Coach Dan Wilvers - South Lake Tahoe HS Girls Cross-Country

Photo courtesy of John Dixon

One of the great surprises of the 2004 prep fall cross country season was the success of a very young Girls' group from South Lake Tahoe HS, a school, located in California, but through the nuances of travel geography, competes in the Nevada State competitions. The rise of this young group over the length of the season, which had them end up Nevada State Champs and earning a spot in the Nike Team Nationals, rivaled the improvement over the length of one season of any team in the last few decades! With a great eighth grader coming in next year it looks like, with the returnees, already back, that the squad will only be improved. Below Coach Dan Wilvers answers some questions we put to him about the 2004 Fall season and a tad about his own style of coaching. The geography and altitude of South Lake Tahoe adds an interesting twist, both positive and negative to training for the crew, with the last big things undoubtedly not yet heard from this outstanding group.

1) What is your personal background in athletics and coaching?

I was an average runner from 69-73 at torrance HS. Ran in the same class and races as Barrie Willaims and Curtis Beck, so I saw the elite, up close and personal. I drifted from running except for personal w/o's for over twenty years. In the mid 90's my son showed some promise so I set out to educate myself to help him. I've coached youth soccer, basketball and little league for over ten years. Other coaches that know me tell me I have good instincts and know how to motivate kids. I believe it's the sum of the kids knowing I'm truly there for them and they're willing to give me their best and I try to make them believe they're better then their best. But sports has been a part of my life since my earliest years and God hardwired me to coach, I believe.

2) What did you expect to accomplish as a team when the season started in early September?

Be one of the two qualifying teams to NV's State meet from the NO. NV region. reno was so far ahead of everyone we were just hoping to overtake a strong Galena program. Galena produced the likes of Stephen Pottey last year, remember him at Stanford Invite? 4:11.9 mile over Evans?

3) What was there about the chemistry of your group that helped them to achieve what they did?

I think this was the x factor of our team. Not team chemistry, though it's good, but personal chemistry, or DNA, or hard wiring. These five girls are wired to compete, it's in their blood. The two freshmen are just tough. And they're not whippets either, their bodies are developed.

The two sophs have the same mentality, though more slender. The junior follows their lead, and comes up big in races. In fact her success is directly related to chasing the first four.

4) Did you have to readjust any goals along the way, or did you get into that side of things at all--how did the group cope with their ever widening successes along the way?

We talked a little about it. But mostly it was assumed. As we developed we just raised the bar. NTN , however was not on our radar, just NV state.

5) How did the State Meet race go as far as you thought it would going in?

Traditionally where there is a competitive field, the team that wins at regions loses at State, that happened again this year. However I didn't factor that tradition, we went in ready to rumble, or so I thought, and Reno cleaned our clocks at regions. It was very cold, and also the first day of cold this season, and exercise induced asthma hit my number 1 girl Kelsey and it was on their home course. But it didn't matter Reno tore us a new one regardless of the advantages. (Next year's region and state are on their course, it will be a challenge to take them down there.) Anyway, I digress, For the only time this year I gave them the "talk" the monday after regions. I didn't mince words. Because of who they are as competitors, the words carried meaning. They ran state as if their mother's lives were at stake. They would win or die trying. They dominated. Though Reno's number 3 was very sick earlier that week and their number four bonked horribly. But like the week before with Reno, we laid one down that day.

6) How was the Nike Team Championship experience for your group?

Words are inadequate to describe the experience, but the competitors in them were challenged to come back much better next year. Local article of their feelings: Tears

NTN was more then awesome is all I can say! What an event, what a competition. Despite the thrill of being there, all of us wanted much more then what we accomplished. the girls made up songs on the way home mocking their 17th place finish. I like that about them. They're always hungry for more. God willing will get another shot at it.

7) Describe some of the good and challenging aspects of training in your area?

I have always said that before the cold and snow hit there is no greater training facility on earth then south lake tahoe. The south end of the lake has miles of trials and also a huge flat land surface, as well as hills (No duh, huh?) We incorporated hikes to the top of a few peaks this summer as a way of breaking up the running and building our bonds with one another. The views are to die for.

Someday I hope to have the time to bring teams in from all over the region just to enjoy the lake's summer and to train and enjoy meeting new kids. This has been a vision of mine for years, back when my son began to run. My work schedule prevents me from doing the necessary prep work to make such an event work right at this time, but soon I hope. Who knows perhaps South tahoe could someday become one of the destination training spots for elite programs or even average programs.

The guys from York almost got an invite from me, but I'm just not ready to commit to the work yet.

The challenge comes when the weather either gets too cold and /or the snow flies. Normally this is only a spring malady, as in most years XC ends in early december with FL, but this year the snow came in October, however it warmed up enough to allow us to get back on our trails for about 12 days before the cold and snow came down from an Alaskan front. We not only lost the ability to train in town, we couldn't even go down to the Carson Valley ( a 40 minute drive over one of the passes) to 4800' level because they were as snowed in as well. (By the way were situated at 6250' lake level and we climb in our daily runs sometimes to 7000' on rarer occasions 8000'.) My only viable training option was to head down toward Sacramento, 100 miles away, but alas the kids homework and my schedule prohibited this. Needless to say treadmills in abundance were needed but no gym in town has more then 5, so team training was limited to runs in the snow and a few rare spots were the pavement was available. I just heard yesterday that this may be the coldest November on record. Presently it's back to normal. 2 weeks too late for us. But all in all this is paradise!!! I wish every kid in CA/NV could train here for a month a year.

8) What do you philosophically base the training you did with your team on?

I knew this was coming. If you could see me as I write there is a big smile on my face. How do I explain. Let's see, I know very little about running, what I do know I glean from this web site and Penny Sparks, a former coach and runner and my boys coach Dom Westlake. But let me say this, as objective as the results of running are, you know, no style points, no bias, just finish and time, the training of this objective sport is absolutely the most subjective experience I've ever encountered as a coach. I mean I can look at other peoples workouts all day, but when it comes down to evaluating your runners on a day by day basis to measure their fatigue factors, their emotional upheavals, what they had for lunch, what stresses they experiencing in class or with a peer or a parent, well you know, ------it's astronomical.

I can coach a kid to pitch a baseball, to hit one as well and to field one. They're of course are variations, but hey they are only so many ways to hit a ball correctly. But running? Oh my gosh! What a crap shoot! I will make this one statement we trained the guys and girls together for the first time in ST's history but beyond that, well read on.

I am so in awe of distance coaches that know what they are doing. I read your coaches site and I'm just blown away by their apparent knowledge of the sport. I say apparent because I'm too stupid to even know what their talking about in the first place. Of course my boys coach understands the intricacies of VO2 max, recovery, hill strength, etc.

Me? I certainly employ them, but I don't have the foggiest glue from day to day if this is the right methodology, and frankly I have little time to research this, because I am pastor of a good sized church, over a thousand people, and my time is limited to the 2-3 hours I actually spend coaching. (Though I've given an hour here! :-) ) So when it actually comes down to the workout--- how much, how hard, how much rest, do we even press it today or do the kids need a little more rest this week, or a little more work-----you know..... I talk it out with Dom, the man who recorded every workout he ever led, and he sees something in his dialogue with me that says, let's try it this way and he goes for it. He told me 3/4 of the way through the year that he had stopped recording his workouts with me two months back, because he was never certain any longer what strategy we would employ.

So where did the workouts come from? Please, please, don't think me a whacko, it's not in my nature to fly by the seat of my pants. I'm a professional in work and in life, but for some reason I have no confidence in myself as a running coach, even now with this apparent success. The workouts just came to me, I'd just get this instinctual leading and I'd share it with Dom and he'd share his instincts and knowledge in return. But the gist of it is this, I believe God's Spirit was leading me, in fact I have no doubt about it. God was leading me to do just the right things for these kids because I had asked Him to help me give them what they needed to make them perform their best.

Perhaps you could e-mail Him and get some direct advice? :-) There is a passage in the New testament that reads, "In everything you do, do for the glory of God". I believe God gets the glory here, not me. Really.

9) As you look ahead to 2005 with so many coming back and an outstanding runner coming up from the middle school what are your thoughts?

Why me? How come the guy with so little going on gets the opportunity to coach these great kids? The second thought is, can I get this fabulous eight grader to give up her soccer career to run X/C? They are in the same season here. At worst she will train with me all summer, because she will definitely run track for us in 06', so I'm hoping.

In conclusion dare I say, I'm thinking about NTN 05'? I'd be lying to say otherwise. I dream big dreams, because until you ask it of yourself first, you can't impart to your pupils. I don't dream just to go back either.

Thanks for your interest it was a pleasure to respond. God bless you and may you and yours enjoy the most blessed of the holiday season.

sincerely,

dan wilvers
south tahoe x/c