Billy grew up in Virginia Beach, son of a Naval Officer. He started running junior Olympic level cross country and track when he could not make the travel soccer team. Billy then ran 23 straight competitive seasons from high school until his senior year at the Naval Academy. His senior year at the Academy, he was burnt out and quit before this last season and went on spring break to Cancun. Billy’s coach, the legendary Al Cantello, bluntly predicted he would return to competition, and the coach was correct.
Billy was commissioned into the Marine Corps upon graduation in 2000 and became an infantry officer. He led a platoon in Operation Iraqi Freedom in the initial assault and rebuilding period in 2003. From 2004-2006, Billy was a mishap investigator for the Marine Corps, expanding his knowledge, as well as serving as Editor of the magazine, Ground Warrior. During this time, Billy raced as an All-Marine athlete in triathlons and running events all over the world.
In August of 2006, Billy left the Marine Corps with big dreams to race as a professional triathlete. In December of 2007, he moved to Boulder to pursue those dreams and train with the best triathletes in the world. His move was also to be with his girlfriend, now wife, the amazingly tough and talented, Lara Cooper.
As a first year professional triathlete, Billy qualified for three world championships, Ironman, 70.3, and long course duathlon. By setting personal bests across each discipline, his first year was deemed a success. However, in his second year, a hamstring injury set him back, and Billy shifted some of his focus as he began work with the Naval Academy Triathlon Team. The end of 2008 was productive as he returned to form setting personal bests at the half ironman distance.
Buoyed by the motivation of his athletes on the Naval Academy Tri Team, Billy stormed back on to the scene in 2009 setting personal bests at the half and full ironman distances. He qualified for Kona for the fourth time and despite having a sub par performance in Hawaii, he completed his 10th ironman in under 10 hours. The highlight of the year was coaching the Naval Academy triathlon team to the overall USAT Collegiate National Championship.
Check the blog for more on how “the Kid” is progressing.
- Birthdate: 9 Dec 1977
- Height: 6'2" Weight: 164 lbs.
- Hometown: Virginia Beach, Virginia
- Currently: Boulder, Colorado
Personal Bests:
- Ironman: 9:12:09, Ironman Lake Placid 2009
- Half Ironman: 4:02:35, Lonestar Half 2009
- Marathon: 2:35:16, Marine Corps Marathon, 2004
- Halfmarathon: 1:10:08, Shamrock Half Marathon, 2007
- Beer mile: 7:39 (barely beating Jerry Frostick, owner of Final Kick)
Favorite races:
- Half Vineman, Marine Corps Marathon, and Virginia Beach's Turkey Trot
When not doing anything related to triathlon:
- Exploring Colorado and the world with Lara.
- Reading and feeding the mind.
- Watching PTI and keeping up to date on the world of sports, even beyond triathlon.
- Listening to tunes, attending Dave Matthews concerts, and falling asleep to the hilarity of Lovelines.