DyeStatCal - internet home of California track

EAT PASTA TOGETHER – STAY TOGETHER – WIN TOGETHER

By Joe Hartman
DyeStatCal
It only takes a short drive across the Yolo Causeway from downtown Sacramento to find the Sac-Joaquin Section’s number one athletic powerhouse. No school has won more section titles in all sports since the inception of the SJS than the Davis Blue Devils. 52 of the 86 section team titles have come in water polo and swimming, but next on the list are the 11 won by cross country (8 by the girls, 3 by the boys). In 2005-06, DHS won section titles in boys and girls cross country, boys soccer, boys water polo, and girls swimming. Davis was one of only a few SJS schools to send the boys and girls XC teams to the state meet in 2005.

At summer practice one day, we learned a little about what makes the Blue Devils close and why the numbers are so high. For this team, it’s not simply a matter of lacing them up and hitting the trails. The well-attended summer workout program builds the momentum. As the season begins, weekly team pasta feeds build camaraderie. Co-hosting the very popular Yolo County Invitational with Woodland High School takes a team effort. And lastly, Mt. SAC is a very important trip for the Blue Devils, earned through excellent attendance and cherished once the trip begins - and long afterwards. This very tasty carrot towards the end of the season gets kids to come out and keeps them on the team.

We wanted to learn more about the Friday pasta feeds. Coach Bill Gregg, now in his tenth year at Davis, said that families rotate to host the event and make the pasta (usually spaghetti) and the other runners – and families – bring side dishes. Apparently everyone gets enough to eat – and no one lives in a cottage – because there are around 100 runners on the Davis team! Afterwards the athletes stay for conversation, games, maybe some swimming, and if there’s a musical instrument lying around, someone’s going to play it. From chatting with some of the Blue Devils, it sounds like this year’s Davis cross country team is in fine tune as well.

On the girls side, the team is led by Chelsea Reilly – a two-time state track 1600 qualifier (4:54 PR, #2 All-Time SJS), two-time top five finisher in the SJS Section (D1 XC), and two-time Junior Olympic XC All-American. But there’s a lot more to the team than Chelsea. One day after a workout, we spoke with two of the top Blue Devil girls, junior Jonah Weeks (who won the Most Inspirational Girl team award for 2005), and sophomore Jenna Fritz:

DyeStatCal: The Davis girls are the 3rd in the state and 1st in the Sac-Joaquin Section. Do you pay any attention to the rankings and do you feel any pressure because of them?

Jonah: I think it really helps our confidence; like we’re setting our sights and we know we want to do really good. And I think it makes us think our goals are more plausible.

Jenna: I think for me being young and having all this weight put on you – “Oh, your third in the state”, it’s really nerve racking, but it definitely gives us more incentive to work harder.

DyeStatCal: I have a question for you Jenna. Last year you were top five on the team, lots of good races, and along with Maddie (Hall), and Emily (Diamond), you came on the scene. Now you’re already a league champion, already a section champion, already highly ranked in the state, and (because Davis HS is only grades 10-12) you haven’t even started high school yet. What’s it like to have all this team success before you’ve even set foot in your high school?

Jenna: I definitely feel way more confident. I feel like I have a passion that I can work hard. (Entering) high school you have all these people all around you that are really supportive and know who are and know how hard you work and it’s a huge feeling of support for you continued years.

DyeStatCal: You ladies are not seven-strong; you’re way more than that. Do you feel already the competition to continue to be Top 7 and how do you deal with the pressures that might come from that?

Jonah: We definitely are feeling it, even on the workouts. But it’s not a bad thing especially because we’re really a tightly-knit group of girls. It’s not a bad competition. It’s nice in a way to know that there’s a lot of girls that if you don’t do your absolute best, it’s not like you’re running in the race alone.

Jenna: I think going into this year, there’s more question about who’s going to be top seven so it makes us work harder and work against each other but at the same time it’s all friendly competition. So we don’t know who’s going to be top seven and that’s exciting and it’s nerve-wracking, but it gives us so much more to work for.

DyeStatCal: Jonah the next question is, what’s the best race you had last year (besides your 11:12 at Masters in track) and your favorite course?

Jonah: I definitely think my best race was Mt. SAC and it’s my favorite course as well. The hills are challenging but they’re perfect for me. I know a lot of people don’t like the amount of hills, but it’s so cool to be at a meet of that magnitude. It’s really nice to have your whole team there. I think that I had a good race personally because I PR’d from my time last year by over a minute and we were in a smaller race (non-seeded) so my place was pretty high too.

Jenna: Actually I have the same answer. Mt SAC was definitely my favorite course and I think Stanford earlier in the year when I ran JV - that was probably my best race. But Mt SAC, too, I was second on the team and I felt so good.

DyeStatCal: Coach Gregg was telling me about the pasta feeds and how Mt SAC is special to the team and an ‘earned’ event. Here in Davis it seems like the students are really active with singing, leadership council, or sorts of other activities. What other things make being on the Davis cross country team different and special and a good way to spend your time?

Jonah: Definitely a sense of community and everyone is so close. I feel the most comfortable with people on the cross country team. Jenna and I haven’t been friends all that long but now she’s absolutely my best friend. Everyone’s supportive of everyone else. There’s so many different dynamics on the team.

Jenna: I couldn’t as a freshman ask for a better situation. I felt so welcome and people embrace you so much whether your fast, whether you’re not so fast…

DyeStatCal: Something different now. Give me a one word answer that best describes each of these teammates:

"Maddie (Hall)" --------> Jonah: 'Fireball'; Jenna: 'Energy'

"Emily (Diamond)" --------> Jonah: 'Cerebral (and Serene)'; Jenna: 'Power'

"Chelsea (Reilly)" -----------> Jonah (without hesitation): 'Ambitious'; Jenna: 'Dedication'

"Rebecca (Yoo)" -------> Jonah: 'Wise'; Jenna: 'Driven'

"Jenna (Fritz)": Jonah: 'Love (and Supportive)'

"Jonah (Weeks)": Jenna: 'Focused'

(Note: Sorry Merek, we forgot to ask about you).

We next had a chat with the coach’s son Brendan Gregg who was 3rd in the section in D1 in 2005 and a 2006 state track qualifier at 3200 meters (3rd place, 9:25.)

DyeStatCal: The official SJS boys rankings aren’t out yet so you’ve been chosen to give us the “Brendan Gregg Sac-Joaquin Top 3 Teams”.

Brendan: #1 for sure you always have to put Jesuit. They’ve been on top forever and they’ll be on top again this year unless we can do something about it. I’d put us a solid second. For #3, I’d probably go with Fairfield. I think they return most of their squad and they were a solid team last year and should be good again this year. Maybe Woodcreek, too. I saw that preview and they look like a solid team too.

DyeStatCal: You guys lose Scott (Halladay, University of Washington). Tell me about how the rest of the team is composed and who’s been working hard over the summer.

Brendan: We should have a really solid squad. I would pencil Matt Peterson in Scott’s spot. He’s going to be a sophomore. He had a great freshman track season: 4:44 in the mile, 10:08 for the two mile. He’s a really hard worker. He has a twin brother Drew and they both work really hard. Zach Bonner I think is really going to turn some heads. I can see him going under 16 at Woodward Park. He’s been training really hard. Me and Zach and Patrick (Lynch) went down to Santa Barbara for that camp down there. That was a really great experience so our confidence is really high right now. Everyone’s been training hard. Losing Scott was a big loss but everyone’s been building base and I think we’ll come into the season pretty fit and we’ll go from there.

DyeStatCal: Let’s do a little catch-up. Your sister Kaitlin was a very good runner at Davis High School (’05) and now she’s at UC Davis.

Brendan: I guess she was a recruited walk-on last year? And then she made the varsity traveling squad and that was a great accomplishment, really cool. And she’s really enjoying the team there. She’s been training hard all summer and had a good track season. She ran a nice 5k (18:15) here at the Davis track in the Woody Wilson meet. So yeah, she’s having fun in Division 1 athletics. (Note: some of Kaitlin’s teammates at UCD are Lorin Scott-San Pasqual, Amy Robinson-Maria Carillo, and Michelle Solone-Folsom)

DyeStatCal: Your dad seems like he’s having as much fun as ever directing this juggernaut.

Brendan: It’s been great because he’s really got a balance going between having a big team and having a quality team. He’ll have each year over a hundred runners but he’ll still balance managing that many runners and keeping a quality team together. He’s having a lot of fun with it and he’s really taken the program to another level in recent years. We were 5th in 2000 for the boys and that was a great result. But in the last couple years, we’ve refocused the training. He hasn’t completely redone the plan but we’ve got a real solid training program going and he’s got people to buy into it and train hard and really gotten people to believe that they can be a top squad and compete with people like Jesuit and schools from the Southern Section.

DyeStatCal: For Brendan Gregg, give me a couple goals this year.

Brendan: First and foremost, lead the team to the podium at the state meet. That’s been our big goal. We sat down at the beginning of summer and set that (goal). That’s #1 in everyone’s mind. For myself individually, I’d like to get on the podium at the state meet, top 3. Ever since I was little - going to track meets with my dad and my sister - we both wanted to be section champion. And so that should be an attainable goal, I’m looking forward to the section meet. Brad Doering from Yuba City is a great runner. I have a lot of respect for him. He’s got a great kick. And as a “way out there” goal, I’d like to qualify for FootLocker Nationals.

Brendan’s dad, Coach Bill Gregg, took the time to suppress our curiosity about what makes the Blue Devils tick, their history, and what 2006 holds in store.

DyeStatCal: Would you mind giving us a little history on your running background, years in coaching, and where you’ve picked up some of your training philosophies?

Coach Gregg: I competed in track and cross country in junior high and high school, grades 9 -12, in Chico, CA. In college, I ran track and cross country at Butte Junior College, and cross country at UC Davis. I was a multi-sport athlete in high school, also participating in swimming and alpine ski racing in addition to track and cross country.

I started coaching in 1978. I've coached swimming, skiing, cross country, and track. I was fortunate to be an assistant coach for women's cross country and track at UC Davis from 1983 to 1989 where I learned a lot from UCD Hall of Fame coach Sue Williams. I coached skiing at Davis Senior High from 1989 to 1997. I began coaching cross country and track at Davis High in 1997.

I consider my high school track and cross country coach, Chuck Sheley, and my age group swim coach, Ernie Maglischo, as the two most influential people with respect to my coaching philosophy. Sheley was a great motivator, a master at making people feel valued, and getting the best out of every athlete. Maglischo, author of three books that set the standard internationally for swim coaches, is an incredible coach-scientist who constantly studies both the biomechanics and physiology of swimming. I feel that I am just a messenger to pass their wisdom and legacy onward to the athletes that I am presently coaching. (Note: Dr. Maglischo wrote Swimming, Swimming Even Faster, and Swimming Fastest)

DyeStatCal: Bill, can you give us a rundown on some of the elite runners Davis HS has produced and which of those you had the opportunity to coach and maybe where they are now.

Coach Gregg: I can speak mostly of the recent past, although we are working on compiling a history of track and field and cross country at Davis High. Here is a partial list of some Davis High runners since 1995:

DyeStatCal: The 2006 boys and girls teams both appear quite strong. Without giving away all your secrets, has your approach to this season differed in any way from years past? And what’s the single most important change you’ve implemented through the years due to experience in the way you design a training plan for the season?