James Vander Wiele helped the men’s cross-country program cap the one true dynasty in Felician history.
Vander Wiele burst onto the collegiate running scene. As a freshman in 2008, after being Felician’s frontrunner all season long, he won the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship race and led Felician to the team championship. The individual victory allowed him to be named the CACC Runner and Rookie of the Year.
During the first meet of his sophomore season, Vander Wiele suffered a hip injury after stepping in a hole. He passed on a medical “redshirt” waiver opportunity because he believed his team still had a chance to win the conference championship. Nursing the injury all season, he competed in the CACC Championship meet, and while the Golden Falcons fell short of their goal, Vander Wiele finished 13th and again qualified for the all-conference team.
Following a long rehabilitation period, Vander Wiele stayed on schedule for his career. While never matching the times and placements from his rookie campaign, he became a respected veteran and key component of two more conference championship teams. He finished fourth in each of his final two CACC races, and capped his career with a 2011 USTFCCCA All-Region performance, joining teammate Rob Albano as the first two Golden Falcons to do so.
Vander Wiele is one of just three Golden Falcon males in the program’s 22-year history to earn All-CACC honors four times. He was a member of three conference championship teams, all three of which finished in the Top 10 in the Division II East Region.
Vander Wiele joins Paul Chegwidden and Albano, and his coach, John Brennan, from men’s cross-country in the Felician Athletics Hall of Fame.
The 2012 Felician Senior Male Student-Athlete of the Year, Vander Wiele graduated that year with a B.S. degree in accounting. A product of Pequannock Township High School, he now lives in Westtown, N.Y. and is a senior tax accountant at Topcon America Corporation.
