Conference week

What a week it is going to be.  The CAVS have their ring ceremony, the Indians are playing in the World Series and its OAC week!!!!  Life in Cleveland Ohio doesn't get much better than this! Conference week is always one of my favorite weeks of the year.  The energy, the atmosphere, anticipation of racing all week are phenomenal!

Our group has come a very long way since August.  We have had some bumps along the way but have bounced back nicely.  Our fitness is coming together right at the right time.  We have put ourselves in the driver seat to place in the top half of the conference, on both the men's and women's sides there are several teams that we match up very well with.  Some of them we have not seen at all this year.  On both sides we could be 4th or 6-7th.  We need to find, match up and RACE some teams for us to reach our goals we set back during team camp.  I am excited to see if our young group can rise to the occasion during the post season.

Post season thoughts

It’s sad to say but the 2015 cross country season is in the can for the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets.  The end of the cross country season is always one of my favorite times of the year.  There is something riding on all of the meets.  We get to travel which is where a lot of my fondest memories as an athlete come from.  I get to see a lot of my fellow coaches that I don't get to see often, some of whom I have worked for in the past, some of whom I have coached in the past and some who I have raced against.  It is always good to get to catch up with those people.

Now it is time for me to sit back and reflect on what I feel we did well, what we did not do well and where we can get better.  This was definitely a year where I felt like I did a lot more correctly than incorrectly.  I looked over our training and make a few notes and tweak a few workouts in preparation for next year.  We will have a very different looking group coming into camp next year.  With a year of training in the same system for a full year and the adaptations that will come along with that, we will be able to handle larger volumes of work across the board.  We will also have a larger incoming freshman class and have some additional depth and talent added into the mix.  If we plan to take the next step and become a relevant program at both the conference and regional level we need to stay on the trajectory we are on and go into winter break training with a purpose and come back ready to rock for indoor and outdoor.  This track season we will find out if the current group really wants to do what it will take to become a legit program.  From what I have seen they are talking and acting like they do, but come January 9^th when we line up for our time trails.

Recruiting has been going well.  I feel like we have had a lot of recruits walk away thinking we are a very good option.  I have found my grove in recruiting and feel I am connecting well with the kids I am talking to.  The ones that I don't, I cut ties and move on. We are doing a great job of presenting who we are, what we do, and where we are heading.  We will have a great recruiting class next year full of kids that are a good fit for Baldwin Wallace Cross Country and Track and Field.

On a personal note it is great to be back in Ohio, to be back in the OAC and to be working with Coach Cole.  I am in a much better place mentally and physically than I was a year ago.  I had a blast this fall working with this team.