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| Southwest Regional
November 22, 2008 at Tempe AZ
Colorado - Utah - New Mexico - Arizona - Nevada - Wyoming
Two teams and five individuals qualify for NXN national finals December 6, 2008 at Portland OR.
Boys Championship |
All about Alta
High altitude training raises Utah boys from unranked to national finalists
story by Cheyne Heiny, photo by Donna Dye
Alta boys, coach Rob Murphy, and Nike athlete Abdi Abdirahman
TEMPE AZ 11/22/08 -- Three seasons ago, three freshmen became a part of the high school running scene in Utah, making the Alta Hawks varsity team. Kyle Moffet, Jack Webster and Parker Syndergaard found themselves consistently contributing to Alta’s top 7, with Moffet and Webster making it all the way to the starting line at the 2005 Utah State Cross Country Championships. Moffet and Webster ran 17:40 and 17:53, respectively. Syndergaard just missed varsity for state and had to settle for the top alternate spot.
Flash forward three years. Moffet, Webster and Syndergaard are still very much a part of the tough Alta squad. In fact, the three pioneers all placed in the top 12 at the 2008 Utah State Championships for Class 5A. Alta won 5A and was dominant in combined scoring of all classes. Alta had produced 44 State Titles in their 31-year history and not one of those trophies belonged to cross country. Chalk up number 45.
Cross country is a team sport
But Alta couldn’t win championships in cross country with just three experienced runners. They needed two more runners willing to fully dedicate to the idea of winning. Coach Rob Murphy found four runners who fit that category.
Juniors Garett Jones and Brian Howell became the two runners most capable of joining Alta’s three pioneers. Jones followed the pioneers’ footsteps by making the squad as a freshman and became the top runner at State as a sophomore and as a junior. Howell is the new guy, joining the varsity runners at the State starting line only this season. Howell has made a giant impact this season, becoming the last scoring runner at State with an impressive 12th place finish.
Junior Zach Evens and senior Blake Bartholomew also became newcomers this season, rounding out the top seven for the Hawks. Evens ran a 16:50 at State and was the second-fastest non-scoring runner. Bartholomew wasn’t far behind Evens, finishing with a 16:57. Alta joined American Fork as the only two teams in 5A to have all seven runners finish the State Championships under 17 minutes.
Alta flew high into Tempe for the Southwest Regional Championships. With the State Title locked up, the pressure was off the Hawks and they were able to go to Tempe with full confidence. That confidence turned into a second place showing and an automatic bid to Oregon for Nike Cross Nationals finals Dec. 6.
Alta was unranked in the Southwest at start of season
At the beginning of the season, Alta wasn’t even an afterthought for any type of showing at the Southwest Regional. In the pre-season rankings, Alta was not in the top 10 and not even a "bubble" team. They were certainly not expected to contend with New Mexico superpower Albuquerque Academy, perennial SW#1 team. My how things change. After their brilliant state championship, Alta boys rose to #3 in the Nov. 19 regional rankings. In the Southwest regional here today, Alta finished second with 172 points to Academy's 156. Utah observers are calling Alta one of the most powerful teams ever in the Beehive state.
I caught up with Coach Murphy after Alta’s outstanding race and was fortunate enough to have a follow-up interview about Alta’s journey to Nike Cross Nationals.
(Dyestat)- How did you prepare your runners to get to the point where they are at now?
(Rob Murphy)- Like most successful teams, we believe in organized summer running. As a coach, I favor a relatively high mileage approach over the summer with lots of variety. I think to be successful, you need to base your training on principles established by the top coaches over the years, and adapt them to the realities and time constraints of high school life. Our varsity guys top out at around 70 miles/week. We meet 4 days a week. On Monday we do “the gully long run” which is only about seven miles, but very hilly with lots of sand and wood chip. We do this as a hard tempo run. On Tuesday we meet at a local park for a short recovery run, drills, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and some hill repeats. Wednesday we meet at Sugarhouse Park, the site of our state meet for a hilly 8-10 mile run. Thursday we meet at Alta Ski Area at an altitude of over 9000 feet for a 10 mile trail run. Friday we don’t meet, but the guys do a 6 mile recovery run. Saturday is either a long run – 13 miles by the end of the summer – or a road race. Sunday we rest. As a rule, we continue to work on our base and endurance training throughout the season – always emphasizing the long run and quality threshold runs.
(Dyestat)- You said there are 4 seniors and a junior running on Varsity for 3 years on your team. Did you forsee a possible Utah State Championship in the future? Have these last few years been dedicated to winning the state title and a possible NXN berth?
(RM)- Three of our senior runners – Kyle Moffet, Jack Webster, and Parker Syndergaard – have been part of our varsity team since they were freshmen. The same is true of Garrett Jones who is a junior and usually our #1 runner (3rd at the Utah State Meet). Their success has been due to consistent hard work over the long term. Our goal this year was to bring the first state championship in cross country to Alta High School. The NXN post-season has pretty much been an afterthought and we are new at competing on this level, but it’s safe to say that doing well against national competition really means a lot to us now.
(Dyestat)- Can you describe the comaraderie between your Varsity runners? Could their success be based on how close of a group they possibly became?
(RM)- We have a very close group. They are all close friends, socialize with each other, have sleep overs at each others houses, meet for pasta dinners before every meet. Our two new varsity runners, Blake Bartholomew and Zach Evens have become a big part of the team and fit in well with the team attitude and work ethic.As a coach, I truly admire them and their dedication inspires me to be a better coach so that I don’t let them down.
(Dyestat)- You mentioned Alta won its first ever boys State XC Championship. How elated were you and the team after the win and do you see Alta becoming a consistent force in Utah and the Southwest?
(RM)- Utah has a proud tradition of distance running on the high school and collegiate levels. To be mentioned alongside programs such as Mountain View, Bingham, Davis, Timpview and American Fork is a thrill for me and our team. It was great to win the state championship, but we hope to be able to put together a program here that will be able to consistently compete with these schools and the New Mexico powers.
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