S3E8: Tom Rothenberger
Ben Rosario Show
Welcome to the final episode of the Ben Rosario show for season three. Ben is the coach of the professional Northern Arizona Elite team in Flagstaff and Dean Ouellette is a high school coach in Chandler Arizona. Today they welcome Coach Tom Rothenberger of Jesuit high school in Oregon. Tom has coached Jesuit for over 30 years with 26 state titles.
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S3E7: Justin Leonard
Ben Rosario Show
When it comes to qualifying for NXN, Southlake Carrol ranks as the school with the second most combined team appearances, only behind FM. We talk to Justin Leonard about his success
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S3 E6: Dan Iverson
Ben Rosario Show
Dan Iverson - Naperville North girls head coach. The girl's team won the 2018 Nike Midwest Championship and were runners-up from the 2017 NXN.
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S3 E5: Dave Van Sickle
Ben Rosario Show
Today Ben welcomes Coach Dave Van Sickle of Xavier high school in Phoenix. Dave has a really interesting history never being much of a distance runner himself as a youth. Dave had to learn how to coach distance runners and over the last 30 years has become one of the best coaches in Arizona winning several state titles and two trips to NXN. Ben and Dave discuss some of his major influences and how his coaching and training has evolved.
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S3 E4: Dave Frank
Ben Rosario Show
Dave Frank is the very successful boys cross country coach at Central Catholic. He arrived in 2000 with Alberto Salazar and took over the program in 2005. Since he took over, his boys have been first or second every year at the State meet.
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S3 E3: Sal Gonzalez
Ben Rosario Show
Sal Gonzales is the successful New Mexico cross country and track coach of Rio Rancho High School. We talk to him about his training and how he had to change his coaching when he went to a new school.
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S3 E2: Timo Mostert
Ben Rosario Show
Introduction to Coach Timo Mostert Great up in Illinois and ran at BYU 1998 moved to American Fork 8 State Championships over last 9 years 8 NXN trips with an average place 5th and lowest 8th, 2nd place 3 times in the last six years School demographics 2400 students in 3 grades In our school district 3 other schools who have made it to Nike Cross Team averages 30 boys, 40 this year is the largest ever When did you decide you wanted to coach? Very early had great coaches After the freshman year in college got into education with hopes of being a coach What do you want to talk...
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S3 E1: Colin Altevogt
Ben Rosario Show
Colin Altevogt, the boys XC coach at Carmel High in Indiana. Colin has been coaching in Indiana for the past 11 years, the last six years as a cross country coach at Carmel. The team has captured four state championships and two state runner-up titles with two qualifications for Nike Cross Nationals (2014 and 2017), including a tenth-place finish in 2017.
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S2 E9: Jonathan Dalby
Ben Rosario Show
We talk to Jonathon Dably of Mountain Vista High School about his team's success at NXN and about what is next? How does he make the transition into winter running and then how do things change going into spring track?
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S2 E8 John O'Malley
Ben Rosario Show
John O’Malley is the longtime coach of Sandburg High School where he has sent two teams and a few individuals to the NXN Championship race. John took over the program in 2003 and we talk about some of the changes and challenges he has gone through. John coaches more than 50 boys, we talk about the staff he uses to manage that team size and how Good To Great has helped him build the coaching staff. Culture is a big piece of the success of Sandburg High School. John talks in detail about building the culture and what that means? John talks about recruiting and growing the team? Before we get...
info_outlineIntroduction to Sal Gonzalez Rio Ranch High in New Mexico
- Started running in high school to stay in shape for basketball
- Had more luck and was only 5' 7" so ended up running in college
School demographics
- 2400 students in school
- One of higher academic achieving schools in the state
- 80 kids this year 30 girls and 50 boys
- First year there was 2008
- The second year the school split, was 4000 kids the first year
- The first year with the bigger population was 25 boys and 20 girls
- When took over with new program lost kids and had to rebuild
What was your previous school like?
- 50 kids
- Cultural changes
- Had to adjust to geography changes to change training
- Kids at Rio Rancho have more homework and push themselves more academically
- Kids were stronger at prior school had to do more strength work here at Rio Rancho
When you took over the school split and things changed, did you try to keep the traditions of Rio Ranch like they were before you got there or did things change?
- Rio Rancho was a bigger school that I was at, but did not make the podium nearly as often as we were. Our boys did not make the podium in 2008 when I arrived, but we have every year but one since then
- We had to change things up to get different results
- Team is a reflection of coaches attitude
- Work ethic had to change, implemented new things
- Some things did well at Pecos could not get them to work well at Rio Rancho
You talked about the injury rate is different at Rio Ranch, can you talk more about that and what you have had to do?
- Not super high miles, boys 50-55, but that was more than what they were doing
- Over a long 4 year period build them up, but we were getting injuries like IT Band
- Had a couple stress fractures
- Suburban kids I was with now just were not doing as much when they were kids outside so not as strong
- Added in strength work as cut down on injuries
- We do Jay Johnson strength work
How much time do you spend on strength and how long is your practice?
- 50 minute class in AM 30 minutes of strength ancillary work with 1-3 miles easy
- Afternoon another 30 minutes
What is the thinking of doing speed ladder and strides and hurdles before the run?
- We do both, before and after
- Access speed when fresh not depleted
What kids will you work with for dual athlete kids in the same season?
- Pecos had to with a small school
- 50/50 practice and 50/50 competitions
What does the summer look like?
- 2 weeks off after XC and 2 weeks after track
- Slowly get back into running by 4th week at full mileage
- 1st Monday of June will meet for first time every other day
- July will meet M-F
- Touch all speeds at all times from week 1
- Get to max milage by end of June
What is max mileage?
- Freshman with experience 35 miles, maybe 40 by mid-season
- Senior lots of weeks at 60
- Very individualized depends on the kid
How about boys vs Girls
- A lot of people do minutes but we do miles
- Top end senior girl will be 45 miles about same minutes as boys
- Girls try to get from 25 to 45 miles
You talked about touching on energy systems, how does the structure change going into September and the season?
- We take a lot from Dr. Jeff Messer
- Long run, race and one other quality day in
- 21-day cycle In week 1 short intervals, week 2 long intervals, week 3 tempo workout
- Tempos vary a lot
On long runs how do you structure the 'spice' and monitor
- Several coaches so have someone with each group
- Often out and back or big loops
How often do you race
- Top varsity 2 weeks on and 1 week off
- Occasionally may have 3 in a row
- District, State, Nike Regional are 3 weeks in a row
When you do race what does your week look like
- Long runs can change with breaks
- Interval/tempo day do no change
- Wednesday Tempo day
- Thursday aerobic day
- Friday premeet aerobic day
- Saturday Invitational
Do your three-week cycles build upon each other so the last cycle is the biggest one?
- Short interval days speed stays about the same but rest gets shorter as season goes on
- Long intervals rest stays same but pace gets faster
Is State always the focus and how do you get ready for it the last two weeks?
- More we talk about it the more stressful it becomes
- Remember, they are kids
- For training, yes always State
- Last big Vo2 workout is 10 days before State
- Last really long run is the Saturday before that
- Week of State tempo and snappy 200s