Virginia Peninsula Community College named Andres McIntyre, coach at Menchville High School, its track and field/cross country coach.
The College’s initial outdoor track season will be spring 2024, with cross country to start fall 2024. At this time, McIntyre doesn’t anticipate an indoor season, which normally occurs in the winter. He would rather his athletes, many of whom will participate in cross country and the outdoor season, use that time to rest.
“It allows kids to recover and prepare themselves to have a great outdoor season, which tends to be the more prominent season in track and field,” he said.
McIntyre, an instructional assistant at Menchville, has been the girls’ cross-country coach and assistant girls’ outdoor track and field coach for the Monarchs since 2019. He has started spreading the word about the program and has been impressed with the responses.
“I’m looking at some good numbers already,” he said. “In this community, there are a lot more people than we assume that are more than willing and have the ability to compete and run and train to become part of the team.”
Athletics Director Chris Moore, who is also the men’s basketball coach, said McIntyre’s commitment to the local running community caught his attention.
“Andres McIntyre is a guy who is willing to do whatever it takes to help the next person, man and woman, succeed,” Moore said.
Following an honor-filled cross country and track and field career at Menchville, where he graduated in 2009, he attended Virginia State University. While at VSU, he was on the cross country and track and field teams all four years. He competed in CIAA conference and NCAA national meets. He posted numerous top-10 individual finishes in the CIAA, and was on two teams that finished runner up in the CIAA Championships. He earned a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from VSU in 2013.
In addition to recruiting players, he’s working on building the VPCC brand.
“I’m just trying to communicate and get that name out there, letting kids know that there is a program now at Virginia Peninsula Community College,” he said. “As the name grows, more people will take advantage of the opportunity that Virginia Peninsula Community College is offering.”
Moore likes what he sees so far in McIntyre.
“I think he’s going to do a really great job,” Moore said. “His tenacity is impeccable. I’m really excited about what he’s going to do with this program.”
The College also is adding men’s soccer to its list of intercollegiate sports for the 2023-24 academic year. Kevin Darcy recently was named the head coach.
For more information on VPCC athletics, go to vpcc.edu.