The Chris Lundstrom I Know
Dakotah Lindwurm coming in third and securing her spot for the 2024 Olympics in Paris was one of the feel good stories to come out of the US Olympic Marathon Trials. You can read about her modest high school beginnings, her collegiate career at Division II Northern State in South Dakota, and her six years as a professional runner training with the Minnesota Distance Elite, elsewhere. This blog is about her coach, Chris Lundstrom.
Most of Chris’ notable achievements are listed in his bio on the Minnesota Distance Elite webpage. This blog is about special things I have the privilege of knowing about Chris, that may not have previously made the internet.
Chris ran in high school at Northfield High School in Minnesota. Pat Foley coached him in cross country. Chris competed at the state cross country meet three times and earned all-state twice, with a best finish of third place. His junior year, the team qualified for the state championships. This was the first Northfield cross country team to make it to state. He was all-conference all four years, won one conference championship, and still holds the school record for cross country 5K with a time of 15:30. In track, he was a state qualifier in the mile.
From Northfield he walked-on to the team at Stanford. Through hard (but smart) training, he went from running mostly with the women’s team to being an alternate on Stanford’s NCAA Championship team. The eighth runner on Stanford’s team was probably still one of the fastest runners in the country, but Chris will simply tell you he was a JV college runner.
Post-collegiately, Chris stayed in the Bay Area and was tearing it up on the Pacific Association grand prix racing scene, running for the Hoy’s Excelsior Running Club. In winter 2000, I put out a call via the Hoy’s Excelsior weekly email newsletter, asking if anyone was interested in helping me coach at Sacred Heart Cathedral (SHC). Chris contacted me saying he was interested, we met for lunch, and a friendship was born.
What I love about Chris is his genuine care for people, his humble nature, his intellectual curiosity, and his sense of humor. A great story from his high school coach demonstrates what a great teammate he is. One of their team activities was bowling with different ways of getting the ball down the lane; e.g. releasing the ball between your legs, standing backwards, etc. “Chris was the number one ranked high school runner in Minnesota and, there he was lying on his stomach rolling the ball down the lane. He was not afraid to be a little goofy. It was a good message for the other runners.”
Chris coached three seasons at SHC from 2000-2001. One season he drove a van full of teenagers to Los Angeles so they could cheer for our star 800 runner at the California State Meet. In cross country, one of my favorite pictures of all-time is him kneeling down to talk to, and give advice to, our Varsity Girls team before the Central Coast Section (CCS) Championship race. (I call that picture, “Story time with Chris,” and the girls are sitting enraptured with what he is saying). He delayed his move to Minnesota in June 2001 by a week so he could stick around when that 800 star returned to the State Meet as a junior and came home with the State championship. The 800 star in the story is Shannon Rowbury, who would go on to be an American record holder and 3-time Olympian. Dakotah is just the latest Olympian, Chris has had a hand in coaching.
At some point while he was coaching at SHC in this era, Chris suggested I come up with a staple workout for the distance runners – something we would do both in cross country and during the track & field season. It would be a litmus test-type workout and the kids would be able to measure their progress from year to year and season to season. He suggested either 5 X 1000 or 6 X 800. I picked 6 X 800 (any SHC runners who dread this bi-annual workout can blame Chris). We are in the twenty fourth year of doing 6 X 800. The pdf with each season’s workout is now 57 pages long. When Chris and I went for lunch in Eugene during the 2022 World Championships, I asked him if he remembered giving me that workout suggestion. He said he did.
While coaching at SHC, Chris squeezed in runs between the heats at day long track meets. He ran whatever pace and distance the kids needed so he could help coach them. Frequently he would run to practice or have me drop him off before I got to his home so he could tack on a few more miles. He was a shining example to the team of finding a way to get the work done, no matter the circumstances.
Chris impacted all of us so that even after he left SHC we kept cheering for him. We were all so proud when he took third at the 2001 New York City Marathon. In February 2004, I flew out to Birmingham, Alabama to watch Chris run at the US Olympic Marathon Trials. It was almost exactly twenty years later that Dakotah cemented another US Olympic Marathon Trials memory for Chris.
Chris set his marathon PR of 2:17:34 at the Twin Cities Marathon in 2006. During his years as a competitive runner, he finished third (2001) and then fourth (2006) in the USA Marathon Championships, was a three-time qualifier for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials (2004, 2008, 2012), and represented the U.S. in the 2007 Pan-American Games marathon and in the 2010 World Mountain Running Championships, where the team won the silver medal.
Chris was one of the inaugural members of Team USA Minnesota when he joined them in 2001. That group changed its name to Minnesota Distance Elite in 2020. And Chris has gone from being a runner on the team to being the team’s coach.
Chris combines tremendous knowledge about training from an exercise physiology perspective with his ability to work with individual people. When asked about her start with Minnesota Distance Elite, Dakotah said Chris told her that if she showed up to practice he would coach her, and that she had a big vision for herself that came true because Chris bought into her and her dream first.
Chris is far from “just” a coach. He has a PhD in kinesiology and is married with kids. He juggles coaching Minnesota Distance Elite with teaching classes at the University of Minnesota and coaching at the high school level. He co-wrote a chapter in the Oxford Textbook of Children’s Sport and Exercise Medicine. In his Tedx Talk he displays all the traits and characteristics that make him such a great coach and person. Here he talks about how running teaches you to find balance and perspective, to be mindful and in the moment, and to have a sense of humility in the face of either success or defeat.
In the moments immediately following Dakotah’s third place finish, Chris displayed all the traits that make him a special person. In an interview with LetsRun you could hear he had a scratchy voice from cheering. He joked about possibly breaking some laws while riding a bike around the course trying to get to a spot to cheer. Of course, he was humble, giving all the credit to the runner. In total Chris fashion, his Instagram post celebrates Dakotah, laughs at himself for breaking his phone while riding around the course, and gives a shoutout to all his other runners who poured their hearts into the race that day.
That’s Chris Lundstrom in a nutshell, not looking for the spotlight himself and genuinely caring about ALL his runners.
Well, the spotlight is going to shine on you a little bit for the next several months, Chris….all the way to Paris. Soak it up and enjoy it, because you deserve it!
2023 – CCS and my Dad
I’d thought a lot about what it might feel like at our team tent after the 2023 CCS Cross Country Championships were over if both teams qualified for the Cross Country State Meet. When I envisioned it, it was always a moment of extreme triumph and a celebration of our excellence. But when it happened, it turned out to be a moment, overflowing with emotions that left me in tears and despite months of planning for the moment, rendered me speechless. It has taken me more than a month since the meet to process everything and to finally attempt to put the story on paper. To truly understand this story, though, you have to go back, to well before November 11, 2023.
I probably starting thinking about the 2023 CCS Championships shortly after the 2022 CCS Championships were over. We had a tough day. The boys ran amazingly fast (fifth fastest team in the entire CCS) but were beaten by two very fast teams and did not qualify for State as a team. The girls never really got into contention for one of the State Meet spots. Even though Miles Cook qualified as an individual for State, most of us left Crystal Springs feeling empty. It stung and we didn’t like it. We didn’t want to feel this again in 2023.
The 2023 track & field season gave me reason to believe things would be different the next time around. The Girls 4X800 changed a lot for us. We had girls competing against each other for spots on the relay team and yet, still working together at practice and remaining friends. Not every girls team I’ve coached has been able to navigate this type of situation. Even though we came up short on qualifying for CCS in the 4X8, the process led to the development of a new team leader in Rell Gentzler. Rell was ready to commit to being a leader. She was unapologetic about the big goal and motivated herself and her teammates to train hard for it. Miles finished the season in amazing fashion, dropping his 1600 time from 4:31 to 4:19 in the span of 15 days. Luke Moore also closed the season well. Suddenly the boys felt this excitement to raise the bar in their training. Long runs, more weekly mileage, and threshold runs started happening consistently. And best of all, without me asking for it. They were doing all this at their own choosing.
Through the summer months, the training went well. People ran on their own when they couldn’t make team workouts. It didn’t hurt that in the back of our minds, we knew there was a hotshot freshman girl named JoJo Gregg, ready to join the team in August. There was a lot of talk about State. In fact, I probably had to temper things so we didn’t burn out before the end of July.
I started the official season in August with a cough that lingered for four weeks. I was hoarse and couldn’t really talk clearly. I posted workouts on Schoology because I couldn’t say them at practice. I brought a bullhorn to several practices. I warned the team that I would do a lot of clapping and not much yelling during the meets. This turned out to be a minor inconsequential inconvenience in the overall scheme of the season.
When October arrived, my cough was gone and my voice was back. But unfortunately, my dad’s health was declining rapidly. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, my dad’s health took a turn for the worse. We needed to get him 24/7 home care and he was on hospice. I was pretty sure this was going to be the end. Because of the pandemic, I wasn’t going to school every day or coaching every afternoon so I got to spend a lot of time with him. I helped him exercise, we talked, we watched sports, and he told me stories. It was quality time that I will never forget. It was during this time that I realized that a lot of the traits that I use as a coach (having a positive outlook, caring about others, being giving of oneself), I got from my dad. My dad miraculously got better. He still needed 24/7 care but he made the best of things. He would live three more years like this (reaching his 95th birthday in March 2023) – three bonus years, I like to call them.
But this time, he wasn’t going to get better. We made a trip to the Emergency Room and then I brought him home for the final time. We put him back on hospice. He was hardly eating and needed oxygen. One night I went back to visit him. After a hectic day, I was finally alone with him. He looked so peaceful and I realized this was my goodbye. I held his hand, thanked him for everything, promised him I would look after mom, and that I would always try to make him proud. Two days later he was gone. He lived 95 joyful years. I was at peace. But it was still difficult.
The outpouring of love and support from my family and friends and the SHC community and cross country team was amazing. I decided that I would work on my dad’s affairs in the mornings and go to cross country practices and meets in the afternoon. Being with the cross country team gave me a sense of routine and normalcy that I needed. I think it’s what my dad would have wanted me to do. The love from the team helped me get through this.
As the season wound down, I had most of the details for my dad worked out. I was able to devote my attention back to the team – and of course, the goal, Both Teams to State.
CCS week was tough. We knew the boys should have a fairly easy time getting to State. But we also realized that St. Ignatius (SI) and Burlingame were going to be strong on the girls side. Burlingame hadn’t been on our radar until the end. By mid-week, it seemed like half our kids were sick. And to be honest, every time I thought too much abut Burlingame and SI, I felt a little sick myself. One of the girls said, we only have to beat one of them to make it to State. She was right. I made my usual color scouting sheet and projected where our runners had to finish to give us a shot.
When Bridget Panina was a sophomore, she came to State to support her teammate Liz Nip, who had qualified for State as an individual. I told her during that trip that we needed to get back to State with the whole team before she graduated. I think that’s what made me the most nervous at CCS. Bridget was 0-for-2 at CCS and she only had one more shot. Everyone else would at least have next year. But for her, this was it. We all wanted to get to State for Bridget.
CCS was nerve wracking. The boys competed well and we gave SI a run before placing 2nd. There was hardly any time to enjoy our first State Meet qualifying team because before you knew it the girls race was off.
Just watching the race and then seeing the scores at 2 miles, I knew we were doing what we needed to do to contend. But it was unclear if it was going to be enough to get to State. Burlingame looked like, barring a collapse, they would win the race and it was impossible to do the math in real-time to calculate if were beating SI or not.
We had a six point lead at the 2-mile mark. But it looked like it was shrinking. We cheered everyone in and the found ourselves huddled by the finish line staring at my phone and waiting. The lead over SI dropped from 5 points to 4 points. Then to 3 points and 2 points. I tried to calculate if there were any more points SI could gain on us as runners finished. We tried to figure out where the last place runner was so we’d know when the results were done re-calculating. Finally it was official! We’d held off SI by 2 points to earn the last spot to State.
Both teams to state, as I often say, is our most beloved goal. It would have been great to go to State with the boys. But it was now infinitely better because both teams were going.
I thought about my dad several times at CCS.
During the meet, after the Boys had qualified and the Girls race had begun, I couldn’t help to think how if both teams could make it to State, I would forever associate both teams going to State with my dad’s life.
Then, when it happened, I thought to myself, “They did it, Dad. They just gave me a permanent positive memory for the 2023 season to link to you.”
After the race, the emotions were overwhelming. We all ran around looking for each other to hug. Smiles were everywhere. No words were necessary. We just wanted to celebrate together. I found most of the girls pretty quickly. But I remember going to look for Rell and Alex Martinez because I hadn’t found them yet. When I saw them we just hugged. I couldn’t form a coherent sentence and probably ended up just saying, “We did it!” through teary eyes.
We had talked about this goal for so long. We’d ridden so many ups and downs. Then it all came down to one race, 2 points, and one big kick by a freshmen (Dagny Suro). Dagny battled an SI runner the whole race and passed the SI runner in the last step before the finish line. We kept telling Dagny that she will be the subject of this legendary story for the rest of her life. The dream had come true!
One of the parents told me that she was impressed because I never wavered in my belief in the team and never changed the expectation for CCS. It made me proud that I did that.
Later that night, Luke texted me, “Getting to State was the only thing missing from my high school experience.” It wasn’t missing anymore.
It was just perfect that I got to spend two extra weeks with the team that gave me so much love and support when I needed it the most just a month earlier. At the end of the season, a parent said to me that I had given love and support to so many kids through the years and that this year’s team felt a responsibility to represent all the teams of the past by giving me back that same love and support during this time that I needed it.
The team made me a poster that said “State Bound. We ❤️ you Coach.” They all signed it, and they snuck it into my office so I would find it on my desk one morning. I walked into my office that morning, saw the poster and started crying… and was late to weight room.
The team surprised me again at our awards banquet. They were presenting me a gift when this was read:
We would like to present a gift to you in remembrance of your beloved father, Fred Chan, who passed away this October.
The gift we offer you is a tree in your dad’s name. The Fred Chan Memorial Tree will be planted in Lindley Meadow, a place where we have all spent many hours with you, running together and building this thriving and vibrant community.
The team will be on hand at the ceremony to help plant the tree and memorialize your father. The Fred Chan Memorial Tree will watch over you and your teams as both the tree and the team grow up together.
2023 CCS. Both Teams to State. I love you, Dad.
Back to State – An oral history of the SHC’s Girls 4X4 team qualifying for the California State Meet
This is the story of the 2023 SHC Track & Field Girls 4X400 Relay Team. The team placed 3rd at CCS Finals to qualify for the State Meet. They were the first Irish track & field athletes to qualify for State in a decade. This is their story told through the words of the runners and coaches.
PRE-RACE
COACH ANDY CHAN
Saturday morning I went for an hour plus ElliptiGo ride. I wanted to do something physical to get some of my nervous energy out and I wanted to be alone with my thoughts. I thought about my pre-meet speech and later spent some time communicating with the support team (Veronica, Jordan, Ryan) about them putting up the posters (especially the Unstoppable lyric ones) on the wall before the rest of the team got to our spot.
VIVI COLWICK
Before coming to school, I was constantly thinking about how I would run and perform in the race. I was thinking “just give it your all,” “don’t let this be your last run,” and constantly thinking about my leg and how crazy it would be to get to State. I was getting my singlet in my room ready and when I left the house I thought, “Next time I’m here I’ll know if I’m going to State or not.”
KATHERINE BOREK
All I could think about was the race and how we had a chance to go to State. The season had been full of PRs, but seeing how far we’d come was truly unreal. I must have visualized my leg of the race a hundred times, but every time I pictured it, I would sweat and my heart would start pounding.
CHLOE THORPE
My mom and I drove down to Gilroy early. We had lunch then checked in at our hotel. We relaxed until it was time to head over to the track to meet the team.
TESSA WEHRLE
I was really nervous before the meet, but I was excited to see my teammates and spend more time with them. I wanted to do everything I could to ensure I ran a good race, but that just meant eating and preparing the normal way for my meets.
COACH ANDY CHAN
The arrival at our area on the warm-up field was perfect, with everyone’s eyes lighting up when they saw all the posters. Then I delivered my CCS Finals pre-meet speech:
The saying is that pressure is a privilege.
99.9% of the CCS is not feeling any pressure because they don’t have the privilege of competing today with lots on the line at CCS Finals.
You have that privilege. You earned that privilege.
I’ve been coaching 25 years at SHC. I’ve been through these situations many times. Maybe not with you, but with other SHC athletes.
These days can and do end with amazing moments filled with joy. Those moments aren’t reserved just for Bellarmine and St. Francis….or for the Shannon Rowbury’s of the world.
I believe that you can have that type of moment today. But the key is do you believe that you can?
It’s been an Unstoppable Season. Let’s do all that we can so that the season doesn’t stop today.
WARM-UP
COACH ANDY CHAN
We had someone racing almost every hour, so I occupied myself watching Miles in the 1600 and Isaiah in the 100 and 200. And I helped with the hurdle crew. After the 200’s I started to get more anxious for the 4X4 and time seemed to start to go slower.
CHLOE THORPE
All four of us jogged around the warm-up field for five minutes. I remember feeling extremely nervous while we were doing our dynamic warm-ups such as A, B, and C skips, and high knees, etc.
KATHERINE BOREK
The warm-up was very quiet. Normally, we’d be laughing and chatting, but when we warmed up for the race that night, you could almost hear everyone’s hearts beating. Our faces were all fixed and we made small comments to each other about running, mostly these were words of encouragement.
TESSA WEHRLE
I remember Coach Malik giving me tips on how to push off the blocks with power. We practiced against a fence near the back of the warm-up area. Otherwise, it was a normal warmup, but I think the four of us were all quiet during the warm-up because of how nervous we were, and trying to mentally prepare.
VIVI COLWICK
Warming up was so nerve racking. The sun was setting and once we were done it was dark and the sun had set. It was the four of us and Izzy and we were silent most of the time. We all knew what we were thinking. Coach Malik helped us warm up and told us, “This is your chance to run your best race.” Leaving the field, walking in diamond formation to the track I thought the same thing I did when I left my house which was “Next time I walk on the field I’ll know if we’re going to State or not.”
COACH ANDY CHAN
When the gun went off for the Boys 3200, I walked towards the warm-up field to find the girls. I had hoped we could all huddle but I wasn’t sure we’d all be at the same place at the same time. Coach Wilson was with me. And as the 4X4 arrived at the clerk, Coach Ted and Coach Malik were walking behind them. I remember calling everyone in for a huddle. I had planned what I wanted to say. “Your coaches are proud of you and we love you. And we will love you just as much in half an hour no matter the result.” But after that I don’t remember what I else said… just that we ended with an Unstoppable cheer.
VIVI COLWICK
I remember before the race Coach Andy had us huddle up and told us no matter the outcome of this race he would love us and be proud of us. I remember before walking to the start line our team had our huddle and Kathrine told us, “This is what we worked for, this is the race we were always running towards and we must leave everything we have on the track.”
KATHERINE BOREK
I remember getting to the tent where you stand right before you race and Chloe’s shoe laces being tied so tight that she couldn’t get her spikes on. I grabbed the shoe and was weaving out the knots while the team and all the parents watched in silence as my hands shook, waiting to see if Chloe was going to have to run barefoot. I ended up getting the knot out, but I think Chloe had to get new laces.
COACH ANDY CHAN
As I headed towards the finish line to watch the race, I saw the St. Francis team. I told their coach I was going to lean over the fence, not to distract them, but to tell his girls good luck, which I did.
At the finish line area, I checked to make sure I could see where the first 400 split was in lane 5. Then I went to stand on a small hill so I had a better view all the way around the track. Coach Wilson was along the fence past the finish line. Coach Ted and Coach Malik were right on the finish line. I noticed Coach Ted couldn’t stand still. He kept shifting his weight and bouncing up and down. I knew he was nervous.
VIVI COLWICK
Walking up to the start line, I looked through the crowds and saw all these faces of family and friends of all these runners and thought, “They came for a race and all these runners are running for a place at State,” and I smiled and brought my hands and arms up as if to say to the crowd “Let’s hear it!” I was feeling good, so nervous, but good. No matter what happens, it will happen as a team and I love this team.
COACH LLOYD WILSON
I knew last year we had a good team for this year. The girls worked hard all season. They did some hard workouts and never complained. I wasn’t sure we could make State but I knew we were ready to run fast.
COACH ANDY CHAN
Right before the gun went off, I thought about what I thought might happen. I was figuring Tessa would be in the mix somewhere between 2nd-5th but it’d be close. I figured Katherine would move us up to 2nd. And that Chloe could quite possibly give us the lead when she handed off. Then it would all come down to Vivi being able to hold off those fast anchors from Christopher and Burlingame.
LEAD-OFF LEG – TESSA WEHRLE (61.4)
TESSA WEHRLE
While setting my blocks, I felt a lot of pressure on me in the moment. All the things my coaches had said to me before were running through my head. I wanted to get a better start out of the blocks to set myself up for the rest of the race, so I tried to remember what the powerful feeling was like when I practiced on the warm-up field against the fence. I was picturing my whole race, from the gunshot to my hand off with Katherine. I wanted to set my team up for success.
KATHERINE BOREK
I remember standing in my lane, before the gun went off and seeing all the coaches standing behind me, along with my family.
IZZY GUZMAN
I remember how loud the bleachers were and how excited I was when I saw Tessa moving up in the first 200m of her race.
TESSA WEHRLE
During the first part of my leg I was just pumping my arms as fast as I could and trying to get my feet to the ground as fast as I could.
COACH ANDY CHAN
When the gun went off, Tessa seemed to get a great start. I could tell she made up the stagger on everyone outside of her. She appeared to be leading or close to the lead at 200. At 300 it seemed like she was for sure leading. Her last 75 was scary but she held on and I glanced at my watch and saw a 61 split.
SECOND LEG – KATHERINE BOREK (60.5/2:01.9)
KATHERINE BOREK
I saw Tessa sprint towards me, I grabbed the baton and I ran as fast as I could.
TESSA WEHRLE
From the last few seconds of my race, I was happy and relieved that I got it over with, and I knew that my whole team was going to do great. I was exhausted after the race. My legs were numb, and my heart was beating super fast.
COACH ANDY CHAN
When I looked up, Katherine was really moving and looked like she got the baton in 3rd. As she cut in, though, she kept moving up and didn’t hesitate to pass and put us into the lead.
VIVI COLWICK
I couldn’t watch the other legs because it would distract me but I looked up once and saw Katherine FLYING down the backstretch and I smiled and said under my breath, “Save some Katherine, save some,” and then I didn’t look up again until it was Chloe’s leg.
KATHERINE BOREK
By the time I saw Chloe waving at me to run, my legs were as heavy as bricks and all the energy I had left was used to pass off the baton.
COACH ANDY CHAN
It was so exciting seeing us in the lead. Katherine’s last 75 was tough and she fell back to 3rd. I remember yelling, “Finish,” just like I had for Tessa. And I saw that Chloe had taken off early so we exchanged late in the zone. Katherine’s split was still 60. And Chloe wasn’t far behind the leaders.
THIRD LEG – CHLOE THORPE (60.1/3:01.9)
CHLOE THORPE
As I was waiting for Katherine to hand off the baton to me, I took off a bit too early. I saw the other two teams in front. I was trying to close the gap behind those two teams, until I caught up to them. I was trying to pass the Los Altos girl, until she bumped into me before the start of the last 200 meters. Her arms were rocking side to side which caused her to bump into me. By the 150 meter to go mark I began to feel tired and then with 100 meters to go I was trying to push. Finally, I passed the baton to Vivi and collapse on the side of the field.
KATHERINE BOREK
I walked across to the grass and watched Chloe and Vivi’s legs.
COACH ANDY CHAN
It was déjà vu watching Chloe take the lead. And even though we fell back to 3rd, Chloe wasn’t far from the leaders and we had a good exchange to Vivi. Chloe split 60 and I noticed we were at 3:01 overall, which is really fast.
ANCHOR LEG – VIVI COLWICK (58.3/4:00.2)
VIVI COLWICK
I don’t remember much of watching Chloe’s leg, just thinking “Stay with it, stay with it,” and sure enough I got the baton in third place and ran my leg as hard as I could trying to keep up with the blue and white singlet (Los Altos) in front of me and letting the roar of the crowd push me to go faster.
KATHERINE BOREK
I remember seeing Viv in 3rd and I almost couldn’t believe it. I screamed so loud at her that this was for State and she had to go!!!!
COACH ANDY CHAN
Vivi got the baton and I was happy that the St Francis third runner stepped off the track so Vivi had a clear path. The Los Altos and St Francis anchors were out, and I started looking back to see where 4th and 5th place were. The PA announcer started calling Middleton and Haggerty so I knew Christopher and Burlingame were starting to close. With 250 to go, the thought flashed into my head that we didn’t have as large a lead on the anchor as we did at CCS Trials. At 200 to go, I could see Middleton gaining ground. I looked up to see where 2nd place was. I started to think that Vivi needed to catch the Los Altos girl so if Middleton caught us, we’d still be top 3.
COACH MALIK GRESHAM
I was extremely nervous and may have closed my eyes and teared up when I saw Middleton of Christopher was closing on Vivi. I wasn’t afraid of losing. I was afraid of the girl’s disappointment. I would’ve been ready to get back to work immediately and prep for next season. But they would’ve been sad and would’ve momentarily questioned the hard work they put in all year and off-season.
COACH TED LESHER
I was for sure nervous and for a few seconds I thought we were about to finish in a heart-breaking 4th.
COACH ANDY CHAN
With 100 to go, it started to look like we weren’t going to catch Los Altos but at the same time, Vivi started putting space between her and Middleton. In the last 50, it looked like we were safe but you never know. I was screaming for Vivi to finish. When she crossed the finish line I think I yelled, “Yes…..State!” I ran down the hill to be at the fence. The St. Francis coach high-fived me. The coaches all conferred to make sure we agreed that no doubt about it, we were 3rd. My watch said 4:00.2, with a 58 for Vivi.
VIVI COLWICK
I pushed and pushed and tried my very best to keep on the heels of that blue singlet (Los Altos) just a couple steps in front of me. After I finished I put my hand on the back of the St. Francis anchor and thought, “We did it!” I congratulated St. Francis and like a dead man walking went over to Katherine and Tessa where I simply stated the only thought that was running through my mind on repeat, “We did it.”
POST-RACE
CHLOE THORPE
Once the race was over, I stood up and looked over towards Vivi, Tessa, and Katherine who were huddled. I started to worry if we qualified for State because no one was saying anything. I went over to join them and Katherine said that we qualified. I felt so relieved and happy that we had qualified for State.
KATHERINE BOREK
Our whole team hugged because we had actually done it!
TESSA WEHRLE
I remember hugging my teammates and feeling really proud of all of us. I felt very supported and that there was a lot of positive energy from everyone.
COACH ANDY CHAN
I kept hitting refresh on my phone to try to get the official result and time. I texted Malinda a single word: State! Two minutes later the result came up on athletic.net – 3rd place, 4:00.27. I took a screenshot and texted it to some people from school.
VIVI COLWICK
After the race were some of the best moments of my year and maybe my life. I shared so many genuine hugs and smiles. I felt on top of the world as Alanna and Dom came up to us and told us how over the moon proud they were of us. Hearing Alanna tell me how much she loved watching me succeed this season and how proud she was of me made my heart grow and bloom like a tired flower being watered with sunlight. Tight hugs between Dom and me, as he told me how huge this is and how awesome we should feel about ourselves. Katherine and I were beaming ear to ear. I kissed Alanna’s cheek and hugged Dom and although I couldn’t speak right just yet they understood.
COACH ANDY CHAN
Pretty quickly all the coaches and the rest of the team/parents/supporters found their way to the girls on the field to congratulate them. Lots of other WCAL coaches were coming over to congratulate us. It was fun seeing all our supporters taking pictures and hugging the girls. I remember seeing Isaiah hug Tessa and call her the GOAT and comment that she was only a freshman.
VIVI COLWICK
Then the coaches came to congratulate us and that’s when I heard how close the Burlingame girl was to beating me. They all said I gave them a heart attack but I pulled through.
IZZY GUZMAN
I was very proud of the team and how hard they worked to run four flat (minutes). I also remember how proud everyone’s parents and teammates were for the 4×4 but also how sad other teams looked that their season was ending, specifically seniors who had their last race.
COACH ANDY CHAN
Chloe was at a trash can throwing up. But they called us to the podium so she joined them. I had Vivi stand up so Chloe could sit on the podium.
CHLOE THORPE
I was sitting down and I could barely stand because my glutes and hamstrings were so tired. I remember when they called our names to get on to the podium, I started feeling nauseous and I started gagging. So I ran to the trash can and was trying to throw up but nothing came up. Coach Andy came over to me and gave me some water. As all the other teams were lining up onto the podium, I walked over to the podium and was gagging crazily. While I was standing up there with my team, I was trying so hard to hold in my gags, for the pictures and the moment. Finally, once the pics were taken, Coach Malik grabbed me and helped me run back to the trash.
VIVI COLWICK
Standing on the podium after hugging my peers and teammates and watching my coaches’ smiles only get bigger and bigger was a feeling I will never forget.
COACH ANDY CHAN
I told the girls to enjoy the moment and that I was going to go eat my burrito on the warm-up field. But I didn’t get far because everyone wanted to talk. Finally, I started walking to the warm-up field and I saw Katherine kneeling on the ground. And Vivi crouched over by a bench. Apparently three of the four girls had all managed to dry heave or throw up since the race ended. Talk about leaving it all out there!
KATHERINE BOREK
After the immediate rush of qualifying for State, the race hit all of us. Chloe almost barfed on the podium (she did the moment we stepped off), then I puked when I was walking back towards the gate, then Viv threw up because she had seen me throw up. I felt horrible at the time, but it’s one of the funniest memories – us, the state qualifying team, all puking at the same time. Anyways, it showed how hard we had worked as a team to get to state and is an entertaining story to tell.
VIVI COLWICK
I was walking to the exit of the track, arm and arm with Tessa and Katherine saying, “We are going to State!” Then Katherine had a puke scare. But I had a puke moment. That was done quickly and we were back to laughing, smiling and soaking in the moment.
CHLOE THORPE
As I’m walking on the field. Katherine and Vivi came running towards me and said that both of them had thrown up as well. We all laughed and joked that once we see one person throw up the others throw up as well.
VIVI COLWICK
With the stadium lights and stars highlighting the smiles on our faces, Coach Andy pulled me aside into lane 2 on the curve where the Burlingame and Christopher girls were riding my tail and were close to beating me. He looked at me and pointed down the straight away and said “You’ll do a lot of great things in life, but I really want you to remember this moment and this last 100 meters. You pushed when you needed to push and you pulled through when we needed you to.” And in that moment I realized there will never be a moment like this ever again. I needed to recognize and really remember what had just happened. Coach Malik told me I ran my leg “perfectly, just how we’d been practicing since the winter.” My eyes were starting to fill with tears but I told myself I wasn’t going to cry. I had been wanting to find my dad and the minute I did we had this tight embrace where I just started bawling. He said to me, “You did so great, all the work paid off, all the early practices and late meets. It all paid off.” We both just smiled and cried.
COACH ANDY CHAN
We had a quick talk by the tent where I talked about it being ten years since we last went to State and how complicated my schedule was about to be because of Graduation and our upcoming trip to Fresno.
Then we sang the alma mater, cleaned up our area, and made our way to the cars.
In less than a week, the Irish were going back to State for the first time in a decade.
Seniors’ Last Events
One of the most important things that I do as a coach is to greet seniors as soon as I can after they finish their last high school race. It takes some planning and my meet sheet is often marked with yellow highlights reminding me when a senior may be competing in the Irish uniform for the last time.
At the 2023 WCAL Finals, I went over to Peter Tang as soon as he finished his last race, a 1600. Peter started on the team in 2021, a season where we hardly trained and he often had to run with a mask on because of COVID. In Peter’s senior speech he talked about running 5:57 in his first 1600 that season and thinking that I was crazy for putting him in that event. Two years later, Peter’s time was down to 5:03 and he was going to make a last attempt to break five at WCAL Finals. He was on pace for two laps, but after three laps I could tell it was a longshot to make it. He crossed the line at 5:01.99. I knew he was aware that he had come up short. I was a little worried of the profanity that might ensue. I quickly went to Peter and before he could say anything, I told him I was proud of him. That he had come a long way from 5:57; all the way to taking a shot at breaking five. He should be proud to have PR’ed and run a 5:01 in his last race.
A month later at our awards banquet, Peter told everyone the story about this moment. He added that initially he was upset when he finished the race. But that my words that I was proud of him, made the pain of not breaking five just go away immediately.
At CCS Trials, Kendric Sanders ran his first sub-11 second 100 meter race in what would be his last race. Kendric had been chasing that sub-11 for three seasons. I was so happy for him. I pulled him aside to talk to him. I told him how happy I was for him, for getting that long coveted sub-11. And that he deserved it because of how he handled this season. At the start of the season, it was assumed Kendric would be our top sprinter, the main guy in the sprint squad. But Isaiah Keishk came along and turned out to be quite fast himself. The Kendric of junior year might have just packed it in. But senior year Kendric had the maturity to stick it out. He was unchanged by this new development when it came to interacting and pumping up his teammates. He still made us all laugh with his off the wall questions and comments during stretches. Teachers had remarked to me that he now looked them in the eye and had true conversations with them. He had grown up right before our eyes in this last year, and I wanted him to know how grateful I was for that. “That’s what I am going to remember about you,” I told him, “And I’m going to tell anyone who will listen that same story. The fact that you PR’ed and broke 11 in your last race is just the icing on the cake.”
I do spend a lot of time pre-thinking about what I want to do and what I want to say in these special moments. Often it doesn’t work out as planned. Or, I forget exactly what I wanted to say and end up winging it. But with Alanna O’Callaghan and Alyssa Boucher, it went exactly how I envisioned it.
They were in heat two of the Girls 1600. Alex and Cleo had just run and Alex fell at the start and their race was recalled. They both ran well and I was checking on them after their race and barely got my watch started for the second heat. Alanna and Alyssa had both had been training mostly for 800’s. Alanna had never broken 6:00 and Alyssa (who had a 5:59 PR) hadn’t run a 1600 this whole season. The goal was to break six in their last race. They were out fast and were doing a good job of holding the sub-6 pace. With just over a lap to go, they ran past me, and when I checked my watch I realized that they were both going to be way under 6:00.
That’s when I remembered that my plan was to cheer for them on the backstretch during their last lap, so I could yell to them that this was their last lap ever. But, I was on the finish line side. I started to sprint to the other side, with one hand trying to hold my leprechaun hat on my head as I ran. I decided that if the hat flew off, I would just let it go, because I wouldn’t have another chance to cheer them if I stopped to get the hat. I also located Alanna and decided where I should run to, so I would get to a good spot to cheer. I angled towards the 250 meters to go mark, arriving at the spot just seconds before Alanna got there. I caught my breath and then yelled to her that this was her last lap and to give it all she had. A few seconds later, Alyssa ran by and I said the same thing. Then it was back to the finish line side to watch them finish their last races with PRs of 5:44 and 5:50.
I headed to the finish line area and there were several teammates there (including Rell who had just run 5:42 herself) hugging each other. I made my way to Alyssa first and gave her a hug. “Your unwillingness to ever quit is going to serve you well in life,” I told her. Alanna was then standing right there, sort of waiting her turn. We hugged and I choked up and barely got my planned words out, “Most likely to come back and coach with me at SHC, Alanna O’Callaghan.”
Their last lap and our interaction immediately after the race, was exactly how I had scripted it out in my mind beforehand. I am grateful that in this instance it played out just as I had planned. It was a storybook moment. Thanks to our amazing photographers there are even pictures of.
An athlete is on the SHC team for four years at the most. Their final times and PRs come and go, and are usually forgotten over time. But the special words in these final moments as coach and athlete, can stay with us forever.
Every Day In May
I’m a novice ElliptiGO rider. That makes proud of what I did in the month of May 2023. What I managed to do ranks up there with some of my top running achievements.
Malinda got me to join the Global ElliptiGO Riders Club (GERC) and to participate in their March-October competition. May’s competition involved “completing the calendar” with a partner. It would require one or both partners to ride Every Day In May (EDIM). Teams combined their daily mileage to get a daily mileage total. The daily mileage total would complete the calendar day for that number. Teams didn’t have to complete calendar days in order: 1 mile on the 1st, 2 miles on the 2nd and so forth. But their daily mileage total would have to hit all the numbers from 1-31. If a team rode more than a number they needed, it would round down to the highest number they still needed to complete. Teams earned points for each calendar day filled, and bonus points for completing the whole calendar.
It sounded complicated and was hard to wrap my mind around. But I was game to give it a try. May was going to be a busy month for me. I had at least a couple track & field meets to coach (West Catholic Athletic League (WCAL) Finals and probably Central Coast Section (CCS) Trials and maybe Finals). Plus: I was running a half marathon on May 7, there would be end of the year Sacred Heart Cathedral (SHC) athletic department evening commitments, and I was going to be heavily involved in SHC’s Baccalaureate Mass and Graduation. But whatever. This was all just for fun.
My assigned partner was Elisa Greenbaum. We talked on the phone at the end of April and made a loose plan for the month. She had an injury so she didn’t ride outside but she was willing and able to do a lot of miles on her indoor trainer. She had a couple of conflicts when she couldn’t ride, May 6-15 being one such period. I told her I was going to be pretty busy but that I was competitive and a hard worker so I would try my best to help us complete the calendar. I distinctly remember thinking that she was far more confident we would do it than I was.
Elisa was on the east coast but stayed up pretty late. Her workout was usually done and logged before I got home from practice. We exchanged a lot of texts around midnight her time. On May 1 she texted that she had rode 25 miles. I thought the least I could do was get in 6 miles on the trainer that night so we could knock out #31 on the first day. On May 2, she rode another 25 miles, so I did 5 miles and we checked off #30. Feeling a little guilty that she was doing all the work and I was looking like a wimp, I cranked out 15 miles on the trainer early on May 3… because I took a personal day off work. She held herself back and only did 14 miles and we checked off #29. This was looking like it was going to be easy.
On May 4 Elisa rode 12 miles and I rode 8 miles. So, we were sitting at #20 for that day. I knew I had a long day on May 5 with WCAL Finals and would likely not get home until really late. I had already decided my best plan for the next day, May 5, was to stay up late on May 4 and ride just after midnight for my May 5 ride. As I waited for the clock to get to midnight on May 4, I figured what the heck, I might as well ride some more to boost up May 4’s daily mileage total. So, I cranked out 8 miles, finishing around 11:52pm. We checked off #28 instead of #20 on May 4.
I waited until just after midnight, rode another mile and went to bed. Elisa rode 7 miles on May 5, her last day before her trip, so we knocked out #8. We had to get those smaller numbers eventually anyway.
The next ten days I was on my own. Based on how easily we got miles from May 1-4, thanks mostly to Elisa, I felt confident. If I held down the fort while she was on vacation, we’d complete the calendar no problem. That same idea, that I didn’t want to be a wimp, motivated me to get at least a few medium-size mileage days all on my own. I did 1 mile at 6 AM the morning of the CCS Trials. I did 2 miles as a cool-down after my half marathon. I went out and rode with Malinda, which helped me get in 20 and 22 miles. I did 5, 7, and 9 miles on the trainer when I got home from SHC track practice. I was also proud that I went outside and rode 10, 12, and 13 miles on my own. My ten days holding down the fort saw me check off: #1, #2, #5, #7, #9, #10, #12, #13, #20 and #22.
We were halfway through the month, Elisa was back from her trip, and this is what the calendar looked like:
On May 16, Elisa rode 23 miles, I added 4 miles and we picked up where we had left off, checking off #27. We talked on the phone that evening. She thanked me for doing such a good job and I told her I was confident we’d get it.
Then disaster struck. Elisa texted me on May 17 that something was wrong with her leg. She had a previous injury and numerous plates and screws in her leg. There hadn’t been any problems until that day. I didn’t want her to risk any permanent damage so I encouraged her to not ride for a few days and we’d see what happened. I rode 9 miles on the trainer and we still got #11 for May 17. Elisa took the next couple days off. I had Malinda’s uncle’s celebration of life to attend. But that also meant Malinda took a couple days off work so she rode with me and I got 19 miles on May 18 and another 18 on May 19.
On the evening of May 19, Elisa texted that she tried to ride but it was very painful. She couldn’t put weight on her leg and her husband Clint had to lift her off the ElliptiGO. That night I told her that the SHC team had CCS Finals the next day. If our girls 4X4 relay team placed in the top three, we would qualify for the California State Meet – which would be wonderful but would make my end of May much more complicated for ElliptiGO’ing. I told her to take a week off. In a week we would know if I had an overnight trip to the State Meet in Fresno in my future. In the meantime, I felt I could keep us afloat.
That night I started running all the numbers in my head, comparing the remaining miles to my upcoming schedule. We were missing: #3, #4, #6, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #21, #23, #24, #25, and #26. I decided that instead of taking #18 on May 19, I would ride 3 more miles so we could check off #21. I knew there were several days I couldn’t ride far late in the month, I needed to save the #3, #4, and #6 for those days. I found the four-remaining 20+ mile days daunting. There was a part of me that thought, “We aren’t going to get those unless her leg gets better, so just save them for the last days of the month. For now, get the rest of the numbers.” I also realized I was still going to have to ride by myself to get some of these medium mileage numbers.
On May 20, I rode off nervous energy before CCS Finals, riding 14 miles. Then on May 21, I rode 24 miles all by myself, practically floating because I was so happy that the girls 4X4 had qualified for State. On May 22, I rode 16 miles after work.
May 23 I knew I had an evening meeting so I cranked out 6 miles before work. I really wanted to save the #6 for a busy day later in the month. So, despite being pretty tired, I rode another 9 miles when I got home from my meeting and checked off #15.
Malinda could tell I wanted to complete the calendar but it was becoming a real challenge for me to get the miles in with everything else going on. She and I did an evening ride together on May 24 and I checked off #18.
It was one week to go. I still had to get #3, #4, #6 which would be easy but also #23, #25, and #26 which was going to be tough, plus there was a random #17 left too. I would need to ride 100 miles this week and in the right combination of miles. I had just ridden 128 miles in the past seven days so it was possible. There was also the fatigue factor. I was also busy running graduation practices and getting ready to take the girls 4X4 to Fresno for the State Meet. I had adrenaline on my side. The theme for the 2023 SHC Track & Field season was Unstoppable. The girls 4X4 displayed an unstoppable mentality when it came to racing to get to State. They inspired me to be unstoppable in my quest to complete the May calendar.
May 25 was a pre-planned 3-mile day, done in the morning before a long day at school that included Baccalaureate Mass. On May 26 my SHC team left for Fresno at 11 AM, so I rode part way to work with Malinda then headed to Golden Gate Park, weaved around and came home, completing the #17. Elisa texted me, surprised that I rode so far on a day I had previously said I wouldn’t be able to ride much. I texted back, “I’m totally obsessed with getting it,” and I had a plan to get us there.
That evening the girls raced at State. We had a late-night dinner. I slept about three hours in the hotel and was up by 3:30 AM and on the road driving back to San Francisco by 4:00 AM. I reached SHC before 8:00 AM and was dressed and ready for graduation within the hour. After graduation I went to lunch with some colleagues then came home. Tired as I was, I was also amped up. It had been an amazing couple of days. I got on the trainer and knocked out #6. Every ride now had a cost/benefit analysis I decided that two more miles here, before a nap, would save me two miles and ten minutes of riding before work the next Tuesday.
Sunday, May 28 and Monday, May 29, Malinda went with me and we rode 26 and 25 miles.
It was now so close. We needed #4 and #23. Seeing that I had evening commitments on both May 30 and 31, my challenge was to carve out time one of the mornings to ride 23 miles. I rode just 4 miles on the trainer on May 30, then attended the faculty BBQ at school and the athletic department dinner that night.
I purposely saved the 23 miles for the last day of May. This was May 2023, and it was the Class of ’23 that I had just helped get through graduation. I had to ride early because my SHC Track & Field banquet was that night. Elisa knew from previous conversations that I had a busy day. She texted me to ride as far as I could then, injured leg and all, she would will herself to get the rest of the miles to get us to #23. Like I did the week before, I rode part way to work with Malinda, then headed to Golden Gate Park and tacked miles on there. By this point I knew the distance between key destinations, so I knew how many extra laps to take around the Polo Fields cycle track to arrive home at 23 miles.
With Elisa’s help early in the month, smart strategizing in the middle, newfound confidence to go out and ride around San Francisco by myself, plus some competitiveness and a desire to be unstoppable, I got it done!
Shout out to Elisa! She was a terrific teammate, which made me all the more motivated to want to complete the calendar. Her supportive but not pushy communications helped a lot. We completed the calendar! I rode every day in May. In total I rode 393 miles that month. Strava says I spent 33.5 hours ElliptiGOing in May. The fact that I did this in what turned out to be one of the busiest months of my life makes me even prouder of the achievement.
25 Years as coach at SHC
See the tab under “About Chanman” on the front page for links to two Flickr albums with pics/videos and tons of stats on pdf’s you can download – https://pamakidscoach.wordpress.com/about/25-years-of-coaching-at-shc/
Below is the speech from the party on December 21, 2022:
I believe I was out on this earth to be a coach. And coaching is what I have done. For 25 years.
I’ve loved motivating you to come to practice everyday and train hard.
I’ve loved trying to inspire you to PR performances at the big meets.
But more than anything, I have loved creating this team community where team spirit and being a good teammate is such a high priority. I love that I likely made you passionate about the SHC team and that made you lay it all on the line, with Irish Pride, when it was time to compete.
It is that passion that led to so many thrilling PR’s and successes and numerous great memories. But there were also moments of heartbreaking disappointment when we came up short on our goals. That’s what sports is all about.
**
And even though my coaching tenure has stretched out over a quarter of a century, if you have been on my team, you are all connected.
- I probably was hard on you about being at practice and working hard at practice.
- I showed a lot of belief in you, maybe believing in you more than you initially believed in yourself.
- There was a season theme and logo.
- I surely made fun of you about something. And lord help you if you dated someone on the team.
- On a regular basis I bored you with a long-winded speech like I’m doing right now.
- Hopefully we celebrated a PR or success you had with a high five a handshake or hug, or a knowing smile and nod.
- And if you had a rough meet, I hope I gave you a hug and told you I was still proud of you.
- I probably did something goofy like try to dance or wear some crazy costume or tell a bad dad joke that made you roll your eyes.
- Hopefully I made you swell with pride when I presented you with a CMA in front of your teammates after a meet.
- And we probably hugged and shed a tear when your last meet was over because we didn’t want your high school career to end yet.
See, it doesn’t really matter what year you graduated…1998…2022…you probably got a pretty similar experience – the Chanman experience.
**
As most of you know, I am a Houston Astros fan. And when they won the World Series last month, I watched their manager, Dusty Baker, be celebrated by so many people that he connected with over the years.
It got me thinking. Thanks to the texts, e-mails, and messages you have sent me; thanks to the number of you here tonight…in my own little world of SHC XC and T&F, I think I’ve gotten to experience how Dusty Baker feels. Because you all make me feel so loved and respected.
So thank you. I couldn’t coach for 25 years without all of you. There’d be no team to coach without athletes…and it wouldn’t happen without assistant coaches and supportive parents and administrators…and of course one flexible, understanding, and supportive wife, Malinda! Without all of you, I’d be pretty lonely out there at Kezar talking to myself.
So from the very bottom of my heart – thank you for this privilege to be your coach and know that I love you.
Much appreciated words from one of the cards.
My Response to Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell’s July 29, 2022 blog titled A Modest Proposal to Fix High School Sports, was all about high school cross country. There were hundreds of comments and probably many follow-up posts. David Epstein, author of Range and Sports Gene and former elite runner Kyle Merber, both penned responses to the initial post (Epstein’s here and Merber’s here). Which spurred Gladwell to write a second blog, Saving High School Sports, Part Two.
No one asked me what I think about all this. But I’m in seventh heaven that high school cross country is being discussed in the mainstream, so here’s my two cents to add to the mix.
I am going to quote Gladwell here, so that I state his point of view and ideas correctly:
The heart of my high school sports argument was this.
Let’s start with this question: What are high school sports for?
I think most of us would give three answers to that:
- 1. To prepare those with elite ability for post-high school competition.
- 2. To provide an opportunity for students to experience the joy that comes from exercise and competition.
- 3. To lay down life-long habits of physical activity.
I think American high schools do a really good job with Number 1. I think they do a so-so job with Number 2, and because they do a so-so job with Number 2, they do a lousy job with Number 3.
I argued that high school cross country programs were in a unique position to solve this problem, and I suggested a new competition format I call the “Pied Piper.” In the Pied Piper, each competing team would have 20 runners instead of the usual five, and the scoring system would be based on time rather than placement.
With those two reforms, races would be decided by the performance of the slowest members of any team, and not—as they are now—by the fastest members. This, I argued, would change the psychological dynamics of participation in cross country such that the runner of average ability would have a reason to join the cross country team.
I’ll start with the Pied Piper race idea. I am not a fan. I think cross country meets with their Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Frosh/Soph divisions, provide ample opportunities for runners of all abilities to participate in the sport. Varsity races tend to be very competitive. For some, that is what they strive for. For the more average or below-average runners, they run in the Junior Varsity or Frosh/Soph races.
On our team at Sacred Heart Cathedral, the fastest seven run varsity. After that, I spread out the rest of the team in the other races to give the athletes their best competitive situation and with the hope that we place as high as possible in these “lower level” races. Our twentieth fastest runner is not effecting the varsity team result as they would in the Pied Piper race concept, but they could easily be placing and scoring in the race that they’re in. The medals earned by the Junior Varsity and Frosh/Soph teams are just as shiny as the ones from the Varsity race. And the smiles of pride seem to all be the same.
As a program, we preach to the students that they should take pride in the accomplishments of the whole team. That means our last finisher in the Junior Varsity Girls race should be proud and happy for the Varsity Boys team that took first. Or the seven girls who ran varsity and came in in the back of the pack, should leave the meet happy and excited when our Junior Varsity Boys team won an award for third place.
The way I run our team, makes the Pied Piper race format unnecessary to get average runners to join the team. Those runners are already joining our team and feeling important to the overall team. If this isn’t the case in all high school cross country programs, the area that needs improving is the coaching, not the race format.
Now I’ll move to Gladwell’s initial premise of what high school sports are for. For the most part I agree with him. However, I think the shortcomings of number three (laying down life-long habits of physical activity) are not a shortcoming of high school sports. I think high school sports is doing its part in this endeavor and changing the way high school cross country is done, is not the solution to get more people having life-long habits of physical activity.
The key is what happens AFTER high school. So many of the alumni from my team, after they graduate, stop running. One reason is that after years of going to practice everyday and having a coach tell them what to do for training and scheduling all their races, they don’t know how to adjust to their newfound freedom. They can’t envision running in their life that doesn’t include teammates, a coach, daily practices, and weekly meets. They need help to understand that: 1) you can just go run by yourself, 2) you don’t have to be perfectly trained to go jump into a race, and 3) you don’t have to be on a team to participate in a race.
Mass participation road races help a little bit in filling this gap. But this can lead to a cycle of: train for a race, run the race, then stop running because there’s not a next race.
In the Bay Area, our local association, the Pacific Association has a year long road race series and a fall cross country grand prix. These are great for establishing the pattern of running as a lifestyle. Plus there’s a team component which builds camaraderie in this running lifestyle endeavor. The problem with this particular race series is that the teams tend to be full of 25-35 year old post-collegiate runners. That means they are super competitive. I don’t mind the fast post-collegians up front. I just wish there were also some average 25-35 year old runners to be in the middle and some below-average 25-35 year olds at the back of the pack. Instead, the better post-collegians are up front and the slower post-collegians, who are all still way faster than most of us ever dreamed of being, are in the back. It’s a blow to the self-esteem to run sub-six minute mile pace for 5K and be one of the last people to finish.
Cross country in high school is very inviting to the average and below-average runner. The cross country races in the Pacific Association? Not so much. One suggestion to encourage and support more lifelong runners, is to get more average teams to participate in these Pacific Association type grand prixs and cross country races.
Running clubs based out of running stores are another suggestion. I know A Runner’s Mind in the San Francisco Bay Area is doing their part. A running store is a natural place to have a running club. Runners would meet at the store 2-3 times a week. One day could be a weeknight speed session. Another time (maybe a morning run) would be just an easy run. Then on the weekend, a long run. This concept is the middle ground between being on a high school team with daily practices and going it all alone. This running store running club could schedule a few races for people to go run and maybe host a few of their own. Also they can go to Pacific Association races and be the average runners placing in the middle to back of the pack.
My last concept for creating lifelong runners is making runners fans of the sport. High school coaches should be talking about the current pro runners and encouraging their team members to follow the sport. For the running clubs out there, there should be some emphasis on following the sport as well as participating in the sport.
Our current professional runners should get out there as much as they can and meet high school teams and recreational runners. Let’s make Grant Fisher’s name as well known as Meb’s. Probably most people shooting a basketball, daydream of draining their shot like Steph Curry, or the people out on the tennis court, think about serving one up like Serena Williams. Are runners out there, kicking the last 100 meters of race thinking to themselves, I’m gonna close like Jakob Ingebrigsten? There are lots of Super Bowl parties. How about a USA Championships Viewing party next summer?
There, I got everything I’ve been saying to myself since Malcolm Gladwell’s first post, off my chest and onto paper. Tell me what you think.
A Different Championship Meet
In a few days my wife, Malinda, and I will head off to Eugene for the 2022 World Athletics Championships. There will be something all so familiar about this. Since 2008, we’ve been to eighteen national or international championships (three Olympics, six World Championships, nine Olympic Trials or USA Nationals). We’ve attended meets in Eugene six times.
But there is something different about this time. Our previous Outdoor World Championship Meet experiences were in Germany, Korea, Russia, China, and England. This is the first one in the United States. (One of our trips was to the Indoor World Championships in Portland.) All of our previous visits to Eugene (a.k.a. Track Town USA) were to the “Old Hayward Field.” This will be our first visit to the “New Hayward Field.”
But what’s most different is we are truly going as “just” track & field fans. We have no passionate rooting interest. There is no one event that, in our eyes, the meet is centered around. Shannon Rowbury is not competing.
We’ve been blessed to travel eighteen times to national and international championship meets to cheer for Shannon. We’ve held up our Go Shannon banner, taken victory lap photos, celebrated post-meet, and just generally enjoyed the thrill of being there to cheer for “the kid I coached in high school.”
I don’t know yet how this is going to feel. But I know it will be different. Don’t get me wrong. I love track & field and I will geek out just as much as always, commenting on the action, making predictions, and just being in heaven because I’m watching great competition at a world class track & field meet.
I imagine that I won’t get quite as nervous on particular race days. Qualifying days were the worst. When the person you are cheering for is expected to qualify on to the next round, nothing particularly good happens in the trials – you either do what you’re expected to do and qualify or you’re devastated because you’re going home.
My favorites were the Olympic Trials Final races. These were the most nerve wracking (but also the most exhilarating when the result turned out well). Everything came down to 1500 meters of running, with a trip to the Olympics on the line, and the next Olympics a long four years away.
There were numerous Shannon race days (forty-one by my count) that were fun but also stressful. We were also quite spoiled. Shannon ran so well, so many times, that almost always, we had post-race smiles on our faces as we left the stadium.
But the hours leading up to those post-race smiles could be excruciating. Time always seemed to move slowly on these days. We’d get up and eat and then have to fill up the time until the meet started. We didn’t want to risk being late, so we’d leave early. That usually resulted in being in our seats WAAAAY before her race. I’d distract myself following all the action on the track and in the field in front of us. Who knew I could busy myself so intently watching the eventual eighth place finisher in the high jump take their second attempt. In many a social media post I expressed the agony of anxiously waiting for the race to happen.
The last hour before Shannon’s races were the worst. Any banter between me and Malinda stopped. Neither one of us talked much. I’d glance at my watch. Then at the meet schedule. Then back at my watch. How many more minutes to go? Then I’d check my phone for any texts or e-mails. And then a quick check of social media. How long did that take? I check my watch. Oh wow, it’s been two minutes! Should I get up and go to the bathroom now so I don’t have to go during her race? Maybe I should wait until closer…but what if there’s a line at the bathroom? Starting in 2016, filling this time had the added activity of deciding when to apply our “good luck lipstick.” I hope Shannon was calm wherever she was on the warm-up track, because we were doing enough fretting for all of us.
But circling back to the 2022 World Championships, although we have no passionate rooting interest, Shannon is going to be there. She just will not be racing. Which means for once we’ll have the opportunity to hang out with her at one of these events. Shannon will be doing some broadcasting for the NBC telecasts. Malinda and I may do some babysitting while Shannon’s on the air. So this event will be different in a whole new way. I’ll let you know if watching Shannon’s four month old is as nerve wracking as watching Shannon race.
Appreciating Good Teammates and Loyalty
As I watched Game 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals, there was a lot to appreciate – Klay Thompson completing his return from a torn ACL and a ruptured Achilles tendon, Draymond Green’s tenacity, and Steph Curry’s artistry as a shooter, to name a few. But what I really appreciated was how good a teammate Andre Iguodala is and the loyalty Steve Kerr showed Iguodala in return.
With less than four minutes left in the 3rd quarter and the Warriors holding a 17 point lead, in the span of 36 seconds, Gary Payton II (GP2) committed an offensive foul that turned the ball over to the Celtics and then committed a defensive foul. Iguodala came off the bench to lecture GP2. This was not the time to be committing fouls and stopping the clock. GP2 was removed from the game and as he came to the bench Iguodala high fived him, but could be seen going over to where GP2 sat down and continued to give instructions. I loved how he was “coaching him up,” a veteran player acting as a mentor to a younger player. The coaches weren’t going over to talk to GP2, Iguodala was taking care of things for them.
On his podcast, The Draymond Green Show, immediately after Game 6, Draymond Green had these words to say directly to Iguodala about his role on the 2022 Warriors team:
“We probably felt your impact this year, more than any year that you were playing and competing and dominating…I am one hundred percent certain we don’t do this without you and your leadership in showing us the way.”
With 1:01 left in the game, Kerr subbed in Iguodala for Andrew Wiggins (another Warrior player, Iguodala coached up throughout the series). The television broadcasters noted the moment, praising Iguodala’s “championship DNA” and acknowledging that this may be the final time he takes the court as a player. I love that Kerr put Iguodala into the game so he could be on the court (with Curry, Thompson, and Green) as the Warriors won their fourth championship in the last eight years.
In 2015, Iguodala was the MVP of the NBA Finals.
In 2022, he hardly played, but his impact as a good teammate contributed to the championship.
You can always be a good teammate and contribute to the team. And a coach should reward that loyalty whenever they can, with a meaningful gesture.
As a cross country and track & field coach, it made me think of athletes on the SHC team who did small things that contributed to our overall success through the years. These people weren’t the stars but I appreciated their contributions and I would talk about them to the whole team to acknowledge how we should never overlook or forget what they did for the team.
Jared Wicklund. In 2006, our top returning runner (Nick Cannata-Bowman) suffered an ankle injury over the summer and missed the first half of the season. The team hung in there during the early season meets and Jared Wicklund was a big part of that. Unfortunately, right when Nick returned, Jared got injured. But at the end of the season I gave a big thank you to Jared because his early season race successes really made a difference. Without Jared in the early going, I think we would have been behind Riordan and Mitty at WCAL #1 and probably had a pretty bad showing at the Stanford Invitational. It would have been hard for me to keep everyone motivated to keep chasing the dream while we awaited Nick’s return if that had happened.
Robert Manoos. In 2010, we came up with the “Bobby race plan.” Bobby (Robert Manoos) would surge hard and lead our pack between mile 1 and mile 2. The goal was to get everyone to the 2 mile mark “on schedule.” The others could key off of him and let Bobby set the pace. Then at the 2 mile mark, hopefully not mentally fatigued because they were just following Bobby for the mile from 1 to 2, they could then go to work and get the final times and places the team needed. Their work was about to begin. Bobby’s job was done. I assured Bobby that if he did this, it wouldn’t matter what his final time or place was. That he would keep his spot in the varsity line up because he had an important role.
Katherine Tse. In 2012 we were a big mess heading into CCS. Pretty much every girl on the team was having an issue causing them stress/anxiety about their ability to race well at CCS. The team energy and confidence was low. The only girl who put “great” for mental attitude on their post-race critique after WCAL Finals was Katherine Tse (Kat). We decided she was the key. I really believed that we just needed everyone having fun and we’d qualify for State. I purposely set things up so I would give her a ride to practice after SAT. During that car ride, I assigned her the job of being the fun/positive energy leader for CCS week. I told her to hype up her teammates, be energetic and bubbly all week long, send out group texts with positive thoughts. She did all that and our mental attitude changed and at the end of CCS, we were heading to State.
Carolyn Scott. Carolyn Scott’s career was full of amazing races, but what stands out the most in my memory is one of her slowest races, from her junior year in 2015. It was a rough season for her that included a weird allergic reaction to something at the end of practice that ended with her in the emergency room. It was when things weren’t going so well and she was in a slump, that she most showed who she was and what kind of character she had. We asked her to not worry about her own race but to instead pace the freshmen — somewhat of an insult to a veteran varsity runner. But that’s what the team needed. So that’s what she did. The plan worked to perfection. But the part that I replay in my mind because it’s such a special memory is after the race, amidst the craziness of congratulating everyone and needing to get to the starting line for the upcoming boys race, I see Carolyn out of the corner of my eye. I go over to her and with tears in my eyes, I say “thank you, we wouldn’t have done this without you” and gave her a hug.
Chloe Poon. In 2016 Chloe Poon was on the varsity as a sophomore. But she struggled as a junior in 2017 and found herself on JV. Despite not racing as well as she wanted, she was still contributing to the varsity girls through her leadership and her unique ability to get our fastest runners to overcome their nervousness before races. Towards the end of the season I decided I was going to keep Chloe as an alternate for the post-season. And that meant that to be fair, anyone who beat her would also be invited to be an alternate. The final tally was we kept eight alternates. One day she came to my office asking why I was keeping her training for CCS as an alternate. I told her it was because she had a job to do to help us get to State. She took that job to heart, helping to calm the nerves and build the confidence of her teammates. I remember right before the race, she came over to me and said, “don’t worry, they’re ready.” Half an hour later, we were going to State. The next day I texted her my thanks: “You came thru. No one may ever truly know how we don’t get to State if not for your behind the scenes help, especially with the twins. But I’ll never forget your contribution.”
Cassie Borromeo – I had to make a tough decision at the beginning of the 2018 track & field season. In the end I decided to put Cassie Borromeo on JV (instead of Varsity) with the idea that she would be the leader of the JV sprint squad. Most meets she would run the 100, 200 and both relays. At WCAL Finals we had the plan to have five girls be ready for the 4X4 and we’d then decide who we thought would be the four fastest given the circumstances come the end of the meet. Throughout the meet, the other coaches and I had several discussions about who to run. After the 200, I decided that as difficult as it would be to pull the leader off the relay team at the last minute, that was the right decision to have our fastest foursome on the track. I called Cassie over to talk. It was as if we were on the same wavelength….almost before I could tell her I was going to go with the other four, she said she wanted to talk to me about running the other four. What a great teammate! We would go on to win the 4X4 to be WCAL Champions and I went out of my way to make sure Cassie was in the group photo and that she received a WCAL certificate for being the alternate on a WCAL Championship relay team.
Having people who are good teammates are the key to any successful team. As a coach, I always appreciate people who are good teammates and I try to always be loyal to them and reward them for their behind the scenes contributions.
2010 WCAL Finals
I started this re-cap back in May 2010. I wrote about 90% of it and saved it on May 21, 2010 but never went back to it to finish it. Now that we are coming up on the 10 year anniversary of this historic event, I decided I would finish the story, knowing that the final details (starting with the 4X4’s on, will be a little hazy in my mind given the ten years that have passed.
WCAL Finals, 2010
I have been involved in the sport of track & field for twenty-five years and from the coaching side of things for twenty years. Friday, May 14, 2010 at the West Catholic Athletic League (WCAL) Finals may have been one of the most successful meets I have ever been associated with.
It was a close battle in the JV Girls division. Sacred Heart Cathedral was already assured of a share of the WCAL championship by virtue of our 6-0 dual meet record. But to win the championship outright we needed to beat Mitty at WCAL Finals. After WCAL Trials Day, thanks to first places by Kellie Redmond 1600 and 3200) and Juliette Alliaume (high jump), the Irish were leading Mitty 36-24.5 when the day started. I made a dope sheet using the seed marks and everything suggested that the meet would be very close. In a championship meet like this, team scoring is: 10 points for first place, 8 points for second place, 6 points for third place, 4 points for fourth place, 2 points for fifth place, and 1 point for sixth place. Just one change in place can be a four point swing!
In the Varsity divisions the Irish had six events with legitimate chances of qualifying for the Central Coast Section (CCS) Trials. It would take a top three finish for the boys or top two finish for the girls or achieving the CCS at-large standard. In all six cases, I felt we had a chance but it would be close.
That was the backdrop heading into the meet. At most meets, some things go better than expected, some things worse, and in the end things pretty much even out. But not on this magical night where pretty much everything seemed to go the Irish way!
From the time we first arrived around 4:00 P.M. until we were celebrating on the field at the end of the meet after 9:00 P.M. it was non-stop action for me. I didn’t have time to eat anything, drink anything, sit down, or even go to the bathroom. Pretty much continuously for those five hours I had something that required my coaching attention…it was great!
It all got started with the 4:00 P.M. coaches’ meeting. There was a lot of tension in the air as we tried to resolve some conflicts over the seeding of some races. During the meeting I ate a muffin and the Bellarmine coach commented that I really wolfed down that muffin fast. I told him it was because I didn’t know when I would have time to eat again – and boy was I right!
The meet opened with the 4X100 meter relays. Our JV Girls were seeded second behind Mitty. We ran well and got second place as expected and I was happy to keep the score as projected. It wasn’t until the next day that it registered that their time of 51.37 was excellent, the third fastest time by any team (varsity or junior varsity) since I’ve been coach at SHC.
Next up was the Varsity Boys 4X100 relay. Five of the top seven teams in the CCS were in the race: us, Serra, St. Ignatius, Bellarmine, and St. Francis. The top three would qualify automatically for CCS. The fourth and fifth place teams had to run faster than the CCS at-large qualifying standard of 43.59 to make it to CCS. With our season best (and school record) of 43.36, we knew we had a chance. It was difficult to see much of the race from the middle of the field. At the finish line I noticed that four teams came by in pretty close succession but we weren’t one of them….but I kept the faith, yelling for Yra (sophomore Michael Munchua) to keep running hard and get the time. We were definitely fifth. Now we had to wait and see what the time was. I had us in 43.2 hand time so I knew we had a chance. Yra and I waited together staring at the scoreboard for what seemed like forever. St. Ignatius, 42.31; Serra, 42.51; Bellarmine, 42.52; St. Francis, 42.75. Then we waited….and finally: Sacred Heart Cathedral, 43.41! CCS, baby! Yra and I jumped up and down and then ran to find the other team members. The seniors, Marcus Del Bianco and Doug Parrish, now officially had a conflict between CCS and graduation. We had talked about it for the past couple weeks but now it was a reality. There were still more races to be run, so I told the boys we’d “sort all this out later, for now get ready for your next event.”
In the JV Girls 100 Hurdles the Irish were seeded fourth and sixth with Mitty’s lone qualifier seeded ninth (last). If that held, the Irish could outscore Mitty 5-0. But Mitty had other plans. Mitty’s top hurdler, Clemence Couteau had one of the top times coming into WCAL Trials. But during the trials race she fell and by the time she got up and finished could only place a non-qualifying tenth (the top nine qualified for the final in this event because St. Francis’ track has nine lanes on the straightaway). Mitty strategically scratched their athlete who was seeded ninth, which allowed Couteau to move up into the race. Couteau took advantage of the second chance and raced to third place, while SHC’s Alliaume and Asia Satchell placed fifth and sixth. Mitty had scored some somewhat unexpected points. Instead of 5-0 for the Irish, the event went 6-3 for Mitty. Overall it was an eight point swing in Mitty’s favor. I felt we had fourteen points to play with so we were still okay but this definitely cut into our margin for error.
In the JV Girls 400 meter race, the Irish had three runners and Mitty had three runners. This was an opportunity for a lot of points for one of the schools. I figured the Mitty girl would win the race but as long as the Irish placed three runners ahead of the next Mitty girl, we would outscore Mitty for the event. It was important that we do this since we had lost those points in the 100 hurdles. Ebony McKeever (second), Kristina Hernandez (fourth) and Samantha Mairena (fifth) got the job done perfectly. Sam in particular did great. She was in the middle of the triple jump and had to come over for the 400. She got a slow start and a Mitty girl was ahead of her at the 200 meter mark. But in the last half lap of the race Sam did exactly what we needed her to do, surging past Mitty’s second runner to give us a 14-11 point advantage for this event.
In the Varsity Boys 400, Del Bianco ran a very nice race for sixth place. It would be his last individual race for the Irish and it was great to see him run a PR, 52.47. He only started running track last year as a junior but over the last year and a half he has worked very hard and done everything we could have asked to make himself into a top track runner. That time of 52.47 makes him the fourth fastest 400 meter open runner I have ever coached.
At this point in the meet I attempted to get some field event results. I checked at the triple jump pit to see what Mairena’s place was. They told me she jumped 30 feet something for fourth or fifth but I couldn’t get an official result. Then I went to the discus and shot put to see if I could get some throwing results but again nothing was available. It sounded like Emily Chug and Chelsea Bendebel placed fourth and fifth in the Varsity Girls discus and that Jennifer Java was fifth in the JV Girls discus but nothing was official.
I went back down towards the finish line to watch the end of the JV Girls 100 meter race. It was another race filled with SHC (three) and Mitty (four) runners. A lot of points were at stake. I figured Erica Hipp might win the race for us but Cecily Agu from Mitty was going to press her and Mitty had three other athletes who could score, while the Irish’s Allegra Bautista and Fue Tualaulelei were seeded in non-scoring positions, seventh and eighth. I wasn’t concerned about the times at all. All I wanted to see was the finishing places. As in most 100 meter races it was a blur at the finish line. I could see that Hipp won and Agu was second. The next thing I noticed was that Bautista was ahead of the other three Mitty girls. “Wow,” I thought to myself, “Allegra just stole us some points.” She sure did – fifth place ahead of Mitty in sixth, seventh, and eighth. Scoring for this event went 12-9 for the Irish, nine points better than the projection on the dope sheet. That made up for the points we lost in the 100 hurdles and I felt like we were back where we started, with a double digit cushion.
While I didn’t care about times, just places in the JV Girls 100, in the Varsity Boys 100 I cared about the time. Gary Moore needed to run 11.17 or faster to hit the at-large standard for CCS. It wouldn’t matter what place he was if he got the time. With so many studs in the 100 meter race, I was more looking at his time. It was a blanket finish and Gary and I didn’t really say a word…we just looked up at the scoreboard. Coach Art Higgins and Coach Lloyd Wilson thought he might have been second or third but from my vantage point I thought he was fifth. We would know shortly. Marshall, Valley Christian, 10.94; Harvey, Serra, 10.94; Borel, St. Francis, 10.99; Kennedy, St. Ignatius, 10.99; and finally Moore, Sacred Heart Cathedral, 11.03. What a finish! Five guys within 0.09 seconds of each other. But more importantly, another CCS qualifying performance for SHC!
As I walked around the field, people had been telling me the St. Francis coach was looking for me. I was pretty sure it was because they were scratching a girl from the 800 and they wanted to know if our alternate wanted the spot. If it was JV, we for sure wanted it, as Tiffany Lam had come down and was warmed up and ready to go. Lam told me about twenty minutes earlier that she was still waiting to hear if there were any scratches. Unfortunately it was a varsity scratch and our alternate, Juliana Flynn, was not interested in racing the 800. Flynn was very sick. She missed school the day before and probably only came to school today because it was WCAL Finals. When we talked before the meet I could tell she felt horrible. She had four layers on (jacket, fleece, sweatshirt, and t-shirt) and was pretty pale. We agreed that she would not run the 1600 or the 800 even if there was a scratch. But she wanted to run the 3200 and felt that she could PR even under the circumstances. I told her that I trusted her and that I would let her run but if the race started going downhill she should just drop out, “You don’t have to prove anything. I’d rather you try and give up than push through and get mono,” I told her.
Before the JV Girls 800, I went over to Emily Hipp to give her some advice. A saying I’ve learned is “stick your nose in it” meaning get into position to contend in the middle of the race. I told Hipp to “stick her nose in the race.” I knew that if she was aggressive she could place pretty high. We needed big races from her and her teammates Hernandez and McKeever (both of whom were tired from the 400) to prevent a 1-2-3 Mitty sweep, which was entirely possible. On the dope sheet I had Mitty beating us 20-10 in this event. Anything better than that would be a plus. I saw in the first 100 meters that McKeever must have been hurt. She’s battled a hip injury all season and her form was way off as she went straight to last place. In the middle of the pack Hipp and Hernandez were battling. With 200 to go, they both made strong moves and although Mitty’s Amanda Guzikowski won the race, by getting second (Hipp) and third (Hernandez), and knocking Mitty’s Courtney Lisowski to fifth, the Irish scored big. It was 14-12 in favor of SHC, a twelve point swing from the dope sheet.
I was busy congratulating Hipp and Hernandez and checking on McKeever’s injury that I missed the starting gun for the Varsity Boys race. In the first 100 meters I felt good about Jarrett Moore’s chances. He was following the race plan we had discussed the day before, sitting back in the middle of the pack for the first 300 meters while Valley Christian’s Sean Davis took it out fast. Moore moved up over the in the middle of the race and passed St. Ignatius’ Mike Reher with 300 meters to go to move into second place. They started to build a gap on fourth place and I felt Moore’s chances for a top three finish and CCS were looking good. Reher passed Moore with 150 to go and would eventually overtake Davis for a narrow win. Moore had his usual tight form down the homestretch but he had enough heart to hold on to third place. A couple of Moore’s old teammates, Paul Rechsteiner and Daniel Koch, were there and they joined the mob that surrounded him at the finish line. We had to almost hold him up as he was pretty wobbly on his feet from sheer exhaustion. We knew he was third and thus had qualified for CCS so there was some celebrating. Since I didn’t start a watch I had no idea what the time was. We looked up at the scoreboard and it said, Reher, St. Ignatius, 1:56.02; Davis, Valley Christian, 1:56.03. Koch pointed to the scoreboard and told Moore, “Look at their times…and you weren’t that far behind them!” Then it flashed up there, Moore, Sacred Heart Cathedral, 1:57.94. Everyone around us starting screaming. Coach Andy Lee told me later that he could hear a roar from across the field at the triple jump pit. I didn’t even realize until we got on the bus to go home that this was a new school record.
Moore has been trying to break 2:00 for two years. He’s run 2:00.47, 2:01.16, 2:01.17 (three times), and 2:01.18. Even the Riordan coach commented to me the other day about how close he’s been without getting it yet. Back in cross country season Moore paid me for pizza in pennies. I told him I’d hold on to one of the pennies and give it back to him when he broke 2:00. I’ve been carrying that penny around with me since last November. When we saw the time on the scoreboard I immediately reached for my wallet and pulled out the lucky penny to give to him. At last!
Next up was the F/S Boys 800. As Ernest Lardizabal went to the starting line, I realized that I had been so busy I wasn’t even checking on athletes before their races. I was just expecting them to warm-up on their own and be where they needed to be. Lardizabal is one of the athletes that sometimes needs some handholding from a coach or a teammate. Today he was the only F/S boys competing. Yet, he looked warmed-up and ready for his race. That made me feel proud inside. I was also pretty proud when he finished the race with a new PR of 2:10.
I was finally able to get the JV Girls triple jump scores. Mitty picked up thirteen points on us but it was expected so I didn’t stress about it. We had a 89-87.5 lead with three running events (300H, 200, and 4X4) and three field events (discus, long jump, shot put) to go. Next, I found Coach Andy Lee and told him that right after the 300H he needed to tell Juliette Alliaume that she’s running the 4X4 for the injured McKeever.
We were getting down close to the end of the meet. We had three entrants in the JV Girls 300 hurdles to Mitty’s one. I felt like this was a real chance to put the meet away. And we were one hurdle away from going 1-2 and pretty much slamming the door on Mitty. But although Alliaume won the race pretty easily, Satchell, who was running a strong second, clipped the last hurdle and fell. Fortunately she had the presence of mind to get up and finish the race. We ended up outscoring Mitty 11-2 in this event, giving us a 100-89.5 lead. After the race I noticed Alliaume was mad about her time. I told her that she could run her hurdle race frustrations out in the 4X4.
The next race on the track was the Varsity Boys 300 hurdles. Junior Clint Lewis was a surprise finalist in this event. He started doing this event three weeks ago against Riordan when we just sort of threw him in the race to see if he could score a point in the dual meet. He looked pretty good so we ended up working on the hurdles the last three weeks and his time dropped all the way down to 44.25. Along the same lines was junior Brandon Donaldson in the Varsity Boys triple jump. We started teaching him how to triple jump two days before the Riordan meet just to get some points in the dual meet. Again he looked pretty good so we kept at it. Three weeks later Donaldson was sixth at WCAL Finals and had a PR of 39-9.75, the fifth best mark since I’ve been coach. I couldn’t be happier for two guys who just come to practice and work hard.
Next up was the JV Girls 200. Hipp (Erica) and Agu would go against each other again. This time Agu got the win and Mitty picked up a key point with sixth place. It was 11-8 for Mitty and the score was now 108-100.5. We were getting down real close to the end and the score was awfully close.
The Varsity Boys 200 was another chance for Moore (Gary) to qualify for CCS. I had a bad vantage point for the race but a great view of the finish. Moore was clearly second place. Another CCS qualifying performance. This guy was only third in the F/S Boys 200 as a sophomore. One year later he’s taking second in the Varsity race.
I was finally able to get an official JV Girls discus score. Java was fifth and Mitty was third. Now it was 110-106.5. We were clinging to a 3.5 point lead with three events to go, the 4X4, long jump, and shot put.
I went to the start line for the Varsity Girls 3200. I noticed that St. Francis’ Morgan Healy and Valley Christian’s Emily Blaha had scratched. There were now four main players – Morgan Lira (second at WCAL Finals in XC) from Valley Christian, Mary Kriege (third at WCAL Finals in XC) from Mitty, Angie Korpusik (sixth at WCAL Finals in XC) from Presentation, and our Sophia Cannata-Bowman (fourth at WCAL Finals in XC). The top two would qualify for CCS unless they ran under 11:36.68, which at the time I didn’t think would happen. Also in the race was Flynn, who was still hoping to PR despite being sick. I gave some last minute instructions to Cannata-Bowman, just reminding her that she had already proven she can stay with these girls in cross country. Right before the gun went off I made eye contact with Flynn and then almost whispered so only she would hear to “be smart and make a good decision.” She nodded and then seconds later the race began.
Lira shot out to the lead with Kriege, Korpusik, and Cannata-Bowman forming a chase pack. Kriege’s mom, Becky, who I know from a run many years ago, was cheering for her daughter on the outside of the track at the 200 meter mark. I was on the inside of the track at the 200 meter mark. Every time after they came by she would talk to me about the race. The chase pack hit the mile mark at 5:47 – right on 11:36 pace. The Cannata-Bowman started moving up. She ran a couple laps at 86 and they were now two to three seconds ahead of 11:36 pace. Kriege’s mom pointed out that Lira was starting to come back to the pack and with about 600 meters to go Cannata-Bowman looked awesome. She was smooth, running fast, and most importantly had a look in her eyes that told me she was going to win this race. She overtook Lira and they were enough ahead of pace that I figured all four of them would run under 11:36. I moved to a different spot on the track to cheer so Mrs. Kriege and I weren’t shouting over each other. I was jumping up and down telling Cannata-Bowman to accelerate on the last lap. Her last lap was 79.9 seconds! And as a freshman she became the Varsity Girls WCAL 3200 meter champion with a :29 PR at 11:27.52. She was on the ground at the finish and when some of our girls started to go towards her the official told them to stay off the track. But he allowed me to go over to check on Cannata-Bowman. I didn’t do a lot of “checking”, I just told her what a great race she had run! Then I was up and cheering on Flynn, who was running a real courageous race given the circumstances. She battled a couple of St. Ignatius runners and came home with a :19 PR at 12:56.
The Varsity Boys 3200 represented the last race for EJ de Lara, Micki Hynson, and Brian Furney. Combined they have run for me for a total of 23 seasons. Right before the race I remind them (as if they didn’t know!) that it’s their last time wearing the Irish uniform. De Lara runs his first six 6 laps in eight minutes, which was one of our goals. For his freshman year cross country time trial he ran three laps in eight minutes. In his final race he was twice as fast. After the race I took a picture with the three of them and thanked them for allowing me to coach them for the last four years.
Before the Varsity Boys 3200 started I asked Coach Rachel Giovannetti to try to go get some field event scores from the pressbox. She confirmed that what I had for the discus and triple jump were correct but she wasn’t able to find the long jump or shot put scores. We were pretty sure those events were done so I just needed to go figure out where the scoresheets were. But the 4X4’s were about to start. I figured we just needed to do as well as possible and between races I would try to find the scoresheets.
This is there my story ended in May 2010. Ten year later, using notes I wrote back then, the results sheet, and the scoresheet I was writing on that night back in 2010, I have completed the story.
The JV Girls 4X4 is first. I am hoping we beat Mitty as any point advantage at this point is good and since I don’t know what happened at shot put or long jump. We were seeded to do well in both events but it would take just one upset by a Mitty athlete to swing our 3.5 lead into a deficit.
As the race unfolds, I end up forgetting all about Mitty, because our girls are in a tight battle with St Francis for the win. Erica Hipp anchors us with a 61.7 split and we take second. Mitty is well back in third place. 8-6 for SHC. The score is now 118-112.5. We now lead by 5.5 points. I need to find the elusive shot put and long jump results.
I hear from someone that Steve Filios picked up the shot put and long jump results. I intercept Filios on his way to the press box and ask to see the results. He reads it to me. Shot Put. Tyhana Cooper (SHC)-second. Mitty-first. Long Jump. Mitty first and third. SHC-Allegra Bautista-second, Fue Tualauleilei-fourth, Gabby Vitug-fifth. I don’t even write down the marks. I don’t care.
I have all the results. The JV Girls meet is done. I just need to add up the scores. I run to the middle of the field where I can be alone and kneel down and start writing and adding. I’m breathing hard and my hands are shaking. The shot put was 8 points for us and 10 for Mitty. Long jump was 14-16. So we net lost four points in these two events. That means the 5.5 point lead after the 4X4 will shrink down to 1.5 but we’ll still win!
Rachel probably sees me writing hurriedly and knows what I am doing. She comes over and I tell her that it was close but we did it….but to not say anything yet. Coach Tony Tran finds me and says he’s been looking all over for me to give me results….that he has good news and bad news. I tell him that I got the results and that we’re good.
By this time the last race is about to start, the Varsity Boys 4X4. Another chance to qualify athletes for CCS. We do a quick team cheer before the race and I send the boys out on to the track. They run terrific. 52 for Del Bianco, 52 for Jarrett Moore, 51 for Parrish, and Gary Moore anchors us with a 50.8 and we finish third in 3:27. We mob Gary at the finish line. Doug Parrish is so tired, I end up having to hold him up so he can stand.
The meet is now over and we’re just waiting for the official final score to be announced. I go double check my calculations in the press box. The official confirm it and tell me to take the JV Girls championship plaque. I hide it in my backpack as I walk back down to the field where the team is lingering. We are the only team left. Everyone else has left. Nathalie Hechinger asks if I know the result. I must smile in some way giving it away even though I shrug, because she smiles back at me and says, “yeah, you know,” and walks away. Finally the announcer gets on the PA (perhaps realizing SHC is waiting on the field specifically to hear the JV Girls score read) and starts reading the scores. At some point he says that Mitty is second, which means SHC is first. The team starts cheering. Everyone. Not just the JV Girls. Because this is an overall team success for all of us to relish and celebrate. We’re so busy cheering, I don’t think anyone hears how close the final score is. SHC over Mitty, 140-138.5. A WCAL Championship by 1.5 points.
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