Chili Night Pictures

Pictures from XC Chili Night

Chili Night

Thursday night was cross country team chili night.  Upon arriving at Utah I started a tradition of thanking my xc team by inviting them to my home and making chili and cornbread for them. Last year we added a team trivia game for entertainment and it has become a permanent addition to the festivities as well.  

New this year was the location.  One of our assistant athletic directors and our current team adminstrator, Zach Lassiter, offered the home of his relatives who live here in Salt Lake as the host site for our dinner.  This house offered a lot more space and nicer amenities than my condo!!!  It was great to have the whole team be able to sit around one table to eat for the first time at this event.  Everyone had a nice couch or chair to sit on for the game as well.  That was not the case at my condo :)  

The only unfortunate thing about this year's event was that not all of the team members could attend due to night class or illness.  The cross country season being extended by Alyssa Abbott's first appearance at the NCAA championships was obviously a good thing.  However, it pushed this dinner back a couple weeks and put us right up against finals week.  Tonight was the best night for the most people so we had to go with it.  Don't worry...I brought take home bowls for those who couldn't make it.   So everyone got some home made, Grandma's recipe chili.  

Finally....I have to thank my Grandma Knoll for the recipe.  Besides the athletes absolutely loving it,  I took some of the leftovers to the athletic offices today and everyone who had a bowl either had seconds or asked for the recipe.  If you like chili then Utah is your school, ha ha!  

LoLo at Practice

Just another day of practice at our indoor facility...the Utah Olympic Oval.  The Oval was built for the 2002 Winter Olympics and continues to be the home of the U.S. Speed Skating team.  A 442 meter mondo track was also installed in the training facility and is our home during the indoor track & field season.  

Former Olympians and future Olympian speed skaters are around our practices during the winter season on a daily basis.  Apolo Anton Ono, Chad Hedrick, Derek Parra among others who are regulars at the Oval during our practice time.  

We also have a few track & field athletes who come to Salt Lake for training camps or promotional photo/commercial shoots in the Oval.  Today it was hurdler LoLo Jones who represented the U.S. in the Beijing Games and came within a hurdle of being the Olympic Champion.  She was at the Oval for a promotional shoot.  All of our athletes recognized her and she was very nice and accommodating with them.  She took time to speak with them, sign their spikes, and observe their workouts.  

Come be part of our Olympic Training environment at the University of Utah!!!

The Holy War

With a perfect season and a trip to a BCS Bowl game on the line our football team let arch rival BYU stay close for three quarters.  However, the Utes kicked it into another gear in the fourth quarter for a convincing 48-24 victory and claim the conference title with a 12-0 record.  Where will the Utes be playing in January?  The Valley of the Sun--Phoenix?  Mardi Gras Heaven--New Orleans? or the Mighty Orange--Miami.  Stay tuned for that announcement next week.  

NCAA XC Championships

Unfortunately one of the best seasons in Utah cross country had to come to an end.   However, ending the season with an athlete at the NCAA Championships was a great way to go out.  I sent Alyssa and our graduate assistant, Shayla out to Indiana on Friday before Monday's championship.  Due to having several recruits on campus Friday and Saturday I stayed back to entertain them and then catch up to Alys and Shay on Sunday morning.  Shayla has become a super assistant coach and Alys is about as low maintenance athlete as I've coached.  So I knew they would be perfectly fine without me for a few days.  

 They arrived and had a smooth trip.  They attended the Athletes Championship Banquet on Saturday evening with all of the other athletes and coaches.  They stayed in a new hotel near campus which provided them easy access to all the things they needed.  This year's participation gifts were a rolling travel bag with the NCAA Championship logo and a stocking hat.  I also purchased a black long sleeve/half zip that is embroidered with our school logo and notation of being an NCAA qualifier for Alyssa.  

  The conditions on meet day were less than ideal (cold, windy, and damp).  It had rained the night and morning prior to the race, but was dry at race time.  Alyssa was her usual self....focused, a little on edge, but ready to run a great race.  She later admitted that she was quite nervous, although she never really showed it.   That is what confidence allows you to do.  Alyssa's parents made the trip from Reno, NV which I know gave her a sense of comfort as well. 

  

  Our plan was to be out in the top half of the race at a mile and then start moving up through mile two to the top 100.  From there it would be maintaining a good rhythm and finishing strong.  We felt a top 80-100 finish was achievable and if everything went perfect she would possibly be running for an all-American spot (top 40).  

  

  As she approached the mile it was obvious that Alys was back a little further than we talked even though she was out in 5:29. Per our pre race plan I would see her again just before 3K.  As she came by I knew she had moved up, but I had to take a second look to really believe what I thought I had counted.  Sure enough....she was now in the top 100.  She had passed 40% of the entire field in 1400 meters.  So what would she have left?  At 4K she was 94th (:13:52) and as she passed me with 500 meters to go she was 84th.  She made the turn for home and was still passing people up the final stretch.  She finished 76th in 21:00 in her first NCAA championship. That time was :13 seconds better than she had run on the same course a month earlier with ideal weather conditions.  She was only 19 seconds from being an all-American.  It was an amazing effort.  There is no question Alyssa is one of the best collegiate cross country runners in the nation after that performance.  

  After the race it was back to Indianapolis for the evening as our flight back to Salt Lake wasn't until Tuesday morning.  We grabbed lunch near the hotel and then hand a nice dinner in downtown Indianapolis later that night.  

  It was a great trip and after all of that Alyssa was back in class on Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving--a true Student-Athlete.  There is a reason she was an all-Academic District Team honoree during track last semester.  Below are a few videos from the NCAA meet.

 

 

Utes 6th, Abbott to NCAA Championships

If this cross country season was a concert then our team played a lot of the right notes and left their supporters calling for an encore.  The early meets featured some great individual efforts and a variety of line ups that always seemed to keep everyone around us guessing about how could we really were or could be.  

After a 6th place finish at the Stanford Invite and an even better team effort at the Pre National meet all the pieces were falling into place for a great championship run.  

Insert short Utah history lesson:

Mountain West Conference team finishes:  2005-7th; 2006-6th; 2007-5th

NCAA Mountain Region team finishes: 2005-15th; 2006-11th, 2007-11th (tie) with one All-Region runner

Insert 2008 Utah Team Goals:

Conference: Top 3

NCAA Region: Top 7

As everyone who reads this blogs knows well by now...we had a phenomenal race at conference and finished third.  After that meet we were moved to fifth in the Mountain Region rankings tying the highest ranking in our program history). I wasn't quite sure how we were going to find a way to run any better than we did that day in San Diego.  So as a coach I decided to do what I had done since the Stanford meet....nothing!  I gave them workouts, set up the course for the workouts, gave them water, carried their wet shoes and shirts back to the locker room in my car, and then stayed out of the way!!!  

Coaching isn't always a bunch of magical words, tricks, or motivational ploys.  Sometimes it's simply providing a little guidance and self confidence and then letting the athletes make the magic themselves.  This group did that all year because it was always about the team and doing what they needed to do as individuals to help the team be successful.  It short...they figured out their individual roles on this team.  They gave a great effort every day, picked up others when they were down, and allowed their teammates to pick them up when they were not at their best on a given day.  

The Outcome and Encore:  All seven runners run lifetime bests for 6K, we have three finishers in the top 32, two All Region selections (top 25), and an individual NCAA championships qualifier.  Junior Alyssa Abbott ran 21 second PR to finish 9th and become Utah's first NCAA qualifier in over a decade.  Seniors Chelsea DiGrazia (who didn't run xc in high school---soccer player) and Lauren Endersen (who was told by college coach that she wouldn't be good enough to run at the DI level) were 21st and 32nd overall.  Endersen PR'd by 58 seconds.  Abbott and DiGrazia were both honored as All Mountain Region selections.  Our other two seniors Kellie Anderson (62nd) and Janett Ern (64th) also ran huge lifetime bests.  The two youngsters (So-Sam Gaffney and Fr-Carly Selleck) also ran big PR's to end the season.  

The Second Encore:  Abbott competes in her first NCAA championship meet after her status for the Regional meet was very much in doubt due to an IT band injury which continues to plague her.  Before we left on Thursday it was about 95% that she would not compete at the Regional meet.  By Friday she felt better and didn't want to give up hope of qualifying without trying. It's an injury that she really can't make any worse and running is a matter of pain tolerance.  Don't ever question Alyssa Abbott's toughness or tolerance!!!

The NCAA championship women's 6K will held in Terre Haute, IN and begin at noon (EDT). CBS College Sports Network will televise the race live.   

All Conference Teams

Junior Alyssa Abbott (4th overall)  First Team All-MWC

Senior Chelsea DiGrazia (13th overall)  Second Team All-MWC