Miami runners have been enjoying the spotlight throughout the past year.
Former Hurricane Davian Clarke attempted to win his second Olympic Medal in Athens this past summer competing for his native Jamaica, while 2004 NCAA Champion Lauryn Williams won a silver medal in the 100 meters. Alex Brutvan is the latest Hurricane ready for national attention.
A junior Business major from Boca Raton, Brutvan ran both cross-country and track in high school, earning MVP honors from his team and in individual competition, winning a district championship in the 3200-meters as a junior and a senior and having top-five finishes in the 1600-meters, 3200-meters and 4×800 relay at the FHSAA Class 2A State Finals.
As a ‘Cane, Brutvan was the top finisher for Miami in all of their cross-country meets during the 2003 season, won two events and finished 57th at the NCAA South Region Championships.
After cross-country season, Brutvan suffered a stress fracture in his fibula, which he recovered from before track season. Brutvan’s track campaign qualified him for both the Big East Championships and the USATF Junior Nationals. However, he unfortunately did not compete due to a stress fracture in his femur that he suffered during outdoor season.
“I was falling apart last year,” Brutvan said jokingly.
With the nightmare of last year’s injuries behind him, Miami’s inaugural ACC campaign gives Brutvan an optimistic outlook on things to come.
“I’d like to be an All-South Regional Top 25,” he said, “possibly Top 20 ACC.”
Fulfilling personal goals are just one of the many plans Brutvan has for this season along with being co-captain of what he considers to be the best cross-country squad he’s ran with, although some of the standouts from previous seasons are gone, like senior Matt Mulvaney, who transferred to Michigan and is attempting to walk-on to their squad.
“James [Mullaly] and I hold captain’s practices on days we can’t work with our coach and we try to set examples and make lot of decisions with the team on those days,” he said.
Brutvan’s examples have started showing early this season, taking the top collegiate position at the FIU/Lourdes invitational at Tropical Park on Sept. 11 with a time of 16:00.50. Sophomore Tom Berry finished second and Mullaly finished third.
Along with his cross-country success, Brutvan wants to return to track for the 2005 season.
“If I can stay injury free, I’m hoping to run both indoor and outdoor this year…especially after last year,” he said. “I want to settle the score.”
Rodolfo Tomarchio can be contacted at r.tomarchio@umaimi.edu.