Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Former runner and track coach from Christiansburg High School, Jeffrey Custer, was named to the 2019 Virginia High School League Hall of Fame.
The Class of 2019 includes: five athletes (Billy Baber – Western Albemarle, Natalie Baird Etheridge – Park View-Sterling, Kenny Easley – Oscar Smith, Larry Stepney – Norview, Rebecca Wakefield-Snider – Woodbridge); three coaches (Jeffrey Custer – Christiansburg/Woodbridge/Garfield/Lake Braddock), Bill Dee – Southampton/ Phoebus/Oscar Smith, Lou Sorrentino – George Mason/Culpeper County/C.D. Hylton/Mountain View), and two contributors (Nancy Burke –George C. Marshall/South Lakes, Ernie Hicks – Richlands).
“I am honored to be included with so many legendary coaches, athletes and contributors and very humbled to be nominated,” Custer said.
The Virginia High School League Hall of Fame describes itself as dedicated to preserving the rich heritage of outstanding achievements by students and adults in sports and activities within Virginia’s public high schools.
Athletes are eligible for consideration 10 years after completion of their high school careers and are judged primarily for their achievements in interscholastic sports.
Coaches are eligible after 15 years of experience or upon retirement and are judged on the merits of their achievements at the high school level. Contributors are professionals who have rendered significant services in some other capacity such as administration, academic activities, officiating, media or sports medicine according to the Hall website.
Custer coached at Christiansburg from 1988-92 after an excellent career at the school, where he held five school records in track and cross country and then was an All-Big South Conference cross-country runner at Radford University. He was one of the first runners at Christiansburg High School to be all state.
He when on to coach at Woodbridge (1992-95), Garfield (1995-2009), and Lake Braddock (2009-present) high schools.
Custer has led 13 teams to state titles in girls outdoor track (1997, 2000), girls indoor track (1999, 2000), boys indoor track (2014), girls cross country (2012, 2015, 2016), boys cross country (1989, 1990, 1991, 2014, 2015) and also finished as state runner-up 11 times. His coaching resume includes 14 girls and boys outdoor track region championships, 16 boys and girls indoor track region titles, 10 boys’ and girls’ cross-country region championship, totaled 75 district championships in indoor/outdoor track and cross country and coached two-time Olympian Sheen Johnson (2004, 2008) at Gar-Field.
After 31 years of coaching, he has won a total of 15 state titles retiring in 2016 after a stint at Lake Braddock High School and still teaches at the school.
“I also would like to thank all the athletes that ran for me fast and slow.They all meant something to our programs,” he said this week.
Custer is in the top five in the state for career wins in boys cross country, girls cross country, and girls outdoor track, has coached over 60 individual and relay state champions, has been a finalist for National Coach of the Year for girls track & field in 2013 and named boys/girls track and cross country Coach of the Year 18 times by various organizations.
Members of the Class of 2019 will bring total membership to 295.