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- Read VIEWER COMMENTS To This Story - To be or not to be? With apologies to the late WS, is it nobler of the mind to run one's varsity in a city championship meet with regions and states coming the next two weekends? Or not to run them? It seems the answer differs greatly according to whom one addresses the question. Rocky Mountain sees it one way and Fort Collins another. Both were part of Saturday's four-school Fort Collins City championship. Rocky Mountain opted to rest its varsity while Fort Collins ran its top girls. And then the fur flew, so to speak. Writing a message on behalf of Fort Collins, Kevin Follett says: "Our head coach Chris Suppes, Poudre High School's head coach,
and our District Athletic director were furious over Rocky Mountain's
coach Bob Parry's move [editor's note: pulling his varsity girls] at
this meet just before the gun. Some think it was to avoid the competition
with FCHS, who in a small meet like this might have beaten RM. They were
even asked if they were running their varsity (because it had been rumored
they might not), and they assured all the coaches that Rocky Mountain assistant coach Mike Maher saw this way differently.
He wrote: What we tried to do was prioritize. He ran all the meets he was asked to run and never let his high school coaches -- who really made him what he is -- nor his teammates down. But not every meet had the same importance in his mind. In the end, I think it was those 90- to 115-mile weeks he put in during the summer that allowed him to race at a very high level so often and for so long. Were we right to do what we did? Who is to say? I, for one, don't believe burnout comes from running too many races. Burnout comes from a lack of good results. Is Kevin Follett and the Fort Collins coaches right for racing their kids in the city championships? Of course they are. Are Mike Maher and Bob Parry right for resting their kids for the upcoming regional and state meets? Again, of course they are. I don't believe coaching is a science. If it were, everybody would buy the same book -- hopefully from Dyestat -- and use whatever the book says. It is much more of an art than a science. It depends on how you apply your knowledge. No two teams, not even any two athletes, are alike. I hope Kevin Follett and Mike Maher go have a non-alcoholic beer together soon. Each does a lot for cross country. And each is in the sport for the right reason -- the kids. I'm sure that Katie Follett and Dani Parry are friendly rivals. The coaches need to be the same. Different strokes for different folks -- with peace, liberty justice, and probably too many meets for all. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ VIEWER COMMENTS: (If you have a comment, please send to [email protected]) I enjoyed your commentary on the two teams running the city race.
I don't blame either, but I would not have run it either. I recently
ran my girls JV squad in the Freehold District championships; the day
before the Manhattan Invitational. Forys HS also skipped the meet to
run Manhattan. The other coaches actually didn't seem to mind because
we had two team winners and two individual winners that probably wouldn't
have won who were very excited to win. It seemed like they were more
than happy to win without our best and wished us good luck for the next
day. It's all about priorities which can be different for each team but
the #1 priority is what is best for your team. That's what each coach
has to figure out. Brad DeKrey I think that it is pretty sad when we start sacrificing traditional, rivalry races for the sake of NTN. This is a High School sport that typically runs deep in tradition, at least that is the case for our team in Scottsboro, AL. Our girls have particular races they love to run in, and rivals that they love to run against. This year, we found that certain teams avoided them early in the season, when they were ranked high, and changed their schedules to race them , when they were seeped in injuries, all for the "Ranking" of NTN. I am happy that they (my daughters and their teammates) had the oppurtunity to run in NTN last year, but I support our coaches in the decision not to chase the "Ranking" this year. It never seems to work that way, anyway. Lets remember why these kids are running and the values that they gain from this sport. Hollie Thompson-Parent I highly enjoyed your "To Be or Not to Be" editorial about the city cross country meet. However what it lacked was any insight of how deep the rivalry is between Rocky Mountain and Fort Collins. As a Fort Collins High School runner I can attest to the time spent preparing to compete against them through the summer. We were looking forward to a friendly rivalry race with the assurance that we would be racing against the Rocky Varsity runners. You see, there had been other smaller meets that Rocky had also pulled their seven out of. It was not so much a difference in coaching techniques as it was a rudeness to our team. Rocky warmed up their varsity, had them step up to the line and then pull of at the last moment, sending an attitude of "we're too awesome for this race". The rivalry between Rocky and Collins is extremely strong. Because our school (Collins) beat Rocky in football, the day we played them in soccer was known as national "just like football" day and our game against Poudre was billed as national "Just like Rocky" day. Hence the resentment that has spawned from the city meet. Competing against Rocky is always exhilirating because of thier top quality teams that train just a few miles from us, I look foward to racing against them some other time in the future. Kelsey Kurtz -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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