Wood's Ostrander to run for Radford

Ruby Ostrander heard plenty about Radford University’s cross country program before her recruitment process began, and everything that’s happened since has the James Wood High School senior enthused about getting to know the NCAA Division I program for years to come.

Ostrander held a signing ceremony on Monday at James Wood to celebrate her decision to run cross country and track for Radford, which competes in the Big South Conference.

“It really means a lot,” said Ostrander in a phone interview on Tuesday. “As a little kid, I always said that I wanted to go and compete at the D-I level. I’m really proud of myself for getting to this level.”

Ostrander has earned All-Area honors for cross country and track every year of her career (First Team for cross country as a junior and for track as a sophomore; this year’s cross country honors have not been published yet).

In cross country this fall, Ostrander placed sixth in Region 4D to earn All-Region honors and 17th in Class 4 despite not competing in her first varsity race until Oct. 12 due to injury. Ostrander ran her best time of 19 minutes, 7.8 seconds over 3.1 miles (5,000 meters) as a junior, a season that ended with her earning a state medal by placing 15th.

Ostrander will be a walk-on for Radford this season, but there will be opportunities for an athletic scholarship in the future.

Radford University already has a James Wood graduate in its cross country program in junior Liam McDonald, who was named the Big South Men’s Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year this fall and was the Highlanders’ No. 4 runner at the conference meet.

And one of her friends, Strasburg High School graduate Claire Keefe, is a freshman on the women’s team and was the squad’s No. 5 runner at both the Big South meet (Radford took third) and the NCAA Southeast Regional (the Highlanders took 22nd).

Ostrander decided to reach out to Radford through email, and the Highlanders were immediately interested. Ostrander stayed with Keefe for an official visit in September, about a month after her first communication with Radford.

The Highlanders are led by seventh-year head coach Sam Bradley, and Ostrander liked her interactions with Bradley and the Radford runners on the trip.

“I really like the coach compared to a lot of the other coaches [I talked with at other schools],” Ostrander said. “He was more worried about how I was as a runner and how I was as a person compared to the times I was putting down. He wanted me to be healthy and me to able to be on the team in the next year to be able to be a contributing member. When I was there, all the girls hung out, which is something they do every week. There’s a big team aspect for them.”

Ostrander also looked at Appalachian State, Tennessee at Martin, and Jacksonville. Ostrander visited Jacksonville and a had scholarship offer to go there, but she made her verbal commitment to Radford on Oct. 29.

For track, Ostrander said she’ll likely run in the events she’s currently participating in at Radford. Ostrander’s best times are 2:26.46 for the 800 and 5:19.79 for the 1,600.

Ostrander will major in Allied Health Sciences at Radford so she can be part of the pre-physical therapy and pre-kinesiology programs.

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at

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