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Cross Country
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Coach Kepler's Weekly Recap - Week 6
10/31/2006 12:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 31, 2006
The conference championships start the championship portion of the cross country season. Everyone's focus and determination is as high as it will be all year...athletes and coaches alike. For obvious reasons this is always one of those weeks that is "circled on my calendar", "allows me to think clearer"...insert your favorite cliche now and you get the picture. Although this "clearer thinking" does not necessarily mean more or better sleep. In fact, it's usually the opposite due to all the things racing through one's mind. Our regular season doesn't consist of a win/loss record like other sports. Our conference finish is determined in a matter of about 20 minutes on the last Saturday in October...one day, one moment can define your program in variable ways.
Overall I am very pleased with how we performed. Like everyone at this time of year our team was not at 100%...it's just the nature of distance running. Our usual No. 1 (Becky Mackelprang) had come up with a soft tissue injury on the bottom of her foot after a recovery run on Sunday. She couldn't run the week leading up to the biggest meet of her initial season. The only good part about this injury was that the team knew about far enough in advance that they had time to understand this issue and respond accordingly. Everyone knew they needed to step up, but I wanted to be sure to remind them to still run within themselves. I wanted to be sure that our young team had a positive experience and leave with something to build on for the future. As it turns out, they did just that. Becky ended up being able to complete the race, but not without one of the strongest mental efforts I've ever witnessed by any runner. Freshmen Alyssa Abbott and Stephanie Skoreyko both came up huge. They ran a combined 2:10 faster on our home course than they did one month prior. Finally, sophomore Lauren Endersen ran the best race of her young career. Lauren has a tendency to over-analyze her running at times. However, on this day she kept her focus and kept moving forward throughout the race to finish as our number four. Overall, our 1-5 elapsed time was only 53 seconds...the first time we broke one minute this year. A trip to the ice cream shop on coach is now in order!! We finished sixth place out of the nine conference schools. We were seventh a year ago so we are moving in the right direction. We are literally one of the youngest teams in America with only four sophomores and four freshmen on the roster so all of our big program goals are still in front of us.
Oh yeah...by the way...as you may have figured out...we hosted the conference championship meet!!! The weather couldn't have been more ideal and the course set up was phenomenal. Coaches, athletes, administrators, and fans alike were very appreciative of the efforts by our athletic staff. I'll be a little bit boastful and say that I think we raised the standard a little bit for how to run a conference meet...but that's just my opinion :) A special thank you to everyone who made this meet run so well....truly a first-class event!!! The support of our program by the Utah Athletic Administration has been fabulous and I know our team greatly appreciates all that you do...Dr. Hill, Pete Oliszczak, Mary Bowman, Steve Pyne, Chris Rogers, Steve Riley, and Josh Cragg.
I want to name a few names and say what an honor it was to have you be a part of such a special day. Mike Jones (former U of U Track/XC coach) who served as the meet referee and has been one of my biggest supporters since my first day on the job just over a year ago. Del Hessel (former Colorado State Track/XC coach..retired last June) who has provided me with so many positive and encouraging words regarding the busines of being a coach and being successful here at Utah. Del was a member of the jury of appeals. Dave Jameson (longtime HS track/xc coach in the Salt Lake City area) also served on the jury of appeals and volunteered a ton of time for course set up and tear down. Bob Wood (former agent for several of the best distance runners in the world) who lives in the SL area and is a huge supporter of our program. He also served on the jury. Finally, my outstanding assistants..Burke Bockman,Tapio Kuusela, Ashlee Warnick, Cirbie Lee, and Linzy Allen. I get a lot of credit, but only because you guys and gals make me look so good!
The season is not over. The NCAA regional meet is in two weeks. Like the conference meet our goal will be to improve upon last years 15th-place finish and that will not be easy. Our region is loaded with several very good programs that are running very well right now. Even though we have some uncertainty due to Becky's injury, I know our gals will be prepared to run another outstanding race in Albuquerque. Experience they might lack, but toughness and competitiveness allow them to improve mightily each week.
Players Mentioned
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