taylor said of local runners. “So when you bring them in or you talk to them, or they have a chance to talk to someone on the team, they get a chance to see what it would be like to be someone from Richmond to be here going to school.”