Taking Mooney Tragedy in Stride

On Sat., Oct. 3, a car accident took place that left freshman cross country runner Clint Mooney paralyzed from the waist down. While driving his cousin home from Hampden-Sydney, Mooney's car struck a deer and he was catapulted through his windshield.

The effect has been profound on the Longwood cross country family. The team has lost a fellow teammate, Mooney's parents have lost the opportunity to watch their son doing what he loves, but for Head Coach Catherine Hanson, the loss goes beyond simply a coach losing a fellow student athlete.

The relationship between Hanson and Mooney began with Mooney's mother, Lisa Mooney. Mooney, a former Longwood Office of Human Resources, first offered Hanson the job as Longwood cross country head coach.

While still living in upstate New York, Hanson received a phone call. "It was somebody who said, 'This is Lisa Mooney," said Hanson, "I'm calling to officially offer you the position of head coach of cross country,' and I flipped out."

Now the newly hired head coach of Longwood cross country, Hanson did not know the town of Farmville, the surrounding area, or her team all that well either.

One day, Lisa Mooney starts into a conversation with Hanson, and it was then that Hanson first learned of Clint Mooney. "She said, 'You know, my boy Clint runs cross country at Prince Edward,' and I'm like, 'Really? You don't say,'" said Hanson, "You know, here we go; another conversation about a kid who runs cross country, and I don't even know my own kids yet."

Hanson met Clint Mooney that same day. "Here comes this kid about ten minutes later, skinny as a rail, has got a camouflage hat on that's tipped up; looked like a total redneck," said Hanson with a smile, "Jeans that are way too big for him, and he comes striding up and she introduces me to him, and he shakes my hand real firm, and you know, he's like, 'Oh wow! You're the coach at Longwood?' I'm like, 'Well, I just started."

A graduate of Prince Edward County High School, Mooney transferred to Prince Edward from one of the top cross country programs in the country at Midlothian High School. It was clear to coach Hanson and the rest of her players that Mooney wanted to run cross country at Longwood.

At sessions during which Longwood would practice at the Prince Edward County High School track, Mooney would sit on the other side of the fence surrounding the track and watch.

The kids on my team were like, 'Yeah, that's that boy," Hanson recalled, "He's probably the only really good runner they have up here.'" Mooney backed that claim when he became the first Prince Edward County High School runner to compete in the state championships in 17 years.

"You make it to regionals, it's a big deal in cross country," Hanson said. In addition, Mooney became one of only a few Prince Edward athletes to be recruited to participate at the Division I level.

Not believing he had the greats to attend Longwood, Mooney started checking in regularly with Hanson during his junior year to establish a plan to reach his goal.

"Clint's senior year, he really started to make progress," said Hanson, "He really got serious about it, he did the summer training, I would see him all around town running, he would check in pretty regularly."

Though Mooney was accepted to Longwood University, an NCAA clearing house block prevented Mooney from taking a single stride as a Lancer cross country runner. Additional information on an online class Mooney took was needed to complete his NCAA eligibility.

"To me that's the tragic piece," said Hanson, "From the first time I met Clint to how hard he worked to get in here to the fact he never got to race for us. I know he struggles with that."

Mooney's teammates have also naturally been disheartened by the unfortunate circumstances. "When this all happened, it had a very profound effect in a very unique way, as you can imagine, on the team," said Hanson, "because here we had a group of guys who feel guilty that they were too hard on him, that they were disconnected from him, me thinking that I missed something in the clearinghouse process, and then him not having that day-to-day connection."

Now, almost a month after his accident, Mooney remains in the hospital, but got a visit from his mentor this past Friday. Mooney is already talking about his hopes after being able to reunite with his teammates.

"He asked me when he comes back could he manage the team, how could he progress athletically and we talked about wheelchair racing," said Hanson, "We talked about a lot of things, and he talked about the most important thing was getting back to school and how handicap-friendly Longwood is, what his options were, what his options were to travel."

Mooney plans to return to classes next semester and working again at Freshens Smoothie Bar. In the meantime, Longwood cross country is doing its part rallying the Longwood community behind Mooney's cause.

They have been selling green wristbands that have the words "Clint Mooney" and "Longwood XC" inscribed on them. The green of the wristband stands for the color of hope.

Longwood is not the only entity doing its part in support of Mooney. During their meet at the Appalachian State/Blue Ridge Mountain Open on Fri., Oct. 16,, the cross country team took part in a prayer circle conducted by every runner competing.

"You're talking 75, 80 boys got into this group of holding hands and did just a thank you for keeping us safe thing, and I jumped in there, and I'm the only woman in this hold circle, and I spoke up," Hanson said, "I said, 'Look, I have a favor to ask you all. Can we pray for this kid in our team,' and they were just so amazing about it."

For now, Mooney continues his rehabilitation and is not expected to be released from the hospital for at least another six weeks. The injuries to Mooney originally lead doctors to fear the worst, saying he had been paralyzed from the neck down.