News
Craig McPhail
Assistant CoachE-mail: mcphail@lmc.edu
Office Phone: 828-898-2483
For the past ten years Craig McPhail has served as the Lees-McRae Men’s and Women’s Cross-Country Coach, while assuming other duties at certain times such as Sports Information Director, Head Track and Field Coach as well as Assistant Athletic Director.
The Bobcats have become one of the top running programs in the Southeast under his leadership - winning seven of ten ('98, '99, '00, '01, '03, ’04, ’07) Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference/Conference Carolinas women’s championships, with a runner’s up finish in ’06; and four men’s titles, in ’99,’01, '03, ’04, including runner-up trophy’s in ’05, and ‘07.
The 2007 season was one of many accolades as the Bobcats had another memorable year. The women’s team won the newly named Conference Carolinas Championships and the men finished second. The Bobcats went on to win the NCAA Southeast Regional for women, while the men finished third. Both the women’s team and senior Lewis Martin qualified for the NCAA DII National Championships in Joplin, Missouri.
The 2006 season saw the Bobcat women’s team finish second in the conference while freshman Dana Lindholm captured Freshman of the Year Honors as well as qualifying for the 2006 NCAA DII Cross Country Championships in Pensacola, Fla.
Also, McPhail was proud of the list of Bobcats who made the All-Time All-CVAC Cross Country Team. On the men’s side, Lewis Martin, Brian Knapp, Andrew Walton, Derick Williamson, and Justin McKenzie were named, while Amanda Cook and Jessi Blackwood represented the women’s team.
In ‘04, the Bobcats were treated to their first All-American as Brian Knapp finished 3rd in the NCAA DII Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 800m. In 2003, the Bobcats had two athletes qualify for the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field National Championships, a 200m and 800m runner. Knapp also qualified for the 2005 Indoor National Championships where he finished 10th.
Also in 2004, McPhail was named to the NCAA Division II Cross Country/Track and Field Championships Committee. In 2005 he was named Chairman of the Committee, responsible for the National Championships of cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field for the Division II level. McPhail also serves as the Chair of the Conference Carolinas Cross Country Coaches.
In August of 2003, Coach McPhail was named Assistant Athletic Director for Lees-McRae College. He oversees Men’s Soccer, Men’s and Women’s Tennis, Cycling, Lacrosse, Cross Country and Track and Field, the Sports Information Department, Website and mentors new coaches.
McPhail had two individuals qualify in the 2000 NCAA Division II National Championships (Amanda Cook and Derick Williamson) and in 2001 both the men and women’s teams advanced to the National Championships. The women won the NCAA DII Southeast Regional and the men were runners-up. Again in 2003 the women’s team qualified for the National Championships.
He has coached five individual CVAC champions, one NCAA DII Southeast Regional Champion, 28 All-NCAA Southeast runners, and 64 All-CVAC runners, along with five Freshmen of the Year Runners. There have been 26 Academic All-Conference runners under his helm. He has been named CVAC Women's Coach of the Year seven times and was named Men's Coach of the Year in '99, '03, ‘04. In 2001 and 2007 he was named NCAA DII Southeast Region Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year and was a finalist for National Coach of the Year.
Under McPhail, the women’s Cross Country team has also been NCAA DII Academic All-Americans in 1999,’00, '01, '02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ‘06, and ‘07 with the men’s team joining them in ’04, and ’07.
In August of 2001, McPhail was named the Track and Field Coach at Lees-McRae as the school reinstated its program and continues to serve as the team's distance coach. Coach Mac is a USATF Level II certified coach in endurance and Level I certified coach in all event areas.
On New Year’s Eve of 2007 McPhail married the former Julia Sterling Clawson.
McPhail was a four-time state champion at Chesterfield High School in South Carolina and went on to run cross country at Winthrop University where he finished in the Top 20 of the Big South Conference all four years for the Eagles. After obtaining a Masters Degree (Sport Management) from Georgia Southern University, he spent a year with the NBA’s Orlando Magic. McPhail worked as a sports writer for The Charlotte Observer before moving to Banner Elk in June of ’98.
