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(L-R): Jacy Christiansen, Jessie Proehl and Meredith Mistretta were the Lady Flames' top three finishers at the VMI Invitational.
Meet Information Live Results 5K Course Map 8K Course Map Earlysville Weather One week after previewing the course for the Big South Cross Country Championships, the Liberty men's and women's cross country teams will race at the site of this year's NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Championships. The Flames and Lady Flames are entered in Saturday's Virginia/Panorama Farms Invitational at the Panorama Farms course in Earlysville, Va. The men's 8K race will begin at 10 a.m., followed by the women's 5K at 10:30, in the second of Liberty's three meets at Panorama Farms in 2013.
How to Follow the Flames and Lady Flames Live results and in-progress splits will be available for both of Saturday's races, courtesy of Flash Results, Inc.
Weather Report The weather should be pretty pleasant for distance running on Saturday morning, with the forecast calling for temperatures in the low 60s under mostly sunny skies.
Scouting the Competition Liberty will face its stiffest competition of the young season on Saturday, in both the men's and women's races. On the men's side, the Flames are one of 11 regionally-ranked teams entered. Two of those squads, No. 11 Eastern Kentucky and No. 16 Virginia, appear in this week's USTFCCCA national rankings.
National No. 14 William & Mary headlines the meet's 11 regionally-ranked women's squads, which hail from five of the nation's nine regions. In addition to facing six ranked teams from the Southeast Region, Liberty will go up against the Mid-Atlantic's No. 6 Navy, the Northeast's No. 5 Harvard, the West's No. 13 California and the South's No. 6 Ole Miss and No. 10 Auburn.
For the second straight week, Liberty will go head-to-head with Big South rival High Point. At last Saturday's VMI Invitational, the Liberty men's team finished first overall, 32 points ahead of the runner-up Panthers. Meanwhile, the Lady Flames were second and High Point was third in the women's standings, with just 10 points separating the two teams.
Checking Out the Course Panorama Farms features rolling terrain, but is not as demanding of a venue as the Vista Links Golf Course in Buena Vista, Va., which hosted last Saturday's VMI Invitational. At the 2012 Virginia/Panorama Farms Invitational, six men's runners broke 24:30 for the 8K and half a dozen women's athletes ran sub-18:00 5Ks.
At the season-opening UVa Duals on Aug. 30 at Panorama Farms, both the men's and women's races were 4K contests. Saturday's meet will feature a men's 8K and a women's 5K. At the NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Championships on Nov. 15, the men's race will extend to a 10K while the women will cover 6K.
Welcome Back Liberty opened its 2013 cross country season at Panorama Farms, racing at the UVa Duals on Aug. 30. Both the Flames and Lady Flames went 1-1 that day, defeating Radford and losing to host Virginia. Led by Sam Hibbs, all five of Liberty's men's runners crossed the finish line together, while Jacy Christiansen led a pack of six Lady Flames across the line.
Saturday will mark the third straight year that Liberty has entered athletes in the Virginia/Panorama Farms Invitational. A year ago, a partial Lady Flames team finished fifth overall, paced by Jessica Gass' 28th-place effort.
Caleb Edmonds was the top performer among Liberty's current runners at the 2011 Virginia/Panorama Farms Invitational. He finished 13th in the men's 8K with a then personal-best time of 25:10.16.
Excellent Edmonds Senior team captain Caleb Edmonds recorded the first individual victory of his collegiate cross country career at last Saturday's VMI Invitational. He finished the 8K course at the Vista Links Golf Course in 26:12.77, putting the Empire State native 18 seconds in front of teammate Ngetich Kipchirchir.
Edmonds earned a pair of conference awards for his efforts, as he was tabbed Big South Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week and shared the ECAC Division I Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week title with Boston University's Alec Olson.
Easy as 1-2-3-4 Liberty won the men's team title at the VMI Invitational in impressive fashion, spearheaded by a 1-2-3-4 finish by Caleb Edmonds, Ngetich Kipchirchir, Josh MacDonald and Jeremie Bourget. This is the second time in as many years that the Flames have posted a 1-2-3-4 finish at an invitational.
David Ricksecker, Edmonds, Kipchirchir and Bourget swept the top four spots at the Royal Cross Country Challenge, contested Oct. 12, 2012 in Charlotte, N.C, leading the Flames to victory.
Regional/National Implications After its impressive team championship at the VMI Invitational, the Liberty men's team climbed from No. 10 to No. 8 in the Southeast Region. Expect the regional rankings to shake up considerably next week, as nine of the top 14 teams in the Southeast Region are entered at the Virginia/Panorama Farms Invitational. The list includes No. 1 Eastern Kentucky, No. 2 Virginia, No. 4 North Carolina, No. 6 Duke, No. 8 Liberty, No. 9 Virginia Tech, No. 10 High Point, No. 11 William & Mary and No. 14 George Mason.
The Lady Flames have yet to crack the Southeast Region rankings this year, but have an opportunity to make a statement on Saturday. Regionally ranked No. 2 William & Mary, No. 4 North Carolina, No. 5 Virginia, No. 6 Eastern Kentucky, No. 13 UNCG and No. 14 Virginia Tech are all slated to compete.
This is also the first weekend that teams are eligible to earn at-large points toward qualification to the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. These are earned by defeating strong teams from other regions in head-to-head competition. The list of ranked women's squads from other regions competing at Panorama Farms is listed above, under "Scouting the Competition." Meanwhile, the Flames will face Auburn (No. 5 in the South Region) and California (No. 8 in the West Region).
Back-to-Back Liberty is competing for the second straight weekend, after racing in the VMI Invitational last Saturday. This is the first time that Liberty has raced its full men's and women's teams on back-to-back weekends since Sept. 23 (Roy Griak Invitational) and 30 (Greater Louisville Classic) of 2006. Assistant coach Josh McDougal was the men's individual champion in both of those races.
After Saturday, the Flames and Lady Flames will take an extended break from competition until the full teams return to action at the ISU Pre-National Invitational on Oct. 19 in Terre Haute, Ind.
Four for the 4 Miler With Liberty limited to 10 women's entrants at the Virginia/Panorama Farms Invitational, four Lady Flames are expected to race on the streets of Lynchburg Saturday morning. Mary Cate Cooper, Kaitlyn Hutchins, Kate Spencer and Megan Versen are all slated to race in the Virginia 4 Miler, set for an 8 a.m. start at E.C. Glass High School.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — It's one part of the new health care law that seemed clear: free coverage for preventive care under most insurance plans.
Only it didn't turn out that way.
So on Wednesday, the Obama administration had to straighten out the confusion.
Have you gone for a colonoscopy thinking it was free, only to get a hefty bill because the doctor removed a polyp?
No more.
Taking out such precancerous growths as part of a routine colon cancer screening procedure will now be considered preventive care.
"Polyp removal is an integral part of a colonoscopy," the Department of Health and Human Services said in guidance posted on its website. That conclusion has the backing of several leading medical societies, the department noted.
Also addressed in the notice was genetic testing for breast cancer, coverage of over-the-counter products such as aspirin for heart care and nicotine patches for smoking, and birth control for women. Unlike formal regulations, the guidance does not have the force of law, but advocates for patients say insurers would be ill-advised to ignore it.
President Barack Obama's health care law required most private health plans to cover preventive care at no additional charge to patients. It also expanded preventive coverage without copayments for Medicare recipients. For workers and their families, the expense is borne by the company health plan, which passes on some of those costs in the form of higher premiums. Advocates say preventive care saves the health care system money over time.
Colonoscopy is an expensive test that can cost more than $1,000. It's recommended for adults 50 and over, and has become a rite of passage for aging baby boomers.
News that it would be covered free under the health care law got attention, but that was followed quickly by a letdown when many insurers started charging if a polyp or two was discovered and removed during the procedure.
"Insurers were reclassifying it from a preventive test to a diagnostic procedure," said Stephen Finan, policy director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. "In some cases the cost-sharing was a significant amount of money."
His group was among several that complained to the administration.
Other free preventive services addressed in Wednesday's guidance:
—Insurers must cover testing, if ordered by a doctor, for rare BRCA genes that dramatically increase the risk of breast cancer. Such tests can cost as much as $3,000.
—Over-the-counter products such as aspirin for heart care and nicotine patches for smoking cessation are covered with a doctor's prescription.
—Insurers won't be able to fulfill the law's requirement to cover contraception as preventive care for women if they only pay for birth control pills. A full range of FDA-approved methods must be covered, including long-acting implant and intrauterine devices. Birth control methods for men are not covered as preventive care.
If a health plan does not have a network doctor who performs a particular preventive service, a patient can see a doctor out-of-network without facing copays or additional charges.
The insurance industry said the requirement to cover over-the-counter medications will lead to higher costs. "We are concerned about the precedent of requiring health plans to provide coverage for over-the-counter drugs, such as aspirin and iron supplements, that are not typically covered by insurance today," said Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group.
Also Wednesday, the government came out with final rules on the benefits that health plans catering to individuals and small businesses will have to offer starting next year, when new insurance markets called exchanges open in each state.
The coverage generally is better than what's now available to people buying individual policies, but close to what medium-size companies offer, with some important improvements in areas such as mental health care.
Benefits include hospital and outpatient care, emergency services, maternity and newborn care, prescriptions, prevention, rehabilitation and ongoing assistance for people with potentially disabling conditions, and dental and vision care for children.
All plans will have to cover the same benefits, but their premiums and cost sharing will vary. There will be four level of coverage — bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Bronze plans will cover 60 percent of expected costs while platinum plans will cover 90 percent.
Health and Human Services Department: http://tinyurl.com/au6lzeo

subset: commoncrawl


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Our June issue is our annual broker-dealer issue, and in it we offer some familiar features. For the Presidents' Poll, we polled BD presidents at leading firms to get their take on the biggest issues they and their reps face now, as well as long-term. The Broker-Dealer Guide is a handy compendium of the industry's top broker-dealers, sorted by major categories.
In addition to our broker-dealer coverage, though, we're also eager to introduce the first in a series of articles we'll be running in the magazine and online dissecting what practice management is and how to do it better. For the past six months, the Investment Advisor Group and ActiFi have partnered to survey advisors on the subject, and we humbly present the first article on our findings this month.
We also talk to Rupal Bhansali, senior vice president and chief investment officer of international equities for Ariel Investments, for her guidance on how to tell a good money manager from a bad one. All it takes, she says, are three little questions.
What Are Advisors Doing Wrong?
Three simple questions are all it takes when evaluating money managers, yet Rupal Bhansali says they're three questions too often overlooked by advisors and clients alike. In the (refreshingly) candid and direct style for which she is known, Bhansali, senior vice president and chief investment officer of international equities for Ariel Investments, tells Editor-In-Chief John Sullivan what advisors are doing wrong and how they can fix it.
Pursuing Practice Excellence: The Advisor Perspective
Practice management is a struggle for nearly all advisors. While in most instances they know they should have better practice management skills, there is little agreement among advisors and their partners over what the term actually means, much less any empirical, public evidence on which approaches and programs actually deliver success in practice management. So over the past six months, the Investment Advisor Group and ActiFi have partnered to help solve the mystery of practice management. Rather than dictate a definition or merely brainstorm our own ideas, however, we asked the people doing the work—advisors themselves—to do so, to tell us what they need in terms of practice management help. Spenser Segal, CEO and founder of ActiFi, and James J. Green, group editor-in-chief, introduce their findings in the first of this series.
Power in Practice: A Coaching Program to Last a Career–Part II
For participants in Power in Practice, an in-house business coaching program offered by Commonwealth Financial Network, the course can sometimes feel like drinking from a fire hose. The program content is designed for advisors who are committed to transitioning their practices into true businesses, but its unique framework—including workshops, peer group meetings and coaching calls—gives participants the tools, structure and motivation they need to take their businesses to the next level. Joni Youngwirth shares what she learned from advisors in the second article of this series.
Five Facets of a Secure Retirement
For typical retirees in the United States, their goal is to fund a comfortable retirement. However, there are two primary risks investors face in managing their retirement portfolios—longevity risk and financial market risk. Peng Chen, president of Morningstar's global investment management division, explains the five factors that drive the product-type allocation decision.
Managing Through the Micro-Cap Mania
If you think the small-cap space has had a wild ride recently, try micro caps, and then get your head around the following boast Michael Corbett makes about one of the funds he manages:
"The Ultra MicroCap Fund has the lowest average market cap [for the companies which it invests] of any mutual fund out there," Corbett, chief investment officer and portfolio manager with Chicago-Based Perritt Capital Management, told John Sullivan, editor-in-chief.
Across all stages of development, better-performing advisory firms distribute equity more broadly among their team members. While firm owners often view transferring shares as a way to "cash out," distributing shares is as much about creating value as it is about realizing value. Sharing equity with team members can serve as a powerful incentive for attracting and retaining key talent. Broader equity distribution also improves succession options by reducing the amount of shares that owners need to liquidate prior to their exit while concurrently creating a pool of acquirers for any future equity transition. In the final article in this year's People and Pay series from FA Insight, Eliza DePardo and Dan Inveen share their findings from the study.
The 2012 Broker-Dealer Presidents' Poll
It's that time of year again. We asked the presidents at top broker-dealers about challenges to their business, their reps and their futures. Some of their answers didn't exactly surprise us, but the presidents' responses paint a picture of an industry in flux that still has a lot of potential. Editor-in-Chief John Sullivan breaks down the results.
Investment Advisor's 2012 Broker-Dealer Reference Guide
Europe, regulation, margin squeeze, market volatility, succession planning and … oh yes, the day-to-day pressures of running a business. We tick the list off so often, it's getting a bit cliché. But as with last year, we're not much further along in figuring out these issues. Lawsuits related to Medical Capital and other poorly thought-out products spelled trouble for certain broker-dealers last year, and a few shut their doors entirely. The field is a little less crowded, but for those doing it right, the confusion spells opportunity.


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