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. 

That's a wrap folks

I know this is a long overdue post.  I really am trying to do a better job of posting.  Our season came to a wrap a few weeks back at Regionals.  All in all I was pleased with the season and how we performed at the end.  It is always important to run well at the end of the season.  While I think we could have milked out a little bit more, we did a solid job.  We have come a long way, in a very short time.  I am proud to say that the future looks bright.  We have learned a lot of lessons and will be better for it in the future.
The men's cross team ended with a 17th place finish at the Great Lake Region Championships hosted by Rose-Hulman at the famed Lavern Gibson Championship Course.

We finished 17th of 36 teams with 487 points.   A significant stat from the weekend is we moved up from 32^nd in 2014 to 17^th this year.  That is a solid jump.  But we can not be satisfied with 17^th in the region.  We need to make another major jump next year and start putting ourselves in the conversation to qualify for nationals.


Once again Sophomore Brian Brennan (Akron/Walsh Jesuit) led the men's squad as he finished 15th of 242 runners in a time of 25:47.1.  Brennan missed qualifying for the national meet by just two runners. This was a bit of a tough pill to swallow for both of us.  He ran tough and laid it on the line, but tactically we need to clean a few things up for next year.
In addition, fifth year senior Greg Blevins (Mentor) finished 70th in a time of 26:49.6.  Sophomore Evan Milovich (Westlake) was 113th in a time of 27.26.8. Sophomore Brady Jeffers (South Amherst/Firelands) crossed the line in 130th place in a time of 27.44.0.   Freshman Creighton Jensen (Sheffield Lake/Brookside) finished 160th in a time of 28:08.9.   Freshman Todd Cushing (Plymouth, Mass. / Plymouth North) was 170th in a time of 28:26.4 and sophomore Dylan Tanner (Mentor) placed 206th in a time of 29.29.6.

On the ladies side, Kelly Brennan (Akron/Walsh Jesuit) was our lone representative.  She placed 24th of 243 runners in a time of 22.49.8.  She made some serious gains this cross country season.  Track season should be a very exciting time for her.


For now that’s a wrap.  We have taken our down time and are starting to build back up for cross country.  The kids all leave for the Holidays Thursday or Friday.  So it is going to get a lot quieter around here very soon.