Cross country Head Coach Greg Garzon got an unexpected boost in his attempt to make his inaugural year at St. Ed’s more than just an opportunity to get acquainted with the 32 runners on his roster.
Garzon taught high school chemistry in Buffalo NY prior to securing a similar position at St. Ed’s. A cross country background at Virginia Tech made him the number one choice to take over the coaching vacancy at his new school.
“The key thing I’m trying to do right now is grow the team,” Garzon says. “When I came on board we only had five people from the previous year. The hope is that next year I can concentrate more on winning. However, at this point we are off to a good start. We have a large number of people with experience from other sports.
“At a small school it’s important to have some flexibility between sports, otherwise we wouldn’t have enough numbers. Other coaches encouraged their athletes to try cross country as part of a training regimen. That has been a great benefit for me.”
Good athletes are a bonus in any sport. Garzon established a solid foundation for his cross country program with a significant contribution from the swim team. He also quickly learned that coaching demands a creative twist when athletes are in short supply.
Participation in multiple sports is encouraged at St. Ed’s. Garzon enlisted several athletes from the winter and spring sports teams, however the varsity swimming and cross country seasons run concurrently. When Garzon and swimming Head Coach Gavin Ross found it mutually beneficial to share athletes, some juggling was required for practices and meets.
“That was just an idea we had, and both coaches agreed to it,” senior Sean Kenney explained. “And it works. It helps the athletes on both teams. You get to be part of two teams at the same time and I love it. It’s been great so far. You get to focus on your main sport in practice, and if there is a conflict in scheduling, you go with your main sport.”
When he can, Kenney swims freestyle for the Pirates. His main gig, however, is co-captain for boys cross country. Senior Morgan Benson is cross country co-captain for the girls. She consented to jump over to the pool and assist with this experiment in blending teams.
“Cross country is my main priority because I committed to it first,” Benson said. “When the swim team needed people, I said that I would swim.”
This is Kenney’s third year running cross country. Benson, Josh Hurwitz, Kendra Mathes and Elizabeth Diaz are in their second year. That sums up the collective varsity experience.
“Our strong male runners right now are Sean Kenney, Josh Hurwitz and Zach Alerte,” Garzon said. “Zach’s primary sport is soccer and he is a very strong runner as well. On the girls side we have Morgan Benson, Candace Lombardi, and Ellie Reilly. We are hoping they can all secure a spot and do well at the district meet.”
Coleman Kramer, Andrew Brown, Michael Burke, Valerie Burke, Max Lindenthal, Kevin Murphy, Allan Ross and Spencer Greaves are some of the swimmers gaining newfound athletic training through distance (5K) running.
Exchange students Peter Zheng (China), Karol Stoltenberg (Germany) and Daniel Johansen (Norway) add a touch of international flavor. The first year coach has a lot of moving parts with this particular collection of runners.
“It’s very important to develop chemistry on the team,” Garzon said, referencing his bailiwick in academia. “I try to make it fun so we always remain mindful of the team bonding aspect. That definitely makes it more interesting for the runners.”
Benson also plays soccer and lacrosse. She told us, “I would like to get better and improve my times, but this is not my main sport, so I’m not concerned about getting insanely good times. The mentality of our coach is really good. He just wants us to get out and run.”
Freshman Tea Tee was surprised by how well she is doing in meets. “I just enjoy running and don’t see much difference between practice and meets. I like to find a nice pace and maintain it. Sometimes I don’t even think when I’m running, but late in the race I will try to pass the person just ahead of me.”
Kenney qualified for regionals in 2013 and looks for a return trip, hopefully with some company this time. “The top two teams at districts qualify for regionals. John Carroll has some of the best runners in the state, and at our first meet we came in third just behind rival Pine School. We know we can compete with the big guys in the district.”
Kenney’s 22:47 paced the host Pirates to victory in a meet last Saturday under extremely soggy conditions that prevented better times across the board. Kenney has a personal record of 18:12 and wants to get under 18 minutes when the district tournament rolls around.
Allan Ross finished a close second at 22.48. Benson’s 29:08 was good for second place amongst the girls. Tee was third at 30.17.