Cross country running teams saw quite the turnover in terms of coaching for the start of the 2014 season.
Of the 14 schools that offer the sport in the tri-county area, five have hired new coaches — Lewiston, Lisbon, Oxford Hills, St. Dom’s and Telstar. That doesn’t include Spruce Mountain, either, which just added the team this season.
One coach still getting to know her athletes is Telstar’s Willow Ochtera, who was hired on Aug. 25, one week after teams officially started practice for the year.
“It was not ideal for (the kids) to not have a coach until the first day of school,” Ochtera said. “So we took the first couple days to get to know each other. Then, we had that first Bulldog challenge, and they came out and really put it out there. They got first place for the co-ed team. I think that was really helpful for all of us. We were all trying to figure it out together at this point.”
She was familiar with outgoing coach Dan Crooker, as they have participated in running events together.
For Jeremy Williams of Lisbon and Kristin Dacko of Oxford Hills, they had some background knowledge of their athletes, either as an assistant coach or coaching in another sport.
Williams spent the past few seasons as an assistant under longtime mentor Hank Fuller, who was the Greyhounds’ coach for 26 years. Williams felt like Fuller had been training him for this job.
“It has been a little hard,” Williams said of the transition from being the assistant coach to head coach. “The last couple of years, Hank had me working on setting up practice schedules and stuff like that. In a way, he was prepping me to do it myself.”
Dacko has been the Vikings’ outdoor track and field coach the for the past five seasons. Most of her track and field roster also competes in cross country.
She said the difference between the two sports is the way you go about practicing.
“The biggest difference is a longer distance. You do focus a little more on endurance,” Dacko said. “The hills definitely make a big difference where your practices focuses on more hill work and strategy. You have to have strategy going up them.”
Marc Lepage of St. Dom’s is in a different situation. Coming off a five-year hiatus, he’s not going to change his coaching style, and will keep things simple.
“I am trying to keep my style and keep (previous coach) Keith Weatherbie’s (style),” LePage said. “We both have the same style, which is keeping it fun and motivating the kids and letting them know what they are doing right. When we see something we can work on, we keep it as positive as possible.”
Coaches welcome the cooler weather
Coaches around the region welcomed the fall weather last week after the first week in September saw the temperatures soar in the 80s and low 90s.
The big thing coaches stressed to their athletes throughout the first week of September was to stay hydrated.
“I just suggest they carry water with them all the time,” Dacko said. “Especially at school and at home, if you find you are thirsty that means you are already dehydrated. Plus water makes you feel better in general.”
Leavitt head coach Dustin Williamson told his runners to pace themselves.
“If it’s hot out at practice, it’s OK if you can not do the mile that you want,” Williamson said. “It’s OK to do less, it’s okay to go slower when it’s hot.”
Harris making recruiting trips
Isaiah Harris, one of Lewiston’s top runners, missed this past weekend’s meet and will miss this weekend’s meet as he makes a couple of recruiting trips.
Over the weekend, he was down in Baton Rogue, La., checking out Louisiana State University. While the cross country program hasn’t won any Southeastern Conference Championships or NCAA Championships, the indoor track and field team has won 11 SEC and 11 NCAA Titles. The outdoor team has won four National Championships and 22 SEC Titles.
This weekend, he visits Kansas State in Manhattan, Kan. The Wildcats’ program has four individual conference champions in their history. Kansas State is currently in the Big 12 Conference. They also have a strong track and field program that has produced 24 Olympians.
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