GSU's FIRST-EVER OUTDOOR TRACK MEET FRIDAY MARCH 29 IN ST. LOUIS

 "It has been a huge blessing to start this track program here at Governors State. I am incredibly thankful to the staff here at the Athletic Department for giving me this opportunity to build something special here. I am ecstatic to be able to build thisbprogram from the ground up. Right now, we have just been training almost every day at 6am in the morning. We have been practicing all over the area at places like Rich Township, the Old Plank Trail, Volmer, and Goodenow Grove nature preserve. We have been doing a multitude of different workouts including fartleks, hills, distance runs, Vo2 Max workouts, tempos, long runs, etc. The team is starting to get in very good shape from where we first started, and I am excited to see how the athletes respond to the training."

 

 

"There will be a lot of highlights this outdoor track season. I know our distance runners are excited for the Washington University distance carnival. It is a premier meet for the midwest, featuring over fifty teams at the Naia, D3, D2, and D1 levels. We will be visiting Olivet a couple of times as well and Head Coach Kyle Rago always puts together a great meet. The Chicagoland Championships will feature over twenty incredible teams from the midwest. All of these meets will help fine tune everything in preparation for conference. Trevor Howard and Arthur Stringham over at St. Francis will be hosting conference and the last chance meet. The last chance meet is always a sought-after after meet for coaches to go to. They do a great job putting together a competitive and well-run race."

 

 

"The goal this off-season has been to continue building up the distance side of things and we have brought in some incredible runners this off-season. Now the goal is going to be to bring in more sprinters to compliment the distance side. Over the next few years, we will also be bringing in jumpers and throwers as well. Once we can bring in high level athletes for each event, we will be much more competitive in the overall scoring."

 

 

 "Right now, since we mainly just have distance runners on the team and it is very tough to compete at a high level with the upper-level track programs in conference. We should be able to grab some points from teams that are in a similar situation to us at the bottom of the conference."

 

Q: How would summarize the year for GSU cross country and then adding on for the first time what the CC runners are doing in the indoor/outdoor track seasons and how directing six teams (CC-indoor-outdoor for the men's and women's).  Has it been like you expected and what changes ahead for your program/teams?

 "The cross country season was an incredible experience for me as a head coach. The runners worked so hard and I believe that they overachieved last season based on a lot of their previous times last season. The men were able to finish 3rd and the women 5th, which is the best in program history. We were able to produce four all conference athletes and send three to Nationals. Governors State now having track is only going to assist their development for cross country. I think that next year we will be able to compete at very high level and be one of the better teams in the country. It has been a challenging, yet incredibly fulfilling experience coaching all of these teams. The athletes and coaching staff here work tenaciously and it only drives me to to everything in my power to do right by these athletes. They deserve the best and it is our goal as a coaching staff to give them our best."