There are many moving parts to a cross country team. Teams are always in dynamic flux due to scholastics, home-life, other school involvement, outside school interests, etc. So who really is the real “glue” that seems to hold your team scoring together and who has become a running threat that may not have started out that way? Better to take a quick look at the latter first.
Every sport starts their season listing those who should be watched and could do well. And, as I have said in one of my previous blogs there should be no surprise that new faces will come and should also be mentioned in this “to be watched” group. Some of those who are currently ”in the hunt” with those earlier mentioned leaders are: Keaton Wheeler (Marion C. Early), Logan Bohannon (Ozark), Justin Miller (Willard), Will Crutcher (Rolla), Abby Painter (Marion C. Early), Madison Seeker (Carl Junction), Shane Burns (Strafford), Logan Sicilia (Ava), Jared Ozee (Kickapoo), Dalton Edwards (Glendale), Tadd Capron (Webb City), Blake Procell (Nixa), and Grant Miller (Webb City). You and I know that THERE ARE MORE but I wanted to put a shout out to these and those just like them that have become more of the “backbone” to their programs. Maybe I should really say “glue!"
So about this Glue…Well first off every coach knows that runners that finish in the top 10 are the ideal and also very hard to replace when they graduate. And, depending on the strength of runners in any particular meet, if you are scoring your 3rd-5th runners in the top 12 of the field then great but, this still may not actually be what I mean by “being the glue” of the team.
Being a top scorer does not automatically accomplish this!
The term “Glue” refers to any group of runners that you count on and must run close to each other to help your team score high. So, regardless of the talent level or even team rank every team will have some of these. But, have you recognized their true value? Last week at the Chili Pepper Invitational, Joplin girls placed 20th with their last 3 scoring runners only 14 seconds apart (they needed this to keep their team place)! Nixa girls also showed their “glue” at this meet because had any of their top scoring 4 runners fallen out, their next scoring runner would have given up to 150 extra points. Webb City boys finished 7th as a team there and their middle scorers were only 5 second apart but still separated by 36 places! This is Glue folks, glue!
Here is a last example to illustrate my point. With my last top 12 team at State I knew that I had Spencer Haik to score up front. What I learned as the season went along was that there was one runner (4th usually for us at meets) who seemed to push my #3 and pull my #5! This guy was certainly not my fastest but was the “glue” that held this pack together in many races.
So, who is holding their team together so far this season, or better yet who really controls your team scoring? Those in the individual top 10 may (you certainly need these points) but who helps the rest of the team to race or pack or pass or whatever is needed to help the team win? Often times individual winners only know how to run their own race. Here are a few examples that I have noticed so far: At Carthage, Webb City boys finished 2nd but used 22,27 and 44,47 team places for their last 4 runners to only lose to West Plains; at the Memphis Twilight Meet Hutchinson, Ingalls, and Hitch finished 28,29,33 to help West Plains boys finish 2nd; while in the same meet Sanders, Harto, and Bower finished 20,21,37 for West Plains girls (2nd pl.); at the Nixa Invitational, Branson girls won by placing 3,9 but also 15,17,18 to narrowly beat Carl Junction, who had a 1,2,7 placing but dropped off from there.
Carthage boys used a 10,11,12,16,17 to win at the Nixa meet; at the Rim Rock Invitational, Carthage girls finished 5th in the Blue division and used a 78,81,86 team split for their 3rd-5th runners to beat the next placed team while Nixa’s girls ran runners #4-6 in team places 78,82,89 for 8th place team. Webb City boys finished 8th at Rim Rock with their 4th and 5th runners running 90, 95 to beat the next team by 31 points! Finally, at Lamar last week Seneca boys beat Cassville by only 1 point. Their last 3 scoring runners ran 36,37,40! At the same meet, Monett girls placed their 2nd-5th runners at 11,12,13,17 to clearly beat Marion C. Early , but still lost to Stockton who had their top 4 placed higher in the order of finish with a great 4,6,9,10 team placing.
The point to make is take a good look at who on your team is/are really stringing points together. Top individual finishes are great and we all want them, but your real success in larger meets and post season meets to qualify to State may depend on the “glue” that has to be there for your team to really run at its potential.
Remember, my Opinion, Experiences, Training….I’m Just Saying
Jeff Berryessa is a retired XC coach.
