Team Motto

JUST BELIEVE! Out team mantra is to help our athletes understand the difference between what it takes to participate and what it takes to excel. Our 2010 team is an outstanding mix of young talent and wily veterans. We have state quality runners and those who work very hard to participate and be part of this family.

Our team goals are to achieve individual success which will lead to team success. We believe that it is the dedication of the individual: heart, soul, and mind that determines the success of oneself and then the whole. We also plan on capturing the Region 3 regular season championships for both Boys Varsity and Girls Varsity, provided we are healthy. We follow a program that is intense and has proven successful. We have not lost a Region 3 meet for our Boys Varsity since 2008. Our Girls' teams have suffered much due to injury, but we have maintained a positive attitude that has led to much success. We are a family that works together, suffers together, and excels together. We take the positive with the negative and live with the results. Running is very much like life. You get out of it what you put into it.

JUST BELIEVE!

What Is Cross Country?

This sport reflects life. You determine who you want to be. Your choices make you into the person you can be. If you choose to participate only, then you will be an average performer and probably live a life that is not extraordinary. But, if you choose to excel (at your own level and beyond), then you will live an extraordinary life--one that is capable of great accomplishments, both personally and for your community.

This is a family sport. We are all one unit that feels together, lives through the good and the bad together, and supports each other. Our "real" family is also very involved. They are often at our meets and invitationals, cheering on all of us. Every Cross Country family member on this team is valued as an individual and as part of the larger community of the SHS XC team.

As the head coach, I take great pride in being part of this living, dynamic creation. Our team members simply become who they are meant to be: leaders, athletes, members, and above all better human beings. I get great joy out of watching this develop each and every year. I often wonder as to how it occurs. Perhaps it is the nature of the pain and patience involved in being a runner. After all, running is not something that most people do or enjoy. It is unique in that it hurts, every time. It is in that pain that we learn to persevere and overcome the daily frustrations of our lives.

There are no cuts in this sport. Participants naturally weed themselves out because of the work, pain, and endurance that is involved. This is commitment. For that I am most happy. I am part of something that is much larger than the sport of it.

Running is a lifelong activity that will change your entire perspective on your surroundings and what and how you accomplish the things you wish to achieve. Just believe!

Let's Get Dirty

November 13th, Fuzzy, Mack, Q-Tip, Chris and I ran in the mud race at Slippery Rock. We got really dirty and had a ton of fun. The race was started with a mini cannon instead of a gun. Mack, Fuzzy and I clocked in at around 35 minutes and then found out that the course was 4 loops but we only ran it 3 times... Chris and Q-tip beat us with a time around 28minutes. After getting bogged down with mud and losing some articles of clothing we decided to wear suspenders next year. I hope more people can make it next year, it was definitely a fun way to end the season:)

Banquet

Our banquet just finished and it was wonderful, as always. I have to say that this has been a long and wonderful journey. I need to thank all of those who have positively advanced the lives of this team. Without your efforts we would have never achieved the success we did. Thank you to my coaches, their families, the runners, their parents, and the Saegertown community for making this a very special season. I feel very blessed to be part of this. I believe that!

The End is Just the Beginning

The finish of the season is a great paradox to me. We work and work to get to the final race, the final day, and for some of us that is States. Then, in a blink the season is over. Good or bad on this one day, it's still all over.

Then I reflect on the time we've spent together. That first day in August and this last day in November is always a very short time. A blink. And it's over. But the beauty of things like this--things that repeat and have a journey involved--is that it is never really over. We start again and continue running and before we know it, August rolls around and we're ready.

I like that about this sport. We get a chance to move forward. Like running, this sport (and much of life) is about "what next." We must always keep in mind that the end result of the season, the last race, whether we've won or not, is not the point to this sport, just like it's not the point in life to just wait for that last day--the end of it all. It's the process, the journey, the getting there, that really means everything. We must believe that we are a better runner, a better person, a better citizen, because of the effort and the work, not the reward at the end.

Nate was behind the winner by thirty seconds. That's all. If it were me, I'd never allow thirty seconds to determine whether or not it all mattered. Whether or not it was a successful season. For sure, we all desire to do our best and for some of us that means to win. But success is not measured by first place finishes. It is measured by your attitude and effort and by the fact that when it's all said and done, I can look back and say, "My life is better because I ran this season," or even better yet, "I am a winner and thirty seconds is not going to define my season." I believe that.

States Week

What does this week mean? Does it define our season? If we perform well, have we achieved everything we had hoped for? I don't think so. The work, the perseverance, the ins and outs of practicing every day is the point to this sport. Having a good race or even a great race is a reward. We all desire those rewards. They are important. They do not define us, however.

On that note, I want to make it perfectly clear that we will do our best BECAUSE we are/will be ready for States. Our preparation has made our potential endless. We will achieve because of the process of getting ready for the end result. And that is doing our best. And probably reaching beyond our limits. I believe this.

Heading to States

Well, here we go again, as I say this with a smile. We are off to Hershey. Three have qualified. Nate with his second District X championship in a row, along with Hunter. Danielle for the Girls. A great day transpired. It is always a wonderful and a sad day on this day. I always hope for so much more because so many deserve it. I have been so blessed with wonderful young adults. I take this day with a grain of salt and smile and think about what could have been. That's the beauty of competition. Morgan and Tanner and Alexis all ran well. Others set personal bests today. It is a blessing to witness. And our two seniors' seasons ended today, and that is always something I think on for a long while.

My faith in our program and the love I feel for the runners, and the fortune I have always had to have the best coaches with me makes me very proud and extremely blessed. I do feel as if this is all about our family--the SHS XC team. It's not over yet. We still have work to do. And we will. And we will do well. I believe that. I believe.

Districts

I'm not sure how many of you will see this before tomorrow, but for those of you who do, nothing is set in stone for who is going to states, anything can happen tomorrow at districts as long as you show up ready to preform and ready to do your best, don't take running for granted cause it really sucks to not run and you don't realixe it until you can't run. so tomorrow run your hardest and leace it all on the course. As long as you do that no matter what the out come is, be proud of yourself, at the end of the race the only person you need to please is yourself.

As Districts approaches much weighs on my mind. Are we ready? Have we over-prepared? Have we done all we could to be the best on that one day? The answers to these questions are hidden in the depths of the spirits, the hearts, the souls, and the bodies of our cross country runners. I do not know the answers. Only each runner, as he or she places that foot on the white starting line, can answer that. It is inevitable that some will fail to achieve what they most desire on that given day. It is just as inevitable that some will succeed where they only saw a distant possibility. Success is measured by one test and one test only--did you do your best, beyond a reasonable doubt, and leave it all on the field?

Some will make it to States. Others will not. Regardless, we will compete at the level we are most ready to reach. Today, on this one day, we have the chance to create a moment in time. We can become that which will make us proud. We can run for those who cannot because of injury. We can run for our team. But most, we run for ourselves to make us into something that is greater than what we are when we step to the line.

Step to the line and run . . . then run faster. Just Believe!

Readying For Districts

Our team is readying itself for the upcoming post season. Our Region 3 Invitational is this Saturday and our District X Championships is the following Saturday. Our time is now. We are peaking at the right time; many of our runners are coming off personal best times in the last two races. We are ready to finish strong and show our true personality. We are a team. We are a family. We will succeed. Success is measured by perseverance, faith, and a firm commitment to reach beyond the possible. We are ready. Just Believe!

Cross Country

So far this season I have ran 438.99miles.

Peak Week

This week our runners are putting in more miles than any week since August camp weeks. They will earn the right to be faster. Or not. It is not about the miles or necessarily the fast (or slow) times they push their bodies to reach. It is about the mental preparation it takes to commit to something more than what we've ever reached. It's about confidence and desire and trust. Each runner who works beyond what he/she thinks he/she is capable of doing will accomplish goals that last week were unreachable.

Our boys varsity team has the potential of going undefeated for the third consecutive season and, once again, win the Region 3 championship. Our girls team is capable of finishing on a strong note if they continue to improve. They are currently 4-2 with one tri-meet remaining. The boys are 6-0 and have won 26 Region meets in a row. Our Junior High boys team is improving.

Overall, at this most important juncture in our season, we will either become a true team or we will not. If we believe, anything is possible. Just believe!

IF YOU WANT TO BE A CHAMPION . . .

Do you wish to be a champion?; check out this link from the 2009 July/August edition of Running Times magazine.

http://www.runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=13654