When you’re talking about the total package for an athlete’s choice to continue their career, it’s hard to argue with certain schools as a perfect destination every time.
Princeton is unequivocally one of them.
Playing for the Tigers is but an added bonus to attending one of the country’s most prestigious schools. Western Albemarle runner Gannon Willcutts is headed to Princeton to join the cross country and track and field programs. He celebrated his commitment Thursday at Western.
“It’s certainly a blessing,” Willcutts said. “I came into Western not even imagining that I’d be headed to Princeton this coming fall, so I’m exceptionally thankful for all the help my coaches have given me, all the support my teammates have given me and all the support the students of this school have given me.”
Willcutts exploded on to the local running scene as a sophomore at cross country’s Ragged Mountain Cup as a sophomore, clocking a second place finish behind current Ivy League runner Ryan Thomas, then at Albemarle, now at Columbia. The effort was strong enough to lift the Warriors to the Ragged Mountain title and since then Willcutts and Western have amassed a pile of trophies in cross country and track, including the squad’s cross country title last fall that was powered largely by Willcutts winning the Group 3A individual championship.
He joins a recent streak of local athletes that are continuing their careers in the Ivy League, including baseball players Parker Morris at Cornell and Jake Allen at Harvard, as well as Princeton lacrosse player Julia Haney. There’s also Cornell basketball player Darryl Smith from Blue Ridge, Albemarle’s Thomas and former Western runner David Taylor who now runs for Cornell.
“In my decision process, all the schools were exceptional, any one that I would have gone to would have given me an amazing education,” Willcutts said. “Princeton just happened to be one that I see as a very good academic fit. There’s something really special about Princeton. Their undergraduate focus is something that’s really important to me.”
Willcutts, who also looked at Stanford and Cornell, will most likely develop into a runner in the 1600-10K range, but that is, as usual, a wait-and-see situation. He’ll start with fall cross country and go from there.
“We’ll certainly be experimenting,” Willcutts said.
