Longwood University Athletics

Former All-Big South cross country runner Brooke Spencer Craig was promoted to Longwood head coach in January, 2020, after joining the program as an assistant coach one year prior, and she also oversees the Longwood track team, which began competing officially in the spring of 2024.

The 2024-25 season continued the momentum of a strong 2023-24 campaign, as both cross country teams matched their best finishes in the Big South Championship in team history. In addition, the women's program saw Sophie Farley earn All-Conference recognition both in cross country and on the track. She became the second runner to earn All-Big South accolades on the course and the first to do so in track, when she finished third in the women's 1,500m. On the men's track side, Ayden Stweart was one spot off the podium in the men's 400m, continuing his incredible growth over the two seasons for Longwood track.

Farley also rewrote chunks of the women's record book in the fall as the women set a variety of records, and the Lancer men did the same behind Ben Goulet.
 
The 2023-24 season was a momentous year for the Lancer runners. Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams posted their best finishes in team history at the Big South Championship. In addition, Longwood fielded its first official outdoor men’s and women’s track teams, with both teams earning points at the Big South Championship.
 
In the fall, the women’s team notched a fifth-place finish, the second-straight year the team had its best ever finish at the tournament. Meanwhile, the top four runners all broke 20 minutes in the 5K, and the team average for scoring runners was under 20 minutes for the first time ever.
 
The Lancer men also posted their best team finish at the conference championship, with a sixth-place effort. All five scoring runners finished within one minute of each other, and multiple runners posted their best efforts of the season, or their career, throughout the fall.
 
Once track season came around, the Lancers again laid a solid foundation with a solid effort in the teams’ debut seasons. At the Big South Championship, the Lancer men scored 11 points. Ayden Stewart qualified for the men’s 400m final to earn points, and both the 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams garnered points, as did Matthew Fitzner in the long jump.
 
On the women’s side, the women’s 4x100m and 4x400m teams each earned points to give Longwood four points at its first championship track meet.
 
In 2021-22, she guided the Lancer women's cross country team to a sixth-place finish, the best in program history since joining the Big South. The Lancer men also finished eighth.

Both teams featured youthful rosters, and runners from both teams repeatedly set and then broke personal bests throughout the course of the season.

In addition, the Lancers announced the addition of outdoor track & field in the spring of 2023, and Craig was instrumental in bringing that to fruition. She leads the Lancers as they enter the Big South for their first season of official track competition in 2024.
 
A four-year letterwinner at Winthrop from 2005-09, Craig boasts an accomplished collegiate and post-college running resume that includes more than a decade of competition ranging from the Big South Championship to the Boston Marathon.
 
A former walk-on at Winthrop, Craig rose through the ranks during her four years in the Eagles program, earning Big South All-Academic Team honors, a scholarship and eventually a ninth-place finish in the 2009 Big South Championship that earned her all-conference honors as a senior. During her collegiate career, she went from a 19-minute 5K runner as a freshman to setting a PR of 17:49 during her all-conference senior year.
 
A native of Greenville, S.C., Craig was a latecomer to the sport in high school but has parlayed her collegiate success into a decorated competition resume since graduating with her B.A. in Spanish from Winthrop in 2009. She is a three-time finisher in the Boston Marathon, competing in the internationally renowned event in 2014, 2015 and 2016. She has 10 marathons under her belt, has run in eight states and is pursuing of a personal goal of running a marathon in all 50 states.
 
In addition to her running pedigree, Craig also has experience as a high school cross country and track coach at Nation Ford High School in Fort Mill, S.C.
 
A 2009 graduate of Winthrop with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish, the former Brooke Spencer remains a competitive runner and has competed in more than 10 marathons. She is a three-time finisher in the Boston Marathon and this past year finished in the top 10 percent of more than 10,000 participants in the 2019 Philadelphia Marathon. 
 
Following her time at Winthrop, Craig attended the University of Lynchburg where she earned her Master of Business Administration while also working as the university's Perkins and Collections Coordinator. Craig's husband, Dr. Michael Craig, also ran cross country at Winthrop and is an assistant professor of economics at University of Lynchburg.