🎙 Episode 412 — 2025 3C2A (CCCAA) Cross Country State Championship Preview | Hartnell, Cuyamaca & Moorpark at Woodward Park - Airey Bros.'s Radio

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Airy Brose Radio be there or b
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Speaker 2 (00:14):
Ladies and gentlemen, Howdy and aloha. We are here, You
are there, and you are now rocking with the best.
Thanks for tuning in to another live episode aery Bros.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Tonight. We're lacing up the spikes for the twenty twenty
five three C two A Cross Country Championships going down
this Saturday, November twenty second at Woodward Park in Fresno, California.
Before we get rolling, you all know the drill. This
is a value for value show, Sir. If you're getting
any value out anything we're doing over here, please give

(00:43):
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as Spotify. This episode is fueled by Black Sheep Endurance

(01:04):
for all your ultra marathon and nutrition coaching needs. Let's
not forget while we're here. We're here to shine a
light on the coaches, programs and athletes we wish we
had access to growing up as we were going through
the recruiting process. If you are a runner looking for
that next level fit, you're in the right place. Share
this episode with someone who you think might do them justice.

(01:27):
Tonight's lineup, ladies and gentlemen. From seven to seven twenty,
we're talking to Christopher Zepeta from Hartnell College. Then at
seven twenty to seven forty, Tim Seaman from Coyamaca College
is joining us. From seven forty to eight a clock,
Sean Ricketts is joining us from San Diego Mesa College,
And from eight to eight twenty, Maggie Sure from Moore

(01:51):
Park College is joining us. Okay, so again, the three
C two A is the California Junior College system. They
do not participate in the NJCAA. They have their own association.
So as we do over here, we're finding those coaches
in those programs that are doing really well in on
the West Coast. So we're going to talk first to

(02:14):
coach Zippeida. He is one of the most consistent coaches
in the three C two A, Coach of the Year
many times, architect of fourteen Top three North cal finishes
leading the squad, and their most recent they were third
on the women's side and the men took third as
well in the North cal Region. Coach Apaida, how are you, sir,

(02:37):
Welcome to the Airry Bros. Radio.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
I'm good.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
Just to backtrack a little correction in there. Women second
at Northern California.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
There.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Sorry, my my statistician I was a little off. Sorry,
sorry about that.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
Yeah, run, we gave it a good run to win
the women's in arcoll title, just came up a few
points short. But I think we're getting ready for a
big one this coming Saturay.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Awesome, got Jim.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Sorry, So how's the team looking for this upcoming weekend?

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Really good, Really excited for our women.

Speaker 4 (03:10):
We were a pretty young squad. Six of our seven
are technically, you know, freshmen on paper, and so we're
taking a lot of you know, usefulness, enthusiasm, and they're
kind of unsure of what this whole thing is about.
The Narcal Championship was kind of a preview and they
saw that they performed pretty well, and I told him,
I feel like we've got a better race in them.

(03:30):
Oftentimes with our training plan, we just need a little
bit more time, a little bit more seasoning, and then
we tend to perform our absolute best at the end.
So I'm hoping last one best one for our women
on Saturday. Our men are opposite of that. They're sophomore heavy,
with only one freshman in the top seven, and so
we're gonna look to get him a lot of good
experience as well as hopefully showing what Hartnell's all about,

(03:51):
and then he can become the leader next year. But
we just want to get in there on the midside
and perform well and gain a little bit of respect.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
For a small college.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
What is the student body population at Artment We.

Speaker 4 (04:04):
Float right around eight thousand full time enrolled students, And
so when you go to a state championship and you're
up against San Diego Mesa with twenty nine thousand and
Mount Sack with thirty plus thousand, that makes a huge
difference in the amount of recruitable athletes that potentially, you know,
you're able to get on campus. And sometimes even logistically,
I've had athletes drive ninety minutes to come to practice.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
You know, that's one way. That's not round trip, that's
one direction.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Okay, Yeah, Because we're you know, we do a bunch
of stuff with the NJCAA. And we know that some
of the schools in those Division one and Division two
programs have dormitories. But in the three C two A
schools are they all commuter schools?

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Not necessarily.

Speaker 4 (04:44):
There are some of our community colleges that are in
remote rural areas where you know, it's it's much easier
to just provide some housing for those students. Some have
figured out a long time ago that if you have housing,
you can probably get some out of state kids, you know,
for some of those team sports like football and basketball.
We even though we are a rural community on the
central Coast, we do not have dorms. We are seeing

(05:05):
some of the community colleges in our local area start
to invest more kind of like to address the housing
and security issue at the community college level more than anything,
not necessarily strictly for athletics where you tend to see that.
I was at an NJC of Lake School in Kansas
in two thousand and two thousand and one, and I think, shoot,
seventy five percent of our student body with student athletes,
and you know, our job was to fill the dorms

(05:26):
with student athletes.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
I don't even think local kids lived in the dorms.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
What school are you at in Kansas?

Speaker 4 (05:32):
I was at Neosho County Community College in Shanew, Kansas.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah, we did a Jayhawk Conference preview before the Jayhawk
conference in the region. We had neoshow on so.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
Oh very cool.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (05:46):
Yeah, after, it's always after they build the nice stadium
and everything. We were high school with, you know, the
old grinded up, tired track and holes in here there,
and you know, we made it through that year and
still had some good performances. My claim to fame is
that Tyson Gay was our conference champion that year.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
Okay, yeah, that's a big deal.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
Yeah, well cut Joks, like you have a nice track
and nice football field.

Speaker 4 (06:11):
Yeah, we got that in December of last year, an upgrade.
You know, we were looking to, you know, go from
old grass and you know, an old dirt inside lane
and kind of get a little bit more current. It
has helped for recruiting, It's helped for you know, morale.
You know, our athletes enjoy it. One thing I kind
of wish I could share is that I found a

(06:32):
young man up in Santa Rosa that has found a
way to do pacing lights really affordably for the community
college budget, and so we were actually playing with that
this last week in preparation for the state need. So
I'm able to string lights around the track and run
them at a certain pace and they can practice.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
That, which is really cool for a community college program.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
That's definitely a come up bridge.

Speaker 5 (06:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
I don't know many four year institutions to have access
to that kind of stuff.

Speaker 4 (06:57):
Yeah, I'm hoping that, you know, if they see our
instagram or they see this guy's Instagram, that they might
invest because it's actually very affordable and it's fun to
play with. You know, you can't run it necessarily during
like a bright sunny day, but you know, if you
condemn the lights down at the stadium or you want
to do a night workout like we did, it's perfect.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
Coach. We know, every season has a story, has particular
players that stand out and we should keep an eye
out on. So what's this year's story and who do
we need to keep an eye on?

Speaker 1 (07:24):
Oh gosh.

Speaker 4 (07:26):
On the women's side, I've been just really impressed with
our two women up in the front, Gabriella Cardinas and
Crystal Madril.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Gabriella is from a local.

Speaker 4 (07:35):
High school of Rancho San Juan that's actually the newest
high school in Salinas. And then Crystal attends Salinas or
she attended Seleninas High School, which is technically the oldest
high school in Salinas. But they have really kind of
emerged as our leaders by performance. Crystal had been kind
of injury reeled in high school, and you know, one
of the things that I had talked to her about

(07:56):
in recruiting was that I'm a very individualized training program
type of co coach, and you know, I really just
wanted to give her the Heartnell experience and see what
we can kind of get out of it performance wise.
I didn't really have any expectations, and for her to
finish all North calend her first year really highlights her
ability to kind of respond to my coaching style.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
But that also too, she's you.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
Know, really finding enjoyment in it, which is great. You know,
it's one of the things I want. And then Gabrielle
has just been always very enthusiastic about running. Her coach
never had to worry about her training or anything like that,
but kind of felt like she needed the extra little
push and to kind of get into our program to
play to her strengths, and so I have her training
with the men, you know when I can, and that's

(08:37):
really helped her develop into our best freshmen and she's
run some of the best times you've had. So but
they're just you know, two of our six freshmen obviously,
and but they have performed really well in their first year,
and I'm really excited to see what they do with
their first STAY championship.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
On the men's side, I.

Speaker 4 (08:52):
Think, you know, in regards to highlighting athletes, Alvardo Rulls
is a North Monterey County grad out of Castroville. He's
just been one one that ever since I talked to
his high school coach, he's like, this is the kid
you need. You know, he'll listen to you. He loves running,
and for him to develop as he has into a
two time All Northern California runner and prepping hopefully for

(09:14):
an all state finish maybe even surprise, I don't know
the way he's been training this last couple of weeks.
You know, I really wouldn't put you know, even All
American pasted him. I think he's just one of those
stories where you know, you don't get recruited in high
school except maybe by me, and we turn you into
that marquee runner that you know, some of these four
year institutions would love to have as well, you know,
when it's all said and done in two years.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
But we have, you know, a story for every kid,
especially on the line.

Speaker 4 (09:37):
You know, I've got kids that drive forty five miles
from Greenfield that are part of our top seven. One
didn't have a healthy cross country at all season at
all during high school. The other, you know, didn't come
to the sport till a little bit later. And you know, shoot,
he looks like he can. You know, he could be
really good, especially if he keeps going after her now.
But you know, sometimes these kids just need a little
bit more time. But yeah, there's a story for every

(09:58):
single athlete on our team. But you know, I definitely
would like to kind of highlight those three for sure.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
Coach, you mentioned athletes driving forty five minutes, some as
far as ninety minutes at times. I'm assuming that's because
of the reputation of the program and as you as
a coach, not necessarily that there's not another community college
closer to them.

Speaker 4 (10:20):
Well I think, yeah, well I think you know, you know,
Hartnell College has satellite campuses in our rural communities. You know,
they don't have to necessarily, you know, drive all the
way to Salinas from Greenville or King City or you
know where my young man was that ninety minutes Brice
and aspar area. But they love the sport and they
realize they're going to have to make some sacrifices. That
might mean getting up at five thirty, It might mean

(10:41):
picking up their teammate and their community.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
It might mean riding the bus.

Speaker 4 (10:45):
You know, our local bus system does run from you know,
the whole county ninety miles in length. But it really
does come down to that they don't feel like they're
done in the sport. And because you know, they know,
you know, I'm going to have their back for two years.
We're going to provide them some great opportunities and memories.
And what I always say is like, you know, we're
such a big county that if I can get those

(11:07):
really good runners from all these high schools across our
entire county, we're basically the all star team of the county.
And I really want the state to see what Monterey
County has to offer in regards to to athletic ability,
and you know that's what Heartnell is. We always say
we always have heart. We have heart and heart now
and when it comes time to these races like Saturday,
we have we have to show how big it is
because we are small.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
And talking about Saturday. Have you guys seen the course
at all this season at Woodworth.

Speaker 4 (11:34):
Yeah, we went to the Close Crush Imitational back in September.
I felt like we prepared, you know, we prepared really
well for what we had up to that point. I
was really calling on the sophomores to lead us, you know,
and you know, our freshman Giovanni o Cho.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
From Gonzalez did a really good job right out of
the gates.

Speaker 4 (11:52):
So we were there in September with women I knew,
you know, even though we had kind of placed pretty well,
I was like, gosh, we're not even in close to
as as good as shape as we could be. And
you know, give me twelve more weeks and you know,
I'll make some magic cabin and I feel like that's
where we're at. And then, you know, with North Northern
California Championship there last week on the seventh, that was
the first time in thirty years that we've had the

(12:13):
regional championship on the same course.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
And then I really appreciate CJ.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
Albertson, you know, not only hosts the state championship and
he hosts that early season state preview. But when I
had kind of proposed the idea like, hey, you know,
we're down to only a few courses that you know
we can have this North cal Championship out, how do
you feel about, you know, adding another meat onto your
plate right another day you're setting up flags and you know,
chalking the course and whatnot. And he said he didn't mind.

(12:38):
And obviously for him, he's thinking Clovis, it's great.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
It's a home meet.

Speaker 4 (12:42):
I don't have to drive anywhere, I don't have to
stay in a hotel. But I really felt like it
helped us prep for this meet. So this will be
our third run on the course, and I'm hoping it
really helps us versus the Southern California schools. How is
the course, so it has a lot of tradition. A
lot of other high school kids if they had high
school programs that went over for Clovis Invitational or the

(13:03):
rough Rider, which are a couple midyear meets for the
high schools, they get the five k version. Pretty it's
a it's a kind of a lasso lollipop type of thing.
So you go out the first mile, you do a
little cross.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
I call it.

Speaker 4 (13:16):
There's really only one mile across country there and it's
in the middle. For the guys, it's a two mile
cross country run, and then you know you're repeating the
first mile, which is pretty fast.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
So it's you know, hard.

Speaker 4 (13:26):
Packed dirt, kind of a little bit rolling hills, a
little bit of grass here through a picnic area, but
for the most part, you know, it runs, it runs solid,
it runs pretty quick, you know pretty quick. You know
you saw the I think the Harriman kid went low
fourteen minutes there for the high school course. You know,
if you can run under eighteen minutes, then you know
you got a good shot. For community college women to

(13:47):
be the state champion. There's only been about five or
six guys that have ever averaged under five minutes on
that course, and I feel like that kind of correlates
to your in fourteen thirty you know, track shape or
faster or or you're definitely like a a sub thirty
one minute ten k type person to be able to
run four or five minute miles in a row on
a cross country surface, so it's pretty fair. We're not

(14:07):
going to see the snow and stuff they saw at
the NCAA. I think the one thing we've we've run
into in some years is you know, we'll get this. Unfortunately,
it gets really dry in California that a fire could hit,
you know, you the semity area and the air quality could.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
Get pretty bad.

Speaker 4 (14:21):
But last year we did have pouring rain, which was
the first and my whole tenure of twenty years that
I've ever seen anything like that.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
But for the most part, the weather is pretty fair
and pretty fast.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
Coach, when it comes to Saturday, what's the game plan
and you're looking for that lowstick? Are you looking for
the gap on both sides?

Speaker 4 (14:38):
Well, on our women's side we run really really well
three to seven, and so I'm kind of looking at
San Diego, Mace, I'm looking at an Orange Coast and
I'm looking at kind of how we've trained. I'm like,
can we get you know, our seventh runner in front
of their fifth Can we get our low sticks and
Gabriella and Crystal up there, you know, to pull some surprises.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
Obviously, you know, you.

Speaker 4 (14:57):
Can't control you know, what other teams do. But if
you know, we get a little bit like from somebody else,
maybe the cards play right, and we finished as the
top one of the top five teams.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
On the women's side, you.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
Know, we have a meat program and they list the
top five teams every single year in the top five individuals,
and I always, you know, tell these kids, you know,
you can leave your mark by putting your name as
a team in there.

Speaker 1 (15:16):
At least so for you know, perpetuity forever.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
You know.

Speaker 4 (15:19):
Then they pull it open for twenty twenty five. They
see Hartnell women top five up there with the big schools,
and same thing.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
On the men's side.

Speaker 4 (15:26):
We're gonna we know, in the men's side, we need
to get up and be more aggressive through three miles.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
Not much changes in the last.

Speaker 4 (15:32):
Mile except maybe for the win or you know, one
or two spots for those All American or All state spots.
But you know, the real the real team contenders are
going to get out pretty hard for the first.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
Three miles, and we need to get in there and
be competitive.

Speaker 4 (15:43):
We let off the gas a little bit mile three
and let Clovis get away from us in American River,
and so we're going to try to be more aggressive
on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
You said this is going to be the third time
that the team has competed there this season. Do you
feel that the kids have a good grasp of the course,
where to make their move and where it's gonna get tough. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (16:03):
You know, the first time we went for the women,
I was like, you got to treat it kind of
like a two mile race. We're not in shape yet.
I felt like they did a pretty good job for
where we were at. They did, you know, get up
pretty aggressively, but we definitely weren't in shape yet. You know,
the times weren't super spectacular or anything like that. We
just ran pretty well as a group. When we went
back for Norcal's, we probably could have run harder. Crystal

(16:25):
and Ni Gabby probably did the best at treating it
like a track race for two miles, and so I'm
trying to get those other three to seven to be
more aggressive. On the guy side. We know, like, you know,
this is now or never, and we just got to
go for it, you know. Yeah, I think as we've
used each one of these for experience, you know, we
try to knock down those insecurities or those self doubts

(16:47):
and and realize that we're running out of opportunities and
there's nothing wrong with if we just give it a
shot and and you know, hopefully see what happens.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Being at the men run four miles over ak ten k.
Does it get out pretty fast on the men's side.

Speaker 4 (17:04):
Yeah, it depends on Narcou Regional went out at four
forty five, which you know, I think opened up some eyes.
You know, we had three that broke away from the
group and with Stefan Chapdelaine a Butte, you know, pulling
away all the way for the title. But you know,
I anticipate that it'll be you know, in that four
fifty to four fifty eight range, A lot of moves

(17:25):
don't really occur until mile three.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
But again again because it's.

Speaker 4 (17:28):
A course where there's not really cross country until the
third mile, that people want to get up over the
difficult hill on the on the second loop and then
you know, get to the three mile mark before everybody
else does so.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
But yeah, it'll get out, it'll get out fair.

Speaker 4 (17:45):
On the women's side, you'll probably see in in the
low four forty or five forties for the mile you know,
I anticipate the way the more part girls running. I'm
sure Maggie's coming on. And you know later I saw
they they're prepping their athletes really well. You know, we'll
probably see a four five what are you opening mile,
maybe even five thirty something with probably a winning time
in the seventeen forties or seventeen fifties.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
That's usually good for the win.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
From a wards perspective, you mentioned All State All American?
Is it is there first team second team type top? Yeah,
top seven, seven or eight through fourteen?

Speaker 4 (18:17):
Well, the way our association runs it is first through
fourteenth is All American, okay, and then which is also
first team All State, and then fifteen to twenty eighth
place the second team All State.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (18:31):
Yeah, Cause you said prior when you first hopped on
that you coached at a school in Kansas and the
NJCAA and you're in the the California system. Now, what
do you think and for our audience and for us,
what do you think the biggest differences are?

Speaker 4 (18:51):
Well, you know, you know, you look at our roster,
it's you know, all kids from my local area. You
go on an NJCAA roster you're going to see an international,
you know, you're there with the sprinkling of you know,
Kansas kid or Iowa kid. We don't offer athletic scholarships whatsoever,
you know, whereas that over there, you know, you have
that ability to bring in, you know, someone from from

(19:13):
international and and take care of all their needs and
get them onto the four year level. Obviously racing wise,
distance wise, race a little bit further. But I think
when we have a national track and field list, performance wise,
I've had some athletes be in the top three to
five nationally versus in DCAA athletes. And so what I always,

(19:35):
you know, talk with my recruits about is, you know,
I'm I'm a full time instructor here at heart now,
I'm a teacher first and a coach second. That that
I'm here for two years to teach them how to
be a better runner. I know that they're not coming
in knowing everything. Whereas maybe you see at the NDCAA level,
you know, got some really talented, you know, international athletes
coming in that probably could have gone to Division one
right you know, out of the gates, but maybe they're

(19:56):
missing their TOEFL or units or whatever. And the I
only need to be there a year. You know, my
kids are you know, the local kid down the highway
that ran ten twenty for two miles and you know,
maybe thirteen minutes for the girls two miles. And I
got to make them better and I got to you know,
get them on the stage.

Speaker 3 (20:13):
When it comes to recruiting. Do you think there's any difference.
Do you think times don't lie.

Speaker 4 (20:20):
In regards to recruiting. I you know, I would hate
to be you know, and I've done it. I've done
the international phone call with a girl in Poland, and
you know, I got a girl in Mexico that's you know,
curious about heart now. But you know, we get to
the point of where it's like, yeah, I don't have
I don't have any money for you. You know, you're
going to have to figure out how to to support
yourself while you're here.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
I can coach you up, for sure.

Speaker 4 (20:40):
My local kids, you know, I definitely make it a
point to reach out to every single you know, high
school senior that I possibly can in our local high
school league leagues and our tri county leagues. You know,
on my list, I've got thirty five or thirty six
guys that I've talked to this fall and twenty five
you know girls on my list, you know, all with
the hope of you know, I don't know what I
show up, you know, sign up for school for in

(21:02):
the fall time for the women and you know, maybe
I get ten guys on the side, on the men's side,
but you know, uh, it'd be it'd be pretty challenging
to be on the phone a different hours, you know,
international hours and.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Stuff like that.

Speaker 4 (21:14):
I do have a phone call with the kid in
Hawaii tomorrow which we're trying to coordinate three hours I guess,
you know, three hours Hawaii time to California time.

Speaker 1 (21:21):
But you know, I've done that a couple of times,
which is not too bad.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
That's one of the things we hear a lot when
we talk to the NGCA coaches. You know, it's a
high can be a high turnover rate where you know,
sometimes they're not getting kids for two years. You know,
they're coming in, they're going out. Are you are your
kids coming in and they're staying for two years?

Speaker 5 (21:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (21:42):
You know that that's I think the good thing is
that California Community College is we're really focused on making
sure kids finish their associate degree. You know, we have
the transfer to a lot of the California State University
System schools or University of California and the degree requirement
for that, the courses that they need to take. Usual
it takes about two years, you know. But the athlete

(22:02):
that does want to not be in California, Yeah, like
we could definitely get him out of any year if
we want. We had a state to cathlon champion and
you know, he did one year for US and went
to the University Indiana right after a year. He didn't
finish his aa HE or anything like that. But the
goal is to get to Division one. So I think
in terms of the turnover eate, like we're not turning
them over that fast a Division one, but we are
turning them over to get out of here in two years.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
That's the goal.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
But that oftentimes we're trying to make up the performance
so that they can keep running and get recognized and
you know, go on to a good four year program.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
Do you have a good amount of athletes to go
on to four year programs to run Yeah?

Speaker 4 (22:38):
Yeah, you know, I feel like that's something that we've
done pretty well in my tenure. You know, I've got
a Wall of Fame. You can't see it behind me
that's up on the wall. But I've had, you know,
kids that have transferred to any I Division one Division
two schools that have made national champions One of my kids,
as the Bud Rays, is at Western Colorado and he'll
be at the National Championship in the Division two meet.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
He just finished eight.

Speaker 4 (23:00):
Teenth at the South Central Region for them and has
done really well. But he was our California Community College
fifteen hundred meter champion and then going back a few years,
I don't know if you remember the name Christian Seratos,
but he was pretty hot on the flow track there
for a hot minute. He's teaching and coaching locally here,
but you know he went on to finish and runner
up to Edward Cheswick of Oregon in the end of

(23:22):
a mile. So you know, we're we're just a little
old school that you know, if we can find those
kids that are super motivated that want to train, and
you know I was Tom, I'll give you the big
you know, bowld to grow in as much as you can.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
Coach. Is there anything about heart now the school, the
team that we haven't covered that you want our audience
to know.

Speaker 4 (23:42):
You know, I think the fun part of us is,
you know, we're from a rural agriculture area. I literally
can you know, go a half mile down the road
and I can be in the fields and I can
help some some workers pick some lettuce and strawberries. These
are these are kids that come from hardworking families. Many
of their parents if don't have a college education, so
they're first in family. They're they're changing the narrative of

(24:06):
of their family and their future generations. We're very much
like the McFarlane story. Uh, you know, we're out there,
you know, running in the fields or you know, we're
out there just you know, making it work. I've got
kids that I don't see because they pick in the
summertime and then they show up first week of school.
But that when we do start to compete, that that's
what they really would like to do more of. They
would love to run more, and so we try to

(24:27):
make up the time during the season. But we're definitely
the McFarland of you know, all the community colleges in California.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
Great movie.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
Coach, Thank you so much for your time this season.
Best of Luck on Saturday. UH will be streaming.

Speaker 4 (24:43):
Anywhere No unfortunately. Yeah, that's good wherever this is that
hopefully they'll see this. I've been a big advocate of
trying to get our community college state championships streamed in
some capacity, whether it's through HD runners or you know,
just gorilla style a bunch of phones out there, and
you know, at least you know, edit it so that
people who are interested in California Comunity College cross country
can watch our state championship. It is our grandest meat

(25:06):
of the year, and we have some excellent, you know,
athletes across all programs. You're gonna you know, talk to
you know, Maggie about Tommy and Maya, and you know
you have Sean with with Aila and with Luciano.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
Obviously I'm grateful for talking to me.

Speaker 4 (25:21):
But you know, hopefully in the future we can get
that going and so nationally people can know what's happening
in California. You know, us in the end WAC we
tend to get stuck kind of doing our own thing,
but you know, we need to we need to make
ourselves more visible. So I appreciate that question, and hopefully
people hear that that there is an interest in knowing
what we're doing at our at our level in California.

Speaker 3 (25:40):
Well, we will be following the live results. Best of luck,
and thank you so much for your time to see that. Yeah, guys,
I just.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
Want to say thank you.

Speaker 4 (25:46):
I appreciate this California Community College hids in the shadows
and thanks for bringing us out into the light with us.

Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Absolutely, we are. Jimmy and I are both njc A
all Americans, myself and cross country and Jimmy and wrestling.
So the junior experience is something that's near and dear
to our heart. And you know, we've known about the
three C two A for a while. I just we
just found out about the n nw AC like last
week or the week before. I was trying to figure

(26:12):
out where's Lane and some of those other schools. I
realized they have their own thing now. So we're digging in.
We're doing our best to promote the junior colleges all
across the country. So I appreciate you spending some time
with us, feeling us in about the program and yourself,
and best of luck Saturday.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
Yeah, thanks again for including me. I appreciate it. Guys.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
Absolutely, have a great night, coach. All right, ladies and gentlemen.
Next up, is Tim Seaman from Koyamaca College.

Speaker 3 (26:37):
Hey, coach, Hello, how's it going good? How are you good?

Speaker 5 (26:41):
Good? Thanks for having me.

Speaker 3 (26:43):
Yeah, thank you for joining us today. How is the
season going so far?

Speaker 5 (26:48):
Really good? Really good. Guys are training really well, getting
psyched up for Fresno in a couple of days and
really looking forward to it. We like the David versus
Goliath mantra and we are we are the small tiny
school that's David, So good stuff.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Have you guys been able to preview the course at all?

Speaker 5 (27:12):
Not this year, but the sophomores have all been there,
and even my freshmen they competed in Fresno in high school,
so they are very very looking. They're very much looking
forward to going back and competing.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
Okay, is does it a state championship course? Location change
year to year?

Speaker 5 (27:31):
It has not, not since I've been. I've been sixteen
years at Quamaca and it's changed. It hasn't changed once.
They haven't changed the course. I think it's about thirty
to forty years they've kept the same course, so I
really you know, in cross country, you can't really keep
a list of school records. It's kind of sure hit
and miss right, But in Fresno you can have a list,

(27:52):
right because everybody has the same conditions, everybody has the
same course. So it's nice to be able to go
and you know, the guys can compare against the previous
sort of generations of athletes.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
Absolutely, it's good to have that history.

Speaker 5 (28:04):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (28:05):
But here are some of the athletes we need to
keep an eye on going into the championship on Saturday.

Speaker 5 (28:11):
Yeah. So Ivan Guzman is going to be the favorite
from our team. He won the conference meet, he won
Golden West, he was top community college guy at Riverside.
He finished tenth at regionals, and it was a very
relaxed tenth, which was the purpose. The only purpose of
regionals is a qualifying race. So none of the guys

(28:34):
took it as we have to get hyped up, we
have to get excited. So Ivan is the leader of
the group. Stephen Valadez ran twenty five five for AK
earlier in the year at Riverside, so really excited for
what he can see what he can do at four
miles at four miles, yep. Daniel Vestamine the top freshman

(28:55):
we have. He's running really strong, run twenty forty three
at Liberty station, and then next up is Dominic Rizzo
from Steve Kenyon High School. He is a championship runner,
so looking forward to him. Orlando's up next for US,
freshman out of Grandite Hills. He's coming around really good
looking to break twenty one minutes. And then you know

(29:17):
you have Dason our sophomore, and a down a freshman
coming in seventh. So really good diverse team and they're
all pretty psyched about competing on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
Coach, you said that the team was kind of relaxed,
just qualify at the regional meet, don't go in there
guns of bays, and how do you keep them knocking
over excited in a meat like that to just kind
of go and do the job and not over extend themselves.

Speaker 5 (29:48):
Part of it is we explain to them that the
top sixteen teams qualified. Okay, previously, when we competed at
the Arnie at the Many Batista Meat, we placed eleven
with kind of like the B team, if you will,
so I knew that we were even with the B team.
We placed eleventh with the top guys. I thought we could,

(30:09):
you know, run kind of relaxed and not hammered home.
For example, Steven let twelve people pass him the last mile.
That will never happen, right, Like he was told specifically
by our coaching staff, like, just relaxed the last mile.
He took it a little bit too much to heart.
He relaxed a little bit too much. Scared me a

(30:30):
little bit because I could see the results coming in
and I, Oh, we're on the podium first time ever
a regionals and all of a sudden, one, two, three,
four or five guys passed them fifteen meters to go.
I'm like, holy cow, what just happened here? Did we
relax them too much? But it ended up perfect. We
got third at regionals, which is a big, big deal

(30:50):
for our little program, And now we're hoping to score
a podium spot in Fresno.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
Because you mentioned getting third our regionals and if correct.
When I was looking at the rankings the October sixth rankings,
you guys were ranked second. Were you concerned about that
at all? Or again, it was just a qualifier and
it didn't matter, And rankings do matter.

Speaker 5 (31:11):
Rankings don't matter. Like when the rankings came out, I
knew the guys would hear about it. So on the
Monday meeting, I said guys, here's the deal. Everybody take
your hand and pack yourselves.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
In the back.

Speaker 5 (31:24):
Well like this, everybody smile, and then I want you
to forget about it because rankings are great. They're fun.
It's for the coaches, it's not for the actual results, right,
So ranking is fun to be ranked, but really what
matters most is what's going to happen in Fresno at
the finish line. And that's all that we really care about.

(31:45):
They've known for the whole season, Fresno is the goal
and like I told them, Fresnoe makes your legendary. So
that's the great thing about this.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
What's going to take to be legendary in Fresnel.

Speaker 5 (31:59):
I think it gonna take four to five guys under
twenty one minutes, So I think that's you know, it's
gonna take people coming through. I told them, you know,
they don't have to have gold medal races. Okay, what
I mean by that is they don't have to go
I have to be great. No, you have to run

(32:19):
a solid race. If you run a solid race, you'll
come through. You'll finish strong, and that's where the overall
results are gonna come. It's when somebody thinks the number
two and number three guy, like I have to the
team is counting on me. I have to have a
great race that that person is going from two to
six and then we're off the podium. If the number
two guy on the team is six man, we're off.

(32:42):
And because it's gonna be very, very close, we think
there's about eight teams that have a shot at the
three podium spots, and we respect the other teams greatly.
Many of the other coaches are my very good friends,
and you know, we're just looking forward to trying to
show that it can beat Goliath. Every once in a while,

(33:03):
coach is.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
Funny here and you say that. I can remember back
when I was coaching cross country in New Jersey and
we were we were one of the top ranked teams
in this in the sectional that we were in, and
one of my I think it was either my third
or fourth man, he thought he was going to be
the guy that was gonna he was going to be
the hero for the team that day, and he did
the same thing. He was ended up being like the

(33:24):
sixth or seventh man. And I just you just put
your head down.

Speaker 5 (33:28):
You're like, why today today isn't to day for you know,
you'll you'll have greatness if you just run smart, you
finish strong, run smart. The team is going to do great.
I'm really confident how they were doing. You know, we
had to work out the other day sixteen hundred tweve hundred,
eight hundred, four hundred, and the guys ran four thirty

(33:49):
the first mile and they were relaxed, and one guy
was like, coach, that's my beat, my high school pr
You're not in high school anymore, kid, you know, just
stay relaxed. And so it was really good day. We're
really looking forward to, you know, showing the big boys
what the little tiny school can do.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Talking to tiny school. What's the population?

Speaker 5 (34:10):
Officially it's around nine thousand, but I mean it's probably
close to the six as opposed to you know, Mace
is probably over thirty. Mount Sack is over fifty, Critos
is going to be over thirty, Riversides over thirty. So
you know, these are big, giant schools. They're four or
five times ten times the size of it, nine times

(34:30):
the size of us. So we're just trying to do
the best we can and we're all really looking forward
to it.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
And are most of the athletes, local region, you know,
to your one.

Speaker 5 (34:41):
Hundred percent all guys that can technically run to the school.
And so we've we've just you know, the even the
East County coaches in San Diego, the East County Grossmont League,
We've said, like, listen, we don't need to recruit from
over there, over there. Let's just keep the strength in
the area, right, we have enough talent. Let's just believe

(35:03):
in East County runners, kind of like coach Larson used
to do. Coach Larson, Bob Larson was at Mona Vista
High School and he had like seven or eight guys
that can run under two minutes in high school for
the eight hundred, right, So he took that success, went
to Grossmont College, won multiple state championships at the community
college level with Grossmont. Then he went to UCLA, was

(35:24):
great there, coach meb and so we're just trying to
have that as an attitude, like, hey, coach Lawson could
do it, we could do it, and.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
You know, we're sorry. Jim Where Jimmy and I are
from in New Jersey. We're both junior college all Americans
in New Jersey. Jimmy and wrestling myself in cross country
We always talk about it when we talk to the
NJCAA coaches about the stigma in New Jersey of coming
out of high school and going to a community college
or junior college. And that's not the case in places

(35:56):
like Kansas, Iowa, Texas, some of these other states that
have powerful systems. Is that similar in the California system
as well?

Speaker 5 (36:04):
It is? And here's what I can tell you is
that the guidance counselors and everybody will pooh pooh down
on community colleges, but fifty percent of the students will
go to community college. Right. Community college is free for
the first two years. Basically in California, you're a genius
if you come to community college for free. Why would

(36:26):
you want to strap yourself for twenty plus years with
a student loan when you can go to school for
free for two years. I think it's seventeen dollars and
fifty cents, okay, whatever, Right, it's basically free. And so
you take these kids that are smart. Most of the
guys on the top seven they have high GPAs, and
I think three of them want to be engineers, electrical engineers.

(36:48):
It's great to see that kind of dedication. You know,
we've had people come out of school and go to
law school. We've had people come out of Cuiamaca and
go to be a chiropractor, you know. And so there's
great diversification you can come out with from community college.
And you just saved yourself thirty to sixty thousand dollars,

(37:10):
as you guys know, except in Jersey, it's not free,
no to compared to California. And I'm from Long Island,
so that's why I just said jerseystead of New Jersey.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
There you go, There you go, coach. I want to
double check my stats, but were you a two time Olympian?

Speaker 5 (37:28):
I was. I competed in the racewalk event was my specialty,
so I had. I held tan American records, forty seven
national championships. I am the winningest athlete in any event
in the sport of truck and field indoors. I won
fourteen indoor championships, including ten in a row. So competing

(37:50):
in the garden, my pr in the mile racewalk for
whatever that means, was from Madison Square Garden the Millrose
Games five forty six for the mile and so my
five kprs nineteen oh nine. So we have a young
lady competing. She ran nineteen eleven and her big goal
is in Fresno, Marcel wants to run under nineteen oh nine.

(38:11):
So she could say, coach, I was faster than you were.
So that's a good spin on things. So, as you
guys know, racewalking was a high school event for the
men on Long Island. Yeah, and it still is for
the women in New York State. And that's why most
of our many of our Olympic athletes in the racewalk
event come from New York.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
Well, coach, we're gonna go down armhole here, because our
dad was a racewalker. He went to the Olympic Training
Center back in I don't know, was it the sixties, rich.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
Seventies, seventies, late sixties, early seventies.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
Yeah, and he did the Melrose mile back in the day.
I'm always used to talk to us about Ronaldaird.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you know the name Elliott Denman.

Speaker 5 (38:53):
Of course, of course, Elliott's a legend in all of
track and field, forget just racewalking, nineteen fifty six Olympian,
but a great writer and just a great advocate for
all of track and field. Great man.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
Yeah, we've known Elliott since we were a little little kids.
So ye, after I ran the Leadville one hundred back
in twenty fourteen, the first time he was then trying,
He's like, you know, we could use racewalkers exactly.

Speaker 5 (39:22):
Well, the funny thing is is, you know, at the
end of cross country season, everybody has to try racewalking
across the board. Teach him a little bit how to
do it. This is how you we call it, build
a racewalker, and I teach him, Hey, this is how
you racewalk. Everybody has to try it for one lap
just to get a respect for the event in the

(39:43):
sport of track and field, because people will say, oh,
you were a racewalk Olympian. No, I was a track
and field olympian. My event was the racewalk event, and
so you know, I just try and get that chip
going so that way everybody has a chance to see.
And currently the top two ranked racewalkers in the country,
Nick Christy and Emmanuel Corvera, both came through my program.

(40:06):
Oh cool, right, So that's pretty cool that a small
community college, you know, can produce national level guys. At
one point in time, we actually swept the podium at
indoor Nationals, Nick Emmanuel and Alex Bellavance swept the podium.
So that was pretty cool. Yeah, so that's pretty cool.
So everybody tries it and actually Steven valadees try to

(40:28):
cutch off. Steven Valade is my number two race runner.
He was the U twenty champion two years ago in
the racewalk event. He redshirted his sophomore as freshman year
of track. He ran cross. I showed it to him.
He goes, Coach, I think I want to try this.
I said, sure, So he tried racewalking. He was a
junior champion and yeah, yeah, so I said, hey, post college,

(40:51):
but let's get through Fresno first.

Speaker 2 (40:53):
Yeah. Well it's an event in the NAI as well.

Speaker 5 (40:56):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (40:57):
Yep, yep, opportunities there for sure. Did you use things
like the fifty k? Did you go up that high
in distance?

Speaker 3 (41:03):
I did.

Speaker 5 (41:04):
I did my last Olympic trials. I competed in fifty
k and then twenty k in twenty twelve and I
was second in both. So I missed the Olympic team
in twenty twelve. But it was a big, big battle
between myself and John and that fifty k and fifty
k is hard. It's four plus hours just NonStop movement.

(41:24):
My better event was the shorter stuff, so twenty k
was the short one, the sprint event.

Speaker 3 (41:29):
Cool coach, do you feel being a two time Olympian
the kids tend to listen to and buy in a
little bit quicker.

Speaker 5 (41:37):
I think we can have between myself and Tom Hunt,
both of us have this like understanding of the high
level stuff, right, and I've coached five people to the
Olympic team. I'm not going to get carried away over
the Quiahmaca invite in August. It's not going to happen, right,
So we have a bigger picture. But you can also rationalize,

(41:59):
like the Steam Championship is a big deal. You only
get two chances at the at the community college level
to be on a state championship team, and so I
think we can have this greater understanding of the big picture,
but we can also have an understanding of you know,
it's really cool to see a guy break five minutes
for the mile for the first time, and so you
have that sort of balance. So I think that's a

(42:21):
good way to you know, I don't know if they
listen to me more, but you know, we just give
kids an opportunity. You can, you can. Hey, we've been
you know, between Tom and I, we've been all over
the world training and coaching and and it's fun. But
let's get down to We love our job, we love
what we do. You know, neither one of us are
leaving Quamaca, and we just want to help the kids.
It's fun to see a kid break five minutes for

(42:44):
the mile for the first time.

Speaker 3 (42:44):
For example, Coach, you said, this Saturday is going to
be David versus Clive. What is the identity of this
year's team.

Speaker 5 (42:54):
Oh, it's David, it's Ivan. Was a former boxer, Okay,
so I call him Little Rocky and he is a fighter.
And at the conference meet, for example, there was some
shoving going on and I said, I heard about after
the race and there was just some you know, normal

(43:15):
cross country smack talking right in the group, and I said,
I even, you didn't do anything, right, He goes, no, Coach,
I held my tongue. I didn't. I just moved out
of the way, and I didn't. I didn't do anything.
I was like, okay, let's be respectful to everybody, and
let's you know, but he has that inner fight. He
has that little little Rocky in him that he's a fighter,

(43:39):
and he knows when it comes down to that last mile,
he's going to be ready to go. And I'm going
to put him up against everybody in the state the
last mile.

Speaker 3 (43:50):
Coach.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
You know, Jimmy and I both lived in North County
San Diego for a while as well, too. I'm familiar
with the Koyamaca one hundred k is in your general vicinity.
Do you guys train on those terrains at all?

Speaker 1 (44:03):
Now?

Speaker 5 (44:03):
No, No, the Queen mat so this. So it's unfortunate
that we're called Queamaca College because we really, we all
joke we should be called Mount Helix College because that's
like the area we're in. But the Queamaca is there
another forty or thirty miles east of US Okay, so
we're we're really, we're really close to the end of
the ninety four before it goes to Hamul So I

(44:26):
joke like, I was downtown the other day and it
took twelve minutes to get from downtown to Kuyamaca. But
if you're downtown, you don't know where Quemaca College is.
It's like, oh, that's so way out there. It's not
way out there, it's twelve minutes away.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (44:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
So coach being being that that David versus Goliath team,
did the kids have a chip on their shoulder.

Speaker 5 (44:50):
No, no, we don't. They are very They just want
to be the ones to be legendary. And they understand, like,
you know, we want conference, we get a banner on
the wall, and I said, that's great, the banner. You know,
that's good for the other people. But if you want
to be legendary, you got to you gotta perform in Fresno.
And so last year it was very muddy and raining

(45:13):
and wet and sloppy, and the guys just we weren't
prepared prepared for it, and we had like one of
our worst finishes ever under my coaching, and it was discouraging.
We regrouped and now we're ready to go. Like if
it's rainy and muddy, we're going to be ready. And
if it's perfect conditions, we're going to be ready. And

(45:34):
I think that, you know, I told them I want
them to be inwardly confident, but not outwardly arrogant. There's
no need to be outwardly arrogant, right because we all
there's eight teams that could win, and so I want
to be very respectful, but I also want them when
the gun goes off and we hit two two and

(45:54):
a half three miles, I want them to start fighting
at that point. But for then otherwise just sitting there
cruising canrolled no fighting early.

Speaker 3 (46:02):
So you mentioned the rainy conditions and the mud, and
I don't know if you got to see the NJACAA
what their conditions were this year. As a coach, how
do you because I've heard a lot of coaches say, oh,
I didn't have them prepare. How do you prepare someone
for that? How do you get them ready?

Speaker 6 (46:20):
Like?

Speaker 3 (46:21):
What do you do for that?

Speaker 5 (46:22):
Yeah, so a couple things. So the NJACC they that
was pretty unique to see them all run on snow
like that. And there's a difference between cross country in
California and cross country in the Midwest. Cross country in
the Midwest you can wear spikes right cross country in
California you can't wear spikes because inevitably you're going on
some sort of cement. Inevitably in Fresno, they run fifty meters,

(46:48):
then they gotta go down the curb. They're gonna go
down the curb, run on the road a little bit
for about another eighty meters. Then they got to pop
up the curb and go on the dirt. And the
dirt is brilliant, but that transition point from the dirt
to the to the asphalt is a little bit scary,
a little bit sketchy. I really wish they would, you know, uh,

(47:09):
make that one area just all dirt, remove a couple
parking spots and call it good. Uh, but you know
that's uh, that's the parks up there. But yeah, I mean,
I think mentally, because of the issue last year, they're
gonna be a little bit more prepared. And these guys
are all stronger. They're just so close together as a

(47:30):
as a close knit group. They're like really good friends,
and they understand, like the brothers are gonna bond, and
they're gonna bond, and they're gonna go together if they're
they're all gonna they want to succeed together. And it's
really cool to see how they've gelled. You know, at
the beginning of the season, you got freshman, you got
new guys, you got sophomores. One sophomore thinks he's better

(47:51):
another sophomore and and then you're like, wait, this is
just us. It's just us, guys. We're all here together
for the same purpose. And and you know, we want
to transfer the sophomores out and they know that this
is going to help them to make it out.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
Coach, where you get those guys to transfer out and
move on? Are they moving on and continuing with their
running careers?

Speaker 5 (48:14):
They are. We are actively talking to CBU for Ivan,
so he's really looking forward to that. He just got
into the school academically already, so that was really good.
Stephen is looking at Sea Sun Cal State University Northridge,
so that's a D one program. And the coach and

(48:34):
I had a great conversation about trying to recruit more
community college kids to his program. So trying to help
them understand like, you know, the four year schools could
take a four to twenty five miler, but the four
twenty five miler isn't going to help them in cross country.
So you take you see these some of these schools
they take four twenty five milers. If they stayed with us,

(48:55):
we can get them strong enough in two years so
they can have a powerful impact on a four year program.
But you take a four to twenty five miler, which
is good. I'm not critiquing it, but many four year programs,
it's not gonna help them. So give us a chance
to develop these athletes so that we can then transfer
them back to you or transfer them to you, and

(49:16):
you'll and they'll have a you know, much higher success
rate at a four year level. So and then Marcel,
she's looking at she just got in academically, do you
see Santa Cruz so really excited about that. I still
have to reach out to the coach now that she
got accepted into the school and see all of that.
But we just want to give the kids all options,

(49:36):
all options for school. For school should be on the table.
And the Southern California kids, they're not real keen on
leaving too far, you know. So, I mean, we have
many schools with Saint Mary's in Kansas, we have good
relationship with just other schools out there, and they call
me all the time. I get into guys. I'm like, sorry,
these guys aren't gonna leave, you know, They're not gonna

(50:00):
That's just how it is. So but that's okay. We're
looking forward to hopefully next year. I want to try
and take them to Kenosha to University Wisconsin Parkside where
D two Nationals is going to be. I went to
that school and I'm in the Hall of Fame there
blah blah blah, and so I'm really like, I want
to take the boys to a big, a real Midwest

(50:22):
cross country course.

Speaker 2 (50:24):
Awesome. Well, it's funny you mentioned Parkside because coach Nick Becker,
he's the wrestling coach there. We've had him on and
they had an athlete, Caden Henschell, who is a very
influential as as a social media personality for the wrestling team,
quite quite a big following. So it's funny to have
all these small world connections with the East Coast. And

(50:47):
we also have had coach Benton on from Saint Mary's
and having lived in North County, San Diego, I don't
blame kids and maybe not want to go to Levenworth, Kansas.

Speaker 5 (50:58):
With that said, my first Old American did go to
Saint Mary's when coach do Minge started the program. He
was my first Al American and then he was Saint
Mary's first All American his Deeeplechase. So we have sent
people there and you know, different coaching but they still
do a great, great job of developing athletes, and I
like to see that. Nobody wants to see the program

(51:18):
that gets really good athletes in, but they just maintain.
You know, we had a kid who's my assistant coach,
my volunteer assistant coach now, Matthew Musa. Matthew is a
four p fifty two four to fifty three miler in
high school. We transferred him out as a four flat
fifteen hundred meter runner. That's a nice development, right. Keernian
was a nineteen forty five five k runner from West

(51:41):
Hills High School. When he left the program. He's fifteen
thirty and five thousand on the track. So you know,
we do try and to develop them and then transfer
them out. What's the key to getting them to jump
those levels like that the consistency of training. So we
talk about trying to string together as many silver metal

(52:02):
weeks as we can, right, because we all know the
gold medal weeks is like everything went perfect and you're like,
that's great, and there are weeks like that when you're training,
But the problem is what happens the week after or
two weeks after, right, Like many times athletes have these
gold medal weeks. Let's just say they hit eighty miles
and both hard workouts that week were just rock solid,

(52:26):
and then next week they're hurt. Well, then that week
was a failure. We failed, right, That was not a
good idea to go that hard, that quality at that
point in time. If we would have racked it, brought
it down a little bit and just have been a
little bit slower, maybe a little bit less mileage, we
could have done the same thing and repeated it, repeated it,
repeated it, and we could have a better success at

(52:47):
the end of the season.

Speaker 3 (52:50):
Could you bring up that consistency of training and what
training What does your training look like? You guys dabble
into the double threshold at all.

Speaker 5 (52:59):
We don't double threshold And I think these kids are
too young for it, the kids that I'm getting, right,
So I don't think they're ready for that yet. We
do try and get some good quality mileage in. But
it's a sort of smart mileage, right, So it's it's

(53:20):
all going to depend on where you are. We've had
guys that can run nineteen twenty miles, right, but we've
also had guys that can run twelve, and they can
both have the same success. It just it has to
be very individualized. And you know, we only go hard
twice a week for the most part, right, and we're
going like a Tuesday and a Friday, or a Tuesday

(53:40):
and a Friday or Saturday race. But some programs will
go Tuesday hard, Thursday Hart, Saturday race. And for me,
with my background, I think three hard days out of
five is a little too much for eighteen nineteen twenty
year olds. Even at the professional level, I wasn't doing
and my athletes weren't doing three hard workouts a week

(54:02):
because I think we peaked too early, and then I
think you have a crash at the end of the season.
And I noticed that with my training when I was back,
when I was doing hard, you know, three times a week,
and in March, nobody can touch me. In the US,
I was so so strong. But how is August when
the World Championships came around, August is what counted July

(54:23):
Olympic trials, how was that? You know, if I was
struggling in July and August, then March was a failure
because we pushed too hard in March, right, And so
I just try and have that as the attitude of guys.
All of it's geared towards Fresno. I mean, you can
take a break, then we can gear towards track. But
I don't want to hear the word track, like I
don't want anybody don't even talk to me about track,

(54:43):
only about Fresno right now. So that's the We just
try and go two times a week as the harder days.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
Is that meaning, go ahead, Jim Good?

Speaker 3 (54:53):
Is that how your coaching has changed over the years.

Speaker 5 (54:56):
I think so. I think we used to do three
hard days a week, and then we just found, like
you know, even at their young age, even though they
can recover pretty quick, we have better results if we
have the two days. Let's say Tuesday is a hard day,
Wednesday Thursday as sort of zone one days. Right, we
can recover those two days and then on Friday we

(55:16):
could pop again, and then that's the that's the hard
days for the week, and then we have a long run,
which is still hard.

Speaker 6 (55:23):
Right.

Speaker 5 (55:23):
The long run isn't easy. So if you go Saturday
or Sunday long, you're still getting three high quality days, right,
or a lot of stress on the body in those
three days, and you can still get sixty to eighty
to ninety miles in a week. So that's what we
try and push towards them, them towards how often a

(55:44):
week are you meeting as a team five days? So
Monday through Friday we meet, they go, they do their
long runs on their own, but we were meeting five
days a week, right like, even like, oh, even if
they have a you know, like they had a forty
minute run today, right like, hey, forty five minute run,
We're still meeting. Like we're not We're not skipping because

(56:06):
I really think that consistency, the being able to look
an athlete and the I hey, how are you feeling?
How are you feeling? How are you feeling that that
that give and take and we talk about you know,
this program isn't like a dictatorship. It's not like you're
gonna do five times a mile and that's it. I
don't want to hear it, like, how are you feeling?
You think five times a mile is good for you today? Yeah, coach,

(56:27):
I'm feeling good. Or or sometimes it's a matter of
like one time a couple weeks ago, one of the runners,
he did four of the five twelve hundreds, and after
the fourth one, he goes coach, I'm gonna I need
a little bit more rest. I'm like, you need more
rest for right, like you had a four dunit meter
jogg in between. He goes, I'm just feeling a little
bit over over, you know, my ankle or something. And

(56:47):
I said, let me tell you this, is it a
point zero zers zer zero one percent chance do you
get hurt if you do another interval? He goes yes,
I said, then you're done. Like, I am not going
to take a point zeus. This is there a one
percent chance that you are gonna get hurt As we're
approaching it to championship season, it's not worth it for me.
So we really try and have that that give and

(57:10):
take and that I want feedback from the athletes. It's
very important that you know, Tom and I watch them
and go, okay, hey, Tom, what do you think about him?
I think he needs to stop or she needs to stop,
or let's give them another another interval? Sure, you know,
like we're gonna do about five times a mile today,
whatever is right. And then but some guys, hey you're
gonna go six today? Really? Yep, Hey you're gonna go four?

(57:32):
That's enough for you. So that's I think what we
we try and do in an our program.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
You know, he mentioned two hard days a week, and
I agree with that as well. I was always a
guy that zone two wasn't really a thing, even on
my easy days. How are you do you have trouble
raining the guys in and the gals in or are
they they locked in when you say we're going, you know,

(57:59):
zone one, zone two?

Speaker 5 (58:00):
Yeah, no, they're there. Sometimes they'll they'll get into a
little half stepping match and then I have to like
rein them in, Like, guys, you gotta you know, you
got to control it a little bit, right. And we
had one athlete he was a number four to five guy.
He was number five guy, and uh, he struggled. He

(58:21):
pushed every easy workout he was pushing, and I said, hey,
you need to slow down, like it's it's not good.
You need to slow down a little bit. You need
to slow down. We went to championship season. He was
struggling and he didn't even want to compete anymore. So
he had to take a bit of a break leading
into championship season because it was just not he was

(58:43):
just struggling. And you know, you look at it, who
took the harder, who took the easy days the hardest
he did right, And so the guys can see that,
and they're like, coach, I told him to slow down.
I'm like, we could try. You can only you can
only try your best as a coach. Right. You can't
tell them exactly what to do. You can't tell them
what to eat, when to sleep, when to study. You know,

(59:06):
we just try and have a just overall you know,
that type of thing. And we also have this thing
where you know, uh, I said, hey, it's championship season
for the for the guys. Don't get a girlfriend. Don't
lose a girlfriend, right, no problems, guys, just don't get
a new girlfriend. Don't try it. It's not worth it.
You wait till after Fresno and then I don't care

(59:28):
what you do. So but stay on top of your grades.

Speaker 2 (59:32):
Yes, coach.

Speaker 3 (59:33):
Is there anything about the team or the college that
we haven't covered that you want our audience to know?

Speaker 5 (59:43):
Great group of guys, you know, they've really jailed together.
We're just a bunch of like local kids. They were
pretty good in high school, but but not like you know,
state champions. We're not. You know, we're small school were
nestled in the hills of sort of alcohol, right. So

(01:00:03):
I joke that, you know, like some other schools, they
have urban sprawl three hundred and sixty degrees around right,
and you look out our from our track and you
could see mountain over there, mountain over there. I said,
we have more goats. We could see virtually than almost anybody.
Maybe Mountsack because they have the farm on campus. But otherwise,

(01:00:24):
you know, it's a lot of open space, you know.
And we have guys that recruit. They live in Tacate,
which is in Mexico. He crosses the border, right, Diego Lopez.
He was All American for US a few years ago.
He would go to the border, get there at four
point thirty, sleep on the sidewalk. The border would open

(01:00:46):
at six he would get woken up by the person
behind him. He would cross the border, then come to
school for practice at seven am. I mean, these guys
are fighters. That's how it is at community college. They're
really they want to do the best they can and
they know that this is their chance. And I really
think that it's a great opportunity to showcase. You know,

(01:01:06):
not all community college isn't about oh you go to
community college. There's no asterisk. If you go to Harvard,
you get a degree from Harvard, there's no asterisk. Right,
we had a ten k school record holder. Take Graham.
He said, coach, I got into UC Davis, they're gonna
let me run, and I got into Berkeley. Berkeley won't
even talk to me as a thirty two minute ten
k runner. He goes, what do you think I should do?

(01:01:28):
I said, one choice, you go to Berkeley. He goes,
but I can't run. I said, you're a thirty two
minute ten k runner. What are you going to do?

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
Right?

Speaker 5 (01:01:37):
He's not going to get that much better where he's
going to make an Olympic team. So let's be a
realist about it. He went to Berkeley, he got his
degree from Berkeley, and now he just graduated from law school.
That's a success story. Right. So I think as coaches
we don't think like only running that's it. That's the
most important thing. I think we can have a bigger
picture to help the athletes.

Speaker 3 (01:01:58):
Amen, man, if you got me fired up, this is
a great go.

Speaker 5 (01:02:03):
Let's go.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
This is a great conversation. Thank you for going a
little overtime with the air Bros. Tonight and yeah, and
I can't wait to see that David versus Clive this Saturday.
And best of luck.

Speaker 5 (01:02:17):
Thank you guys, really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
Absolutely, safe travels, best of luck. We'll be rooting for
you on Saturday.

Speaker 5 (01:02:22):
Thank you. Thanks, have good day, take.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
Great, take care all right, ladies and gentlemen. Moving on,
we have Maggie Sure joining us from more Park College.
How's it going good? How are you doing great?

Speaker 7 (01:02:37):
Thank you? Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
Yes, thanks for joining us this evening. We've been we're
NJCAA guys, so we're learning about the three C two A.
We're excited about it, and you guys got a great
system and the championship coming up, so we're excited to
hear which you guys are cooking up and how everything's
looking for Saturday for.

Speaker 7 (01:02:58):
You absolutely look forward to it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:02):
So coach I believe he had a male and a
female win the regional championships. How has the season been
and how's it looking for Saturday?

Speaker 6 (01:03:14):
Season has been incredible, It's been you know, as I'm
sure other teams have said, a season of growth, some
ups and downs. You know, you have all those little
challenges that happened throughout the year. But yes, I had
both male and female. We had Tommy White went on
the men's side and Maya Natarajan and winning on the
women's side, and it was just incredible to see so
much blue at the finish line in first place.

Speaker 7 (01:03:36):
So was absolutely thrilled for these two athletes.

Speaker 6 (01:03:40):
Two of the best races I've seen at this level,
and just just incredible to watch the growth for both
of these sophomores.

Speaker 3 (01:03:47):
So what's the momentum from those two wins going into
the Saturday and with the rest of the team.

Speaker 6 (01:03:55):
You know, I think it was just super inspiring to
the rest of the team. They saw that you know,
both of these athletes were you know, they were not
in the first five at SOCOL last year or or
at State, so it you know, they made a big
a big growth and a big jump from last year.
So it was very inspiring for the other athletes and
I think motivating for them to see that what you

(01:04:16):
can accomplish from you know, working hard in year one
and then you know all through the spring and the
track in the summer and the growth into their sophomore years.
So I think there's a lot of good you know,
synergy with the team and momentum and excitement going into Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
Coach, what's been the key to the level jumping from
last year this year for those two athletes.

Speaker 7 (01:04:42):
I think it's different for both athletes.

Speaker 6 (01:04:44):
You know, for Maya on her side, she was an
athlete who potentially wasn't even going to run in college.
She was, she was thinking about it wasn't one hundred
percent sure, and it was always one of those athletes
that had potential, but just I think she didn't realize
it in high school and she came into colleg and
she started to, you know, be able to piece some
more consistency together and and have that you know, those

(01:05:06):
those months of training and development, and I think she
gained confidence and it was you know, when I'm trying
to keep trying to tell her, it's it's not the
coach that you always you know, you always had it
in you. She always had it in her, It's just
that it came out in college. So I think for
her it was it was more of just developing that
that everyday intention and that confidence that she could do

(01:05:28):
a lot.

Speaker 7 (01:05:28):
More than she was that she was aware of.

Speaker 6 (01:05:31):
And then for Tommy, you know, he was kind of
a different athlete coming into college. He knew he was
going to run super you know, had a lot of
good success. But he's really grown in his maturity and
how he how he races on the line, his patience
and and that's the key factor for for growth for these.

Speaker 2 (01:05:49):
Athletes, coachur or some of the other athletes that we
should be keeping an eye out for.

Speaker 6 (01:05:56):
Oh, you know, I think there's there's too many to name,
but we have, you know, and on the girl's side,
on you know, freshman A Dulce's she's been fantastic. She's
another one didn't have a lot of mileage coming into
college and has been able to put many solid weeks
of training together. And you know, from a freshman standpoint,
and then you know the rest of the team, there's

(01:06:17):
just there's too many to mension there. They're all just
they're all just so good and they they put in
so much hard work. We won on the men's and
women's side. We won our conference and that's something that's
never been done at Morpark College in this conference. So
you know, i'd have to say the entire team, every
single person that got on the line is someone to

(01:06:37):
talk about.

Speaker 3 (01:06:39):
Could you mentioned this being the first time you guys
have won the conference. What do you think the difference
was this year?

Speaker 6 (01:06:46):
You know, I think that we had some hard conversations
in the middle of the season, and it was it
was athlete driven, you know, athletes holding each other accountable
and letting each other know that how they show up
is effect each each other.

Speaker 7 (01:07:01):
And it didn't come from the coaches. It came from
the athletes.

Speaker 6 (01:07:05):
And you know, when the athletes are the ones driving
the culture, you've done something right in the program. So
I'm really proud of them and watching them have those
hard conversations, it showed what level of maturity we have
on the team and the direction of the program is
just incredible.

Speaker 3 (01:07:22):
Were those hard conversations something that something wasn't clicking during
during the year or was that just something they brought
up organically?

Speaker 7 (01:07:31):
It was something organically, I think. You know, little things
here and there.

Speaker 6 (01:07:34):
You know, if someone comes in late, someone misses, you know,
an important meeting or a practice, and it's just not
about them.

Speaker 7 (01:07:41):
It's about the entire team.

Speaker 6 (01:07:42):
You know, if one person goes down, there's there's a
training partner, right And if someone's not showing that intensity
in practice, it's not just that person.

Speaker 7 (01:07:50):
I think it shows that it's about the team.

Speaker 6 (01:07:52):
And I'm always trying to you know, we're always trying
to tell them as coaches, Hey, you know, it's it's
more than running.

Speaker 7 (01:07:56):
It's how you show up, is how you show up
in life.

Speaker 6 (01:07:59):
And you know you're going to You're gonna be your
best version of you here and then you're going to
go on to whatever you do, whether it's running or
corporate or family, and you're going to show up just
the same way. So best to practice and sharpen here
so that you can be the best you can be
later in life.

Speaker 2 (01:08:16):
Coach, how Tommy a maya feeling?

Speaker 3 (01:08:20):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
I guess mentally, are they feeling any like a bullseye
on their back after winning regionals? Or are they they calm,
cool and collected as they head into Woodward on Saturday?

Speaker 7 (01:08:30):
You know, I think they're calm, cool and collected.

Speaker 6 (01:08:32):
We talk a lot about being where your feet are,
not thinking about yesterday, not worrying about tomorrow, appreciating today
and and you know, having gratitude for being able to
get on the line and race. We talk a lot
about gratitude in the program and things that you know,
you don't have to You get to you get to
get on the starting line, you get to train, you

(01:08:54):
get to have those hard conversations. And there's certainly a
lot of people that would love to be in your position,
you know, whether they're maybe they're injured or they don't
have the capacity.

Speaker 7 (01:09:04):
And the talent. But you know, be here now and
give it all you got and be curious.

Speaker 6 (01:09:09):
You know what, what can you accomplish? So yeah, I
think they're calm, cool and collected coach.

Speaker 2 (01:09:15):
Are making me feel good. It sounds a lot like
the things I said to my kids last week as
we were heading into the state championships down here in
South Carolina. You know, you get to do this. Be
grateful for this experience, Be grateful that you have the
ability to do this, that not everyone has the ability
to run at your level and to just even to
train to do anything. So I pracially saying that that

(01:09:39):
makes me feel good that I know what I'm doing
at least a little bit.

Speaker 7 (01:09:43):
Well, Hey, we'll you know what we're as coaches, we're
always learning.

Speaker 6 (01:09:46):
And I tell the athletes that too. Hey I'm not
a perfect coach, You're not a perfect athlete. But if
we can leave this season and we can make each
other better, then we've we've accomplished our goal, right, and
so always be growing amen.

Speaker 3 (01:09:58):
Coach.

Speaker 2 (01:09:59):
Have you guys been able to see the course at all?

Speaker 6 (01:10:01):
Yes, we have seen the course. There's a few people
that have raced it in high school. There's a few
people that raced it last year, and we took a
little field trip up there as well. So I think
that everybody should feel confident and excited to get on
the course knowing where you know where the opportunities are
on the course.

Speaker 2 (01:10:22):
And I'm assuming the weather's going to be better than
the NJCA Championships on Saturday last Saturday or two saturdays ago.

Speaker 6 (01:10:28):
Yeah, I mean I'm hoping we don't have to swim,
but hey, if we do, I think everyone has had
a swim, so we'll just we'll take it as it comes.

Speaker 3 (01:10:36):
Coach, being on the course, and obviously I don't want
you to give the game plan away, but what do
you think some of the tough spots are and where
your runners can make the best out of it?

Speaker 7 (01:10:49):
Yeah, I don't think it's any secret. I mean, so
many of these, so many schools, we all race it.
In high school.

Speaker 6 (01:10:54):
So I think that there's a back portion that has
some hills and it's you know a little bit of
a no man's land we'll call it. And I think
if you can capitalize and run strong in that back
part then and kind of come out victorious oude of
those rolling I'll call it the rolling hills. I think
that's the opportunity back there is just knowing that you know,

(01:11:14):
you're not alone. You've got teammates around, You've got coaches
out there. They know what they need to do and
have fun with it, you know. I mean, I think
we've been on all sorts of terrain this season. We've
trained on different terrain. They know the course, so it's
just about you know, getting on the course and executing.

Speaker 3 (01:11:30):
As a team. Are you guys concerned about that low
stick or you focused on the gap?

Speaker 6 (01:11:37):
You know, I think we're there's a spread, but I
think if everybody shows up and runs the race that
they can race, we're going to have a great day.

Speaker 2 (01:11:47):
What does success or a great day look like? Are
we keeping our eyes on the podium for Saturday?

Speaker 7 (01:11:53):
Always?

Speaker 1 (01:11:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:11:55):
I mean, you know, as a coach, as an athlete,
I mean you're always eye on that podium. A great
day to for me from a coach perspective is is
every you know, every person getting on the line and
executing the race that they're capable of on that day.
You know the day is going to be different. You know,
we can't We can only control what we can control.
We can't control our competitors, we can't control the weather,

(01:12:15):
we can't control the course. But we can all get
on the course and we can run to the best
of our ability and execute and with confidence.

Speaker 7 (01:12:23):
And if they all do that, then then that's a
great day in my book, coach.

Speaker 2 (01:12:29):
Geographically speaking, where's More Park located in California?

Speaker 6 (01:12:33):
More Park Colleges in Ventura County And it's you know,
you're between La and Santa Barbara, beautiful, lots of uh,
lots of great terrain to run on, lots of trails.
You're in the Santa Monica Mountains and yeah, just it's
it's a beautiful climate.

Speaker 7 (01:12:48):
It's great to bring more awareness.

Speaker 6 (01:12:49):
I love that you guys are doing this because there's
so many kids that don't realize that. You know, they
leave high school and they think the only option is
Division one. They think they're done and if we could
just spread more awareness that they're not done. They don't
have to be done, but it's a game changer getting
some of those athletes. So I love, you know, the
more awareness we can spread about more park college.

Speaker 5 (01:13:09):
The better.

Speaker 2 (01:13:11):
Yeah, I'm a little familiar with here. I ran the
Mountains the Beach marathons when I qualified for the Boston
Marathon for the first time, so we went up there
in Ohi and then ran down a venture and Jimmy
and I are both n j c A All Americans
myself and cross country Jimmy and wrestling. So the junior
college experience is something that's very near and dear to

(01:13:31):
our heart. And yeah, we want people to know that
there's more to continuing your athletic career. If you're dedicated
student athlete, there's there's schools out there for you, and
sometimes the two year option is the best way to go.
And it sounds like the price tag to the California

(01:13:51):
experience is a lot cheaper than it was for the
New Jersey experience. So I think if kids know that,
you know, it opens a lot of doors for them,
especially from a developmental perspective.

Speaker 6 (01:14:02):
Absolutely, Yeah, and congratulations on qualifying for for Boston and
all your your status as well. But bah, I agree,
I think that Yeah, it's it's a huge doorway into
other opportunities. Sometimes people don't know they are even going
to be able to run at that level. So it's
it's fantastic.

Speaker 7 (01:14:20):
Love what you guys are doing.

Speaker 2 (01:14:21):
Thank you, coach.

Speaker 3 (01:14:23):
What's the student population?

Speaker 6 (01:14:25):
Oh boy, that's that's a good question. It's yeah, I'd
have to look that up. I'm not sure exactly what
we're at in terms of population. It's probably an easy
one to check.

Speaker 3 (01:14:36):
What surprised you most this year with the team?

Speaker 7 (01:14:41):
I think, you know, the.

Speaker 6 (01:14:42):
Growth of some of our top athletes, just just from
a mentality standpoint, coming in with with so much intention
and so much drive. An athlete I didn't get a
chance to talk about was another freshman, Trent. Trent Williams
from Malibu. He he was eighth at SoCal and just
he's been an absolutely amazing training partner for Tommy.

Speaker 7 (01:15:02):
And he's he's this quiet leader.

Speaker 6 (01:15:04):
You know, we have some of these quiet leaders on
the team and and they come in and they just
come in with this discipline and and this consistency, and
it just it levels up the team. So it's just
incredible to watch. And with such turnover, you know, you're
losing these athletes every couple of years. You really need
those leaders to bring in the next you know, the
next crop a freshmen. So I guess you know some

(01:15:27):
of the the way they've come in with intention and
consistency and bought into the program so quickly. That's been
you know, surprising and gratifying because you know, the sooner
they buy in, the obviously, the more time I have
to get to know them.

Speaker 7 (01:15:42):
And to develop them.

Speaker 2 (01:15:45):
It's fun when they buy in, absolutely, and it's fun
to have some some quiet leaders sometimes those are the
best leaders.

Speaker 7 (01:15:51):
Yes, definitely.

Speaker 6 (01:15:53):
Yeah, it's lots of different personalities and many different experience
levels with running and motivation and bringing all those people together,
it's it's it's quite the symphony.

Speaker 7 (01:16:04):
It's amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:16:06):
You can definitely conductor when you're coaching.

Speaker 3 (01:16:08):
For sure.

Speaker 2 (01:16:09):
Coach Tommy and Maya are they have they solidified any
plans for the future and for your schools.

Speaker 7 (01:16:16):
Not yet. They're looking around.

Speaker 6 (01:16:17):
We have some coaches that are interested in them, but
you know, I think there's there's a lot of opportunity,
but I don't think they've made any final decisions yet,
So I think and hopefully lots of coaches are out
there and we'll be at the state meet and are
keeping an eye on them. And sky's a limit for
both of them. Both very intelligent, very very good students.

(01:16:37):
So just you know, all around great package for both
of them.

Speaker 2 (01:16:41):
Are they looking to stay within the state of California?
Are they open to options outside of the state.

Speaker 6 (01:16:47):
You know, I think they're looking within the state of California,
but I would never want to limit them. I think
if a really good opportunity came their way, I'm sure
they would evaluate it.

Speaker 3 (01:16:56):
Coach, you mentioned that two year turnover. What do you
think the sixas to being consistent as a team at
the junior college level is.

Speaker 6 (01:17:05):
You know, I think it comes from the top, from
all the coaches and the program philosophy. You really have
to have strong leadership at the top. I think to
make sure that these kids buy in quickly and that
they you know, again, just they fall into the program
and then they inspire the next freshman. So I think that,

(01:17:26):
you know, as coaches, we're building a legacy here at
more Park College, and you know, it's all about championship
habits and getting kids to buy in quickly and seeing
the end goal, you know, which is really be curious
about what.

Speaker 7 (01:17:39):
You can accomplish.

Speaker 6 (01:17:40):
But again, it's just it's it's working together as as
a coaching team and really having that philosophy and that
that very special one on one relationship with each of
the athletes that I think really you know, drives awareness
to the community and they see you know, parents see it,
friends see it, and they say.

Speaker 7 (01:17:59):
Hey, go check out more part college. Look at look
at what these athletes are doing.

Speaker 6 (01:18:03):
They weren't even going to run in college and look
what's you know, look at the fire and the desire
they have to run now. So I think it's it's
starting to catch on in the community and beyond. So
I think, yeah, all of that.

Speaker 2 (01:18:16):
Coach, what's the key to getting some of those kids
that didn't think they were going to run in college
to run in college?

Speaker 6 (01:18:23):
You know, a lot of a lot of persistence in
terms of conversations with the athletes, and then I think
the success that we're having with with the local athletes
in turn is helping to raise those eyes of those
athletes going you know what, maybe maybe I want to
know what's going on at More Part College. But usually

(01:18:45):
we get an athlete out to a couple of practices
and they're hooked.

Speaker 7 (01:18:48):
So I guess we're doing something right. You know that
the kids on the.

Speaker 6 (01:18:51):
Team, they're all just fantastic individuals. It's it's beyond running.
They're just really really amazing kids. And is yeah, it's
not about developing it's not just about developing runners. It's
about developing just good humans And it's just a it's
a team of incredible people that we get and then
their coaches see it from high school and then they
encourage their athletes, and the parents see it and little

(01:19:12):
brothers and sisters and and even going to meets for
your meets other collegiate coaches, they're like, hey, you guys
have something special going on at More Part College. And
you know there's US coaches that are out that are
still competing and we're going to races and they're like, hey,
you know, tell me about More Part College. So it's
just it's kind of spreading because it's just a really
special place to be.

Speaker 2 (01:19:34):
And with those kids, is it are they on the
fence about just running in general or is it they
don't necessarily think they have the ability to run in
college or ether they're at that level.

Speaker 7 (01:19:44):
Both all of that. Yeah, I lost the fire. I
quit track.

Speaker 6 (01:19:48):
I don't want to run anymore. I'm burnout. I was
injured in high school.

Speaker 7 (01:19:52):
What's the point.

Speaker 6 (01:19:52):
I'm not going to be able to run. I'm too fast,
I'm too slow, you name it. There's always an excuse,
and I just you know, you really try to listen.
I come from a corporate background, so I'm always trying
to develop you know, what is your why what do
you want to do in life? Because no matter what
it is, I guarantee being on this team is going
to make you better at whatever you want to do.
And I would I think you'd be hard pressed to

(01:20:13):
find anybody who left this program and said what we
did on this team didn't make them better as a
corporate professional. As you know, you know, in the relationships, socially, what.

Speaker 4 (01:20:23):
Have you.

Speaker 3 (01:20:25):
Goat? You are speaking our language.

Speaker 7 (01:20:28):
Well that's good, No, I mean, hey, we're I think
we're all trying to do the same thing.

Speaker 6 (01:20:32):
And I just I'm just stoked that you guys are
are highlighting it because I've been trying to find a
way to just show how special of a place more
part collegees and highlight these incredible athletes.

Speaker 7 (01:20:43):
It's just they're just amazing individuals.

Speaker 3 (01:20:47):
I believe you're a pretty successful marathonor yourself. Do you
see any future marathonors on the team.

Speaker 6 (01:20:55):
Yeah, I mean definitely marathonnors. You know, I've half Marit
honors all that. I think one of the things that
they get to see is longevity. You know, I'm still
out competing and I get on the line when I
can and I race, and I even joke with some
of my athletes you know, hey, after the season, we're
going to have one on ones and they get to

(01:21:15):
see that I'm out there working hard and that running
doesn't end in college.

Speaker 7 (01:21:20):
You know, you can take running throughout your entire life.

Speaker 6 (01:21:23):
And it may you know, ebbs and flows in terms
of you know, what you're focused on, but it's it's
always there for you. And I think that's another thing
that I try to really stress with athletes is you know,
it doesn't end in college.

Speaker 7 (01:21:35):
It's for many For many athletes, they get better after college.

Speaker 6 (01:21:38):
So it's again, my goal isn't to make them the
very best they can be at this you know one moment.
It's to develop them so they can go on and
be the best they can be. And if that's you know,
a year from now, two years from now, then great.
But it's all about developing, developing athletes, developing people.

Speaker 3 (01:21:56):
Because you said you're still competitive, do you ever drop
the hammer on the kids? Sure?

Speaker 7 (01:22:01):
Absolutely, I mean why not?

Speaker 5 (01:22:04):
Right?

Speaker 7 (01:22:06):
Yeah, I mean Maya's given me a run for my
money this year. She's she's getting really fast.

Speaker 6 (01:22:10):
So you know, we joke about racing the Jingle Bell
Run in a few weeks and uh but yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:22:15):
No, it's it's uh yeah, I have to. It's good
they like it.

Speaker 6 (01:22:18):
I think it's fun for them to see that their
coach still gets out there. And I you know, I
don't get on a podium by by sitting at home,
you know, just just talking. I'm out there doing doing
the hard workouts and getting to practice, you know, two
hours early to get my workout in, and.

Speaker 7 (01:22:35):
I mean lead by example, right, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:22:39):
I always tell them I wouldn't have you do something
that I haven't done or haven't already done or can't do.

Speaker 7 (01:22:44):
So absolutely, yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:22:46):
I mean I'm lucky enough to have had Olympic level
coaches and they you know, so they have a my
relationship with my coaches has been very one on one
and that's how I coach is just like a very
individual approach versus kind of like this massive college system.
And so I think that's a little different at more
part college too. They get the benefit of of that
from from me and from you know, the coaching staff.
So yeah, I mean, got to got to test out

(01:23:09):
the workouts before I give it to them.

Speaker 2 (01:23:10):
So so talking about I guess you know I could
give me on this one, Jim, talking about testing out
the workouts, doing the workouts. Does more Park dabble in
the world double threshold at all?

Speaker 7 (01:23:23):
Uh? Maybe a little bit.

Speaker 6 (01:23:27):
I think that it's you know, it's it's a newer
may we'll call it like a newer concept. And it's
certainly not for everybody, but it's it's it's there and
uh something that you know, a couple a couple are
going to be trying. But nothing that's uh, nothing that's
big right now, just something that we're kind of getting into.

Speaker 2 (01:23:46):
Do you dabble in it at all?

Speaker 7 (01:23:48):
Not really. I mean, as a master's athlete, I have
to be I have to be pretty careful with with
what I do. It's yeah, you you know, so.

Speaker 6 (01:23:57):
I guess I double threshold because I'm a mom, you know, yeah,
and uh, and then I coached, and so I feel
that feels like a little double threshold to make triple
threshold maybe, coach.

Speaker 3 (01:24:08):
Is there anything about Moore Park College, the team, the
college itself that we haven't covered that you want our
audience to know.

Speaker 7 (01:24:16):
We I mean, our facility is incredible.

Speaker 6 (01:24:19):
We have a really amazing outdoor weight room and indoor
weight room that's really really cool. We have we have
a zoo on campus, which is I think it's the
only teaching zoo in the country. And yeah, there's just
the college has been ranked year after year is one
of the best community colleges in the in the nation.
So it's you know, from an academic standpoint and athletic standpoint,

(01:24:41):
it's it's incredible. And the support from not just the
coaching staff, but you know, athletic director and all the
way to the top has been fantastic. So you feel
really supported as I think, you know, an athlete and
the coach and as an administrator all the way up.
So yeah, it's just a really it's a really neat
place to.

Speaker 7 (01:24:59):
Be in the community.

Speaker 2 (01:25:01):
Outdoor Jim Rich, Yeah, it's pretty nice.

Speaker 3 (01:25:07):
Coach, Thank you so much for your time tonight. We
will be watching, we'll be rooting for more park this weekend,
and best of luck.

Speaker 7 (01:25:15):
Thank you so much. I appreciate you guys having me
and have a great evening.

Speaker 2 (01:25:18):
Yeah, absolutely tell Tommy Maya and everyone else we said,
good luck, save travels up to Fresno and yeah afterwards,
maybe we'll get you back on here to recap.

Speaker 7 (01:25:26):
It sounds great. Thank you guys, Take care of coach,
have a great night you too, take care by bye.

Speaker 2 (01:25:32):
Is that it for us tonight, Jim, Yes, sir, Well
that was fun. That was fun learning a little bit
more about the three C two A experience and the
and the association. I guess it is excited to learn
about the nw A C as well. You know, there's
a whole other world on the West coast that I think.

(01:25:52):
I mean, I know we knew about the three C
two A because of the last chance you and just
being out there and in the end up NJCA. But yeah,
it seems like they got a cool thing going on.
I'd like like to race a four mile across the
country race as opposed to a ten k maybe, which.

Speaker 3 (01:26:12):
Is good to know that there's other opportunities and it
doesn't have to have NCAA at the end of it, right,
and I don't. Obviously there's a lot of community aspects
of the California based schools, but still who to say
that you can't go and rent the apartment and go
to school out in North County San Diego and run

(01:26:33):
out there and get the best of both where worlds
as far as running and living in a really cool location.
There's options for kids, Like we say every week, there's options.
You just need to know they're there. And that's why
we're here. We're here finding employ we're here spotlighting employ
and I hope this podcast reaches those kids like us

(01:26:53):
that we're looking for something like this.

Speaker 2 (01:26:56):
Well, the thing would be to find out was how
how long would you have to be in cal Forty
to claim residency so that you could get that seventeen
dollars and fifty cent price tag? Welly, yere, can you
go for a year, live there for a year full
time and then you're a California resident and then you
get that tuition or whatever it is?

Speaker 3 (01:27:14):
It was a year in Colorado for me.

Speaker 2 (01:27:17):
Well there you go. Yeah, so it looked like Kuae
Maka had a pretty cool mascot. Yeah, and who doesn't
like working out in the gym outside?

Speaker 3 (01:27:26):
Yeah? And can you pronounce the first first school for me?
The Heart No Heartnell looked like they had a really
nice track and football field too. So again there's options
out there for everyone.

Speaker 2 (01:27:44):
Yeah. Well, all right, ladies and gentlemen, that is it
for the air Bros this evening. That is the three
C two A State Championship cross Country preview. We'll be
back tomorrow night. Well, we're going to be diving back
on to the wrestling matt to go belly to belly
with some of the top NAI programs and the coaches

(01:28:04):
that are leading the charge and the NAI. So we'll
be back tomorrow night, same bat time, same bat.

Speaker 3 (01:28:10):
John

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🎙 Episode 412 — 2025 3C2A (CCCAA) Cross Country State Championship Preview | Hartnell, Cuyamaca & Moorpark at Woodward Park

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}🎙 Episode 412 — 2025 3C2A (CCCAA) Cross Country State Championship Preview | Hartnell, Cuyamaca & Moorpark at Woodward Park