DyeStatCal Girls
Coach of the Week
Crescenta Valley HS
Mark Evans

Week of 10/16-20, 2006
California


photo courtesy Clovis HS
Coach Mark Evans of Crescenta Valley and his winning group at the Clovis Invite!

Crescenta Valley HS in La Crescenta (just above Glendale) has a great distance running tradition.  Coach Keith Gilliland led the 1981 squad to a CIF Southern Section Championship, led by Kinney Western Regional champ Jeff Holyfield, with the school all-time lists built up during the decades since the 1960's very, very impressive.  Coach Mark Evans, whose wife Linda interestingly is a co-Principal at CV, has handled the Boys and Girls program in recent years with impressive success.  His 2006 Girls team is the latest outstanding group, with the heavily underclass squad poised for a big finish to this Fall's season and some bigger headlines in 2007!  Evans handled both the Boys and Girls teams at Crescenta Valley, with a spirited Boys' league rivalry with Arcadia, and Coach Jim O'Brien, this week's State Boys Coach of the Week. 

The 2006 Girls Varsity group has very steadily progressed over the last two years through Fall and Spring seasons, with the group currently holding down a #5 overall Statewide ranking in the Nike Team Nationals Regional report and with track teams worth keeping an eye on in the distance relays come later this school year.  Squad leader Rachel Lange made the jump to the elite prep level with a super 17:59 run at Woodward Park for third at the Clovis Invitational seeded race, with the team a winner at that competition.  The Falcons at CV are always noted for a fine peak to their season, with developments in the next month for the program certainly worth keeping an eye on.  We think it will be very tough to keep this group away from the plaque award ceremony in Fresno!   

Congrats - good luck
Doug Speck
DyeStatCal.com

1) Describe how the season has gone so far for your team--

I am very pleased with how the season has gone so far. We are well ahead of how we were racing at this time last year. Winning Clovis was a nice surprise. Our goal was to get in a good race on the course and stay close to the other teams. We came out of that with some confidence and a feeling that we just might be a pretty good team. The girls were excited but felt that they can run better and run well within themselves.


2) What have been the personality characteristics of this group that you think has helped them to be so successful?

This is a great group. I enjoy being around them and they enjoy being with each other. They have a lot of fun together. They work so well together. Some have seen their role change but there is real support of each other that this has gone smoothly. If someone struggles in a race or workout or is having a bad day the others are there to give support. This is a close group of girls but they also have other individual interests and other groups of friends outside the team they hang out with. They are also very focused and are tough competitors.

3) What was your personal athletic background?

I ran track and cross country through high school and college. I went to La Salle HS in Pasadena then to Pasadena City College. My sophomore year we were 4th in the state JC meet. I then went on to San Jose State and competed my last two years there. We were in the PCAA conference which is now the Big West. This was also before we went metric. I was 2nd in the conference 3 mile as a junior and won the conference 3 mile as a senior. I had NCAA qualifying times both years and got to run in the NCAA meet in 71 & 72.


4) Who have you borrowed from in your coaching philosophy?

I had great coaches and teachers as an athlete. My high school coach and history teacher, Jim Brown was great. At PCC Larry Knuth was and continues to be a big influence on my coaching and my life. He was so much fun to run for. While at PCC I also got a chance to work with Vince O’Boyle who was just starting out in coaching. I also learned a lot from Tracy Smith who was an Olympian in 68. He worked with me my soph track season. Currently I use a lot of Daniels and Vigil. I incorporate of lot their stuff in our workouts.


5) The Crescenta Valley (La Crescenta) area kind of an up and down area with a lot of hills to run because of this--do you think this is an advantage in cross country training?

This is such a great area to train for cross country. It is a big advantage and I am just beginning to take full advantage of it. The kids really don’t know anything else. Hills are a part of every run we do because there is no flat area. Even our flat recovery runs have an incline.


6) What was your situation as far as a summer program with this year's group at CV?

We started in mid July. We meet 6 days a week with Saturdays being a long run day. Not everyone was there every day but they had their calendars and knew what to do. In addition to the long run we always got in a tempo run and either speed play or hill repeats during the week. We went to Mammoth the 2nd week of August and had a great camp. The team really bonded and got in some good runs and had a lot of fun. We have just taken it from there.


7) Do you have any benchmark workouts that you do during a cross-country season to see where a group is at?

I really like tempo runs. We will use a 25 minute tempo on our course at CV Park as a benchmark. I can tell how they are doing by where they are at 20 minutes and at the 3 mile mark. I will also use miles at interval pace in the park with a 3 minute rest as a benchmark.

8) Tell us about the new athletic facility at school and the effect you think it will have on the track and cross-country teams--
We have a new 8 lane Rekortan track with a turf infield. It is great. I won’t have to drain the mini lakes after the rains or have kids run on hard concrete like dirt after the winds blow. It is a great surface to train on and should be very fast. We do not get on the track much in cross country but the kids are excited about it for track season. That track is probably the only truly flat place in La Crescenta.

9) What advice would you have for a beginning cross-country coach who has just started their career?

I would advise young coaches to go to clinics. The AAF clinics are great. Seek out coaches of programs they respect and talk to them. They also need to read. I would start with Daniels and Vigil. You also need to look at the mental aspects of competing. Don’t be afraid to adjust or change things even in the middle of a workout. You need to be flexible. Talk to your athletes. After you do a series of workouts see what works for them. It is about what they have confidence in doing. If they like tempo miles better than a 25 minute tempo run then do tempo miles. Reflect on what you did at the end of each season and make adjustments. Most of all be positive and have fun.

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