May Update of All Thing Good

Busy, busy, busy.  That's how things have been.  We finished up a great outdoor track season which was quite blessed.  The girls squad placed 10th at the state meet with several qualifiers but mainly featuring Monet Lewis winning the 100 and 300 hurdles.  8th grader Troianna Gause qualified for her second state meet 1600 and ran 5:50 or better a half dozen times this year.  The Curtis boys won their 9th straight track title by narrowly beating Jewel Sumner in the last stretch of the 4x400.  It was an exciting race!

Individually for the boys, Trey Stewart placed third in the 1600, splitting 2:09 for his last 800 to run a 4:40.  Austin Brown was second in the 800 with a time of 1:56.  Also 8th grader Zachary Barthel placed 4th in the 3200 with a 10:25 after a long rain delay.  The show of the meet was Devyn Keith winning the 1600, 800, and 3200 for John Curtis with times of 4:34, 1:55, and 9:59.  All distance runners from the state meet for Curtis return for next year which should mean some fast times in the future.

Congratulations to Christian Paz of both Southern Athletics and John Curtis who signed with Mississippi College to run next year.  Christian was 6th place at the state meet in cross country and 3rd place at the indoor state meet in the 3200.  He finished the year with bests of 4:45 and 10:14.

Now that outdoor track is over, summer track is just beginning!  The Southern Athletics crew is preparing to start their training and racing this coming week.  Expect some fun this summer.  If you are interested in running or racing with us, it isn't too late to sign up!  Just click on the Southern Athletics tab for more information.

And lastly, I have compiled the years worth of Training To Be Your Best and amended some weeks and will be posting both the cross country and track training program very soon for you guys to follow at home and pass along to friends and coaches.

Summer track action is about to begin!

LTFCA Clinic

Everyone who knows me knows that I love to go to clinics to learn from some of the top names in the sport.  Luckily, once a year I find myself able to go to the state coaches conference held by our state coaches association in tandem with the USTFCCCA.  While there is a social element, there are always great speakers, especially in distance.  Last year I listened to nationally renowned head coach for Stillwater High school, Scott Christensen, who has had four of his athletes go on to break 4 minutes for the mile in college.  This year the head coach of John Curtis has been invited to speak on sprints, so that should make for a good talk as well. Here is a little preview I have written for Louisiana Running, our milesplit affiliate, to show what the event has to offer:

This Thursday and Friday the Louisiana Track and Field Coaches Association will be putting on their annual coaches convention where training ideas are discussed, new LHSAA and NFHS rules are presented, and a social atmosphere is a focal point.  

Held at the Ramada Lafayette Conference Center (formerly a Holiday Inn) in Lafayette, the two day event kicks off Thursday evening at 6:00 PM with a great cast of speakers.  Heather Van Norman, former LSU All-American and current coach at Nicholls State University is the main sprints speaker; Calvin Robinson of Louisiana Tech is the main jumps speaker.  Calvin has coached such athletes as recent long jump bronze medalist at the Olympics, Blessing Okagbare; Bob Nihells of Lake Park High School in Illinois is the main throws speaker and has won the Gill Coach of the Year award in 2011.  And lastly, the dynamo of the conference is two time Olympian and current LSU distance coach Khadevis Robinson.  

There is a coaching social at the end of the evening on Thursday, then a full schedule of rules clinics, awards, and more speakers the next day.  There are four slots for speakers on Friday and they are all set up at the same time, allowing coaches to listen to different speakers who focus on different events if they should want to.  And lastly, with registration you receive a year membership in the LTFCA.  New coaches, this is the perfect opportunity to find out much more about your sport, and old coaches this is a way to keep in touch with newer training methods etc.  Hope to see you guys out there!

Cross Country Season In Review

It was an eventful cross country season and I am still recovering!  I'm happy to say that we had several individuals athletes in addition to the teams from John Curtis that had a great season.  I wanted to recap the accomplishments of the runners who run for JC in addition to the athletes that trained with Southern Athletics in the summer or the fall.

John Curtis Boys-
Louisiana 3A State Champions (25 points)
5 All-State Class Top 10 (Devyn Keith, Austin Brown, Trey Stewart, Christian Paz, Zachary Barthel)
Composite All-State Devyn Keith
3A State Champion Devyn Keith
Nike South Regional Top 40 Finish Devyn Keith
Nike South Regional Cross Country Championship Race Appearance (2nd in a row)
District 11-3A Champions (3rd year in a row)
Northshore Metro Runner-Up
New Orleans Metro Runner-Up
Metro Champion Devyn Keith
3 New Orleans All-Metro (Devyn Keith, Austin Brown, Christian Paz)
District Champion Dwayne Woodfox
School Record 2 Miles XC Devyn Keith 10:08
School Record 3 Miles XC Devyn Keith 15:38
School Record 5k XC Devyn Keith 16:16

John Curtis Girls-
Louisiana 3A State Runner-Ups
2 All-State Class Top 10 (Hannah Ivory, Troianna Gause)
Composite All-State Hannah Ivory
3A State Runner-Up Hannah Ivory
All-New Orleans Metro Hannah Ivory
School Record 2 Miles XC Hannah Ivory 12:40
School Record 3 Miles XC Hannah Ivory 19:27
School Record 5k XC Hannah Ivory 20:53

Southern Athletics Athletes-
Dionysia Love- All-New Orleans Metro
Jeanee Romero- All-State Class 4A Top 10
Thomas Kelton- Livingston Parish Runner-Up
Fernando Paz- Qualifier National Christian College Athletic Association National XC Championship
Dustin Kinard- Southland Conference Championship competitor for University of New Orleans

And not to forget all the John Curtis Track and Field athletes competing in the LHSAA 3A Football  State Title game in two weeks!

Once again, great job guys!

November Update of All Things Good

Hey guys, I know it seems I've been a bit behind the curve the past few weeks, but all with good reason.  The season and the semester are at a very busy phase, though everything should be calmed down by Thanksgiving break.  The Louisiana state cross country championships are coming up next Monday and Tuesday (yes, I know, really late in the year) so the team has been working hard to prepare for the home stretch.  We placed highest we ever had last week at the New Orleans metro championship where we compete against schools with over a thousand students (we have under 400 total boys and girls in high school) so the steady progression is something any coach can be happy with.  Going into the state meet the boys have the opportunity to compete for the title while the girls have a realistic chance to place top 5!  Also, there are several other runners who ran with Southern Athletics this summer who are competing for various schools across the state and I will compile their accomplishments once the season is over so people can know how hard we worked in summer track!

The weekly training guide I have been posting will take a short hiatus now that the season is over although by the middle of December I should be posting track training.  I hope that if you followed the cross country guide you had a good season.  Feel free to email me and update me on your success! After this year I will compile the training posts into one document so you can follow the training each year.  I will make a few minor adjustments (as coaches always do) to make the training better for the next go round.

As far as the weekend reads I've been posting in the Knowledge Is Power section, I do plan on doing them again, but it may be a bit spread out until the school semester is over.  There are a lot of exciting storylines going on in the world of track and field, especially for the high school age group, and I want to keep you kept up on it!

Unfortunately, the team Louisiana for Footlocker South this year has not come to fruition because of some scheduling conflicts by the athletes, but nevertheless I will work to try the team out for next year.

Also, my company, Vintage Performance, plans on making a big push in the new year to help athletes (and ordinary people!) across south Louisiana and further so expect more information about that in the future.  I'm also starting to put together the information for next summers Southern Athletics team so if you are interested in joining let me know and I can get you in on the fun.  I hope you are enjoying your winter so far.  It's been a cool 75 degrees the past few days down here!

Track in 2014 is going to be an amazing year!

October Update Of All Things Good

If you haven't noticed, I've been really busy lately!  Between school, coaching, and some projects I am working on, things have been hectic, but all is well.  The John Curtis boys XC team has done well and has been ranked as high as #3 overall in the state and #1 in class 3A.  The girls XC team has been ranked as high as #5 in 3A and looks to reach the goals they set out with from the summer despite losing several varsity runners from last year to other sports.  The JC football team played the hardest 5 game stretch in the country and came out 3-2.  Good job guys, keep up the work till state!

The weather changes coming should help runners across the south run some good times, especially for the ones who get the opportunity to run the Walker Shootout and Rollette Invite on the north shore of Louisiana.  Remember to say warm when the weather gets colder so you don't get sick!

I'm still working on assembling the team Louisiana for Footlocker South and there has been a lot of responses and interest.  The more kids choose to seek out the best competition possible, the better off the sport is everywhere across the country.

I'm currently working with Louisiana Running Company and the New Orleans Track Club to help promote the sport in the city and work with local runners to help them reach their competitive training goals.  Just like I put up weekly training for high school athletes (and I will continue to do that through the year and into track), we may work on training programs for road racers.  Both groups already have weekly running sessions in New Orleans so check them out!

LRC sponsored the awards for the JCCS meet in September.

I'm looking forward to next summer as well as the Southern Athletics program continue to grow.  I'm currently looking to decide what this years uniforms will look like, although I still have a few of the all-blue uniforms for those who liked last years version.  Should I do white this year?

I expect to be back to writing as much as I did in the summer once the semester dies down in December.  If you have any wishes for me to write on, email me and I may put together a post about it. Consider it an early Christmas present!

Putting On A Meet

I've worked with several major local and national meets throughout the past few years and I can tell you that it is amazing how much organization and time is required to put together a quality competition.  Especially in a sport like track where there are over a dozen and a half different events that require different equipment, plus the necessary area to actually compete in those events.  Even in cross country you find that several hundred kids may be running and you have to make sure the meet runs well. It certainly isn't for the faint of heart, but putting together a good crew of coaches and volunteers will do a great service to you and your event and will help you put on quality events that people will return to in the future.

Here is a short list of ideas/considerations for when you are putting a meet together:

1) Have each team volunteer a coach or athlete to help you work an event.  This speeds up the meet and allows for athletes to more easily move from event to event if necessary.

2) Enlist help from the parents of your athletes.  It may be simple work like handing out medals but it will really help you to focus on the other scores of tasks on your plate.

3) Don't do more than you need to.  Rarely will a cross country meet need FAT (Fully Automatic Timing), and you don't need to announce the names of every individual that competes in each heat during track.  Sure all of that adds to the depth of your event, but if you don't have the money and manpower, focus rather on doing everything else well.  If the meet is successful, more people will come, and that will allow you to add more amenities down the road.

4) Look for sponsors!  Many stores may give you t-shirts or other items as awards, or businesses that your athletes parents work at may donate food, drinks, or money.  Since most cross country meets don't make much money, that is a wonderful blessing.

5) Finally, don't forget to budget in medical or police staff if you need it.  Many states require one or the other or both, or at least for liability reasons you may want to have them.  See if you can get discount rates through your school or local

Interview with Alison Ringle of Parkway

I recently interviewed Alison Ringle of Parkway High School in Shreveport, Louisiana for the Louisiana Milesplit affiliate, Louisiana Running.  Alison is one of the top runners in the gulf south and is looking to put together a fantastic senior season.  

LR: As one of the top runners in the state, will you travel to any major regional or national meets this year to represent your school and the state?

AR: I do plan to travel to major meets this year.  I am headed to to USATF National championships in Greensboro, NC next week where I will race the 1500 and 3000m.  I also plan on racing at the Mobile championships for cross country and track, Nike Cross Regionals in the Woodlands, TX, Sugarbowl, Texas relays, and more.

LR: You recently ran some great times at the USATF regional meet in Baton Rouge. Can you describe that experience a bit?

AR: It was definitely a great experience!  I've achieved some of my goals that I set for these summer meets already, and it's exciting to know that I have one more chance to exceed those goals even further.

LR: Were you expecting to run that fast in the heat of the summer?

AR: I definitely knew that running in the summer heat would be a challenge, but part of running is learning to overcome those challenges.  With hard training and dedication, I did expect a pretty good summer season.

LR: Have you started considering any schools for college and are you currently planning on competing at the next level?

AR: I do plan on competing in college, and I am considering multiple options.

LR: What are some of the aspects of a school that you would look for in helping determine a college?

AR: I would like to attend a school that has a very good running program/team and will better myself as a distance runner, as well as somewhere that provides a quality education. 

LR: What are you favorite meets to race, and what meet are you looking forward to the most this year (outside of the state meet)?

AR: Other than state, I am really looking forward to racing the Chili Pepper in Fayettville, AR and returning to the Texas relays in the spring.

LR: What about working with Coach Falting do you believe makes you and your teammates successful runners?

AR: Coach Falting is truly the best coach that anyone could ask for.  He invests so much of his time in every single one of us and understands what each of us needs to do to better ourselves indivually and as a team. 

LR: Do you have a pre-meet ritual to get mentally prepared, and if so, do you mind sharing?

AR: Before a race, I like to listen to music and say a prayer before the race starts.

LR: Do you look up to any other runner, either in college or on the professional level?

AR: Since I was a freshman running the same race with her, I have always looked up to Kaitlin Flattman.  She is an amazing athlete, and it's inspiring to see the amount of success that she has had.

LR: What is the best pre-race pump up song?

AR: I've had a few favorites since I started running.  Right now my two favorites are "Hall of Fame" and "Radioactive".

LR: Thanks for your time.

AR: Thank you for your interest!

Preseason Rankings

As the season approaches, we've put together some pre-season rankings over at Milesplit. Listed here is the rankings, and bolded are the teams/athletes I work with. Can't wait for the fall season. Next stop, though, is AAU Club Championships. See you guys in Orlando!

Boys Small School (C-3A)

1) EHS
2) Ascension Catholic
3) St. Thomas Aquinas
4) John Curtis
5) ED White
6) West Feliciana
7) University Lab
8) Patrick Taylor
9) Anacoco
10) Choudrant

Girls Small School (C-3A)

1) Sacred Heart
2) EHS
3) Menard
4) St. Thomas Aquinas
5) ED White
6) Catholic, PC
7) Ascension Catholic
8) McGehee
9) Newman
10) John Curtis

Girls Top 25 Seniors:

12) Jeanee Romero, Karr 4A

Boys Top 25 Seniors:

25) Christian Paz, John Curtis 3A

Five Questions for Fall 2013

Halfway through the summer months, and unless you are running summer track races, time can be slow and boring.  Speculation about the fall cross country campaign and talk about the what-ifs can fill our mind, so here is a list of the top 5 questions on the minds of fans across the state.

5) Will this be one of the fastest years in LA history?  While stories of sub 15s and teams who averaged mid to low 15s abound from the old guard, it is hard to verify results, but one only needs to look and see that LA returns 22 runners at 16:08 or better and have 8 runners who have bested 9:45 that will be running the courses around Louisiana this fall.  Could this be a multiple sub 15 year?  

4) Will this be one the last years that public and private schools compete against each other in Louisiana?  Despite the LHSAA calling the issue Select vs Non-Select, this is a public vs. private battle.  In their infinite wisdom, the LHSAA had decided to divide the publics and privates into separate playoff brackets for football (the 5A private school bracket has only 10 teams in the whole division.  You can lose every game and still make the playoffs) which is actually one of the most competitive sports of public schools.  Actually, outside of the small schools (1A-3A), public schools win more often in football than the private schools.  It is the Olympic sports that the private schools dominate.  Last year, public schools won only 2 of the 10 cross country state championships from 1A and up.  In the era of "everybody gets a trophy", one can only imagine that the precedent has been set to exclude private schools from public schools that the future of the format we currently compete under is in jeopardy.

3) Will Louisiana have any national class cross country runners?  Zachary Albright of SPS has clocked at 9:14 but also has the speed to run a 1:55.  We know his prowess on the track as evidenced by a pair of Emerging Elite All-American honors he accrued this past season but his cross country season was less prominent, yielding just a third place at state meet.  If Albright looks to qualify for any major national competitions for cross he needs to build off the strength of his track season and look to run well under 15 minutes for the three mile this fall.  On the girls side, the three girls who have a shot at making a splash would be Mia Meydrich of Dominican, Allison Ringle of Parkway, and Gabrielle Jennings of First Baptist.   Jennings left the track season with best marks, clocking a 5:05 mile with Meydrich hitting a 5:07 in the 1600.  Both girls finished the track season strong and healthy and hopefully it will lead to a strong fall as well.  Ringle, who ran well but not on the same level as the other girls in track, could be strongest in cross country though, where she the highest returner in 5A, having bested Meydrich for second at the state meet in cross in 2012.

2) Can EHS boys team win their 18th in a row this year?  Incredibly one of the longest winning streaks in the country has a great chance to continue, although there is some serious competition this year.  Even with the departure of ace runner Christian Johnson and a couple others, EHS is loaded and will be ready to tackle challengers from STA.  The Falcons only lose one runner from last years 3rd place squad and will be laden with seniors hungry for their first state championship.  Will the maturity of the EHS runners prevail or with STA finally break the streak?

1) Can St. Paul's win 5A this year?  Okay, so this isn't much of a question since SPS is widely considered the top program in the state by a wide margin, but SPS has entered the state championship the last two years as the favorites.  Two years ago they struggled with the temperature in the race and were hit hard by dehydration, then last year West Monroe had the race of their lives to knock off SPS who actually had a fine meet themselves.  This year the team returns a whole top 5 who has run 4:42 or better and a handful of runners who are 10 flat talents or better.  The senior duo of Zachary Albright and DC Lipani should be ready to lead the team.  The only team that looks to offer any depth remotely competitive to SPS would be the perennial powerhouse Catholic High who will lack star power going into this year (although, I fully believe that they will have some athletes rise to the challenge as usual).  West Monroe could obviously surprise and be a very good team but the exit of half their varsity squad will make a repeat run very difficult.

Chaz Caiado is a contributor to Louisiana Running, a Milesplit Affiliate, and this article can also be found here.