Final Post

How sad and ironic that the last thing I would ever write to my athletes in a newsletter was, “do the right thing”. If only I was in a place emotionally where I was smart enough to heed my own advice. 

Without going into the details my career ended 14 years ago today because I chose to make some poor choices and not do the right thing. 

I will never be able to make up for the people I hurt or the trust I lost but I can try to live the rest of my life every day the way that I should and never do anything to bring pain to those I love and care about again. 

The End 07/14/19

The Final Year - 2004 - 2005

I’m finally starting this post on June 10, 2019 long after I finished the post for the 2003 - 2004 season because I made up my mind that it needs to be finished. My career ended 14 years ago and I need to wrap this thing up and put it on the shelf. 

The book I used with my newsletters this season was, Mind Gym, an athletes guide to inner excellence  by Gary Mack. I have been a firm believer in mental training since I began coaching. Several of the boys team members had played soccer for years and some even continued to do so during the season. (Needless to say that was a season long point of contention. When your top runner misses to go play for a soccer team that never won it was beyond frustrating). The connection to some of the boys to soccer and mental toughness or lack of is that some of them were used to being able to take time off during games and obviously that didn’t work out too well when they did it in a race. That’s sort of a long winded way to say we had some runners who were never going to reach their potential unless they improved their mental toughness. 

The good news to start the season was that we had enough kids out on both teams to justify having a scrimmage. We went to Woodland Park to run with Coach Payton’s team and had a cookout afterwards with both teams. It was a fun and also challenging way to kick off the competitive season. 

Our first meet was the Harrison Invitational on the State Meet course. Because there were many small schools in the 38 team field they scored top 4 instead of five. That worked to our advantage because our #5 runner at the two mile dropped out. (Remember the focus this season was on mental toughness). We still had work to do because we were in the toughest 4A Region in the state. We finished tied for second but got 3rd based on the 137th place finish of our 5th runner. And we were just 4 points out of 1st. The concern we came away from the meet with was our 3:45 split from 1-5. In the newsletter I wrote, “This won’t get us to state!”  

In the girls division the good news is that we were starting the season with a scoring team and despite the fact that our 4th and 5th runners were 190th and 199th out of 199 we still beat 4 teams. A scoring team was a step forward. 

My comments after the meet focused on mental toughness. “If you learned nothing else yesterday you should have either learned or had reinforced that cross country is a challenging sport. It is a sport of courage, a sport of the heart and a sport for those willing to accept and meet a challenge. You can’t hide on the sidelines or the bench while your teammates go out and compete. Each of you has to be your biggest competitor physically and mentally.”

We went through a string of four meets where our only loss was to 5A Air Academy and our 1-5 gap was consistently under a minute and thirty seconds. While we still hoped to get it lower at least it was trending in the right direction and our top seven boys and top three girls were becoming very dependable. Our biggest weakness on the boys team was the gap between six and seven. 

We won the Sand Creek Invitational by 50 points over second place with our top five finishing in the top nine including an individual win from FL.  The girls again had a scoring team and were led as usual by steady performances from the 3 A’s; AO, AH and AD  

We finished 2nd of 19 at Cheyenne Mountain and had our best 1-5 split of the season at 1:07. The girls were without one of the three A’s but we still had a scoring team. After the meet I wrote: “Great job guys! This is the first time since 1995 that we have beaten Cheyenne Mountain. It has also been many years since we’ve beaten Palmer and Lewis Palmer. How far you go this season and how much success you have this year is going to depend on how much each of you are willing to work to be the best individually and as a team. It’s going to come down to every one of you doing your best in every meet. Keep up the good work and good things can happen. Ladies, a scoring team is a pretty low goal and it’s sad that we’ve come to that in the program. The fact that we had a scoring team was a plus though and congratulations to the five of you who ran and finished. Now you each need to focus on getting better every day, every meet, every week.”

The third meet in this four meet stretch was Florence and again the boys won with FL in 1st and our 6th runner finishing 7th overall. AO led the girls with a 7th place finish and we became the 4 A’s when AS ran her first meet for us and became our third runner. 

The fourth and final meet of this stretch was the Pueblo Invitational where we were 1st in a 21 team field. Our 1-5 wasn’t great at 1:32 but the good news is our 1-7 was finally coming down at 1:44. Unfortunately the 1-7 was never going to be under 2:20 again because two of the top seven that day were literally one and done. One CS had been an outstanding runner for us as a freshman but moved to another high school, he moved back and competed in this meet where he was our number six runner with the minimum days of practice required and then the next week he moved back to the other school again. On top of that the runner who was our 4th runner that day DN had worked hard to regain eligibility and even competed in a junior varsity meet to earn his spot on the varsity for this meet and then came up ineligible again the next week. So despite the fact that our regular #7 wasn’t as talented as either of them one thing he had going for him is that he was dependable. 

On the girls side we only had two of the 4 A’s and one other runner so we failed to score. The irony here is that our third runner PP was in her first race and was the 5th runner we needed to be more competitive. Her response to running well in her first meet...she quit!

The boys continued to string together good performances the next four meets leading up to the championship part of the season. The girls were improving and most importantly they were continuing to represent Sierra by scoring as a team. We still couldn’t get consistent performances from one of our top four girls and that was keeping the team from moving up in team standings. For example during the four meet stretch of Liberty Bell, Buena Vista, pikes Peak Invitational and Rampart she was our 3rd runner twice, 4th once and 6th once. Her times varied by as much as 11 minutes! 

The boys were 4th at Liberty Bell, 1st at Buena Vista, 5th at Pikes Peak where they were the first 4A team and 4th at Rampart where they were again the first 4A team. My comments after these meets make it pretty obvious that our biggest concern was consistency at least 1-5 if not 1-7. 

After Liberty Bell, “Great effort by the boys team and some of the girls once again. The girls team will never improve until everyone realizes that it is a race. Fourth place is the highest finish ever by a Sierra team at Liberty Bell. For the most part it was an outstanding team effort. It is going to take a better effort if you are going to make it to state. We are in the toughest Region in the state without a doubt.”

After Buena Vista, “Outstanding job IF you simply look at the results. It was nice to have a girls team that really competed for the first time in several years. If we get someone to step up and be a 5th runner you can have a respectable finish at league and region. Who is it going to be? Guys, winning is always good. This is the first time in school history that a boy’s cross country team has won 3 meets in a season and 5 in two seasons. It’s also the first time a Sierra cross country athlete has won three meets in one year, congratulations FL. There was a negative in your performance as a team though and I think every one of the top six knows what it is because at least five of you told me on Tuesday that you “went out to fast”. You’re still to hung up on racing each other to early and then you have to hang on. The pack has got to run smarter starting on Friday. I definitely think you regained your focus as a team and if you hadn’t you would have lost to Woodland Park yesterday. Now it’s simple, keep the focus, get and keep the grades up, believe in yourself and each other and you can reach your goal of returning to the State Championship meet and finishing high.”

After Pikes Peak, “Very good job guys, we still need 6 of you getting it done and the gap has to close. (1-5 was 1:26). Ladies those of you who tried and ran hard know who you are, keep up the good work. We still need five of you to honestly compete if you are going to improve at League and Region from the past few years.”

And finally, after Rampart, “Great job by both teams. I can’t even begin to tell you proud of the guys I am for stepping up without FL and finishing 4th in such a large and competitive meet. That’s the last time FL will have a conflict with soccer. Continue to work together and improve and your season goals can be reached. Girls it has been a long time since a coach from another team stopped and commented to me about how good the girls ran. (They finished 11th out of 27 teams). EZ you’re getting better but I know you can run 2-3 minutes faster and close the gap on the top 4. (She improved a minute in each of the next two meets. 2:10 total). AS you need to compete every meet not just when you feel like it. (She didn’t show up for League which was the next meet and we didn’t take her to Region). If you two continue to improve and the top three keep competing you will have the best League and Regional finish we’ve had in years”. 

All that remained were the three meets that we considered the Championship stretch of the season, Metro League, Region and if we qualified, State. 

We got off on the right foot at League with a strong second place finish from the boys losing by only 4 points to Cheyenne Mountain. Three of the top seven boys and 4-7 girls all ran personal bests. 

As I mentioned throughout the season and several times while writing this we were without a doubt the toughest Region in the state and it was going to take a great effort to qualify for State. To make matters more stressful we had 12 teams in our Region and only 4 qualified for State or 40% of the competing teams so in order to get the 5th qualifier every team had to have a scoring team. Denver Manual had not fielded a scoring team all year but their coach assured the other coaches that he had five kids who were eligible to compete. That was the good news. The bad news was that if even one of them failed to finish we would lose the 5th team qualifier. 

Region was just as tough as we expected and we got that 5th qualifier because all 12 teams scored. That was a good thing because we were that 5th place team. Three of our top seven and six of the top seven girls ran their personal best. 

“Congratulations to the boys team on qualifying for the State Championship for the second year in a row. You overcame being in the toughest region in the state to qualify and you should be proud of yourselves.  Now it’s important that you don’t be satisfied to just qualify. Your first goal as an individual should be to improve over last year and your goal as a team should be a better showing than last year. It’s all about improvement every time you go out.”

And compete they did. They all ran season bests and became the #’s 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 11th on the junior all time list and our number seven runner the 21st on the sophomore list. As a team they finished fifth and beat two of the teams that had beaten them at Region, including Cheyenne Mountain the League champions. Their 1-5 split was under a minute, 57 seconds, a remarkable effort. 

“What a tremendous way to finish a very successful season. I told you after the race, I told you on the bus and I told those of you I saw at school this morning but I want to tell you again that I am very proud of the way you represented this school and program all year. Saturday was just the final outstanding effort and you were rewarded with a fifth place finish at the state championship meet. Great job! Coming from 5th in your region and beating two teams that beat you there was a truly championship effort.”

I didn’t know then that would be the last cross country newsletter I would write but I probably wouldn’t have written it any different. I’m as proud of those kids today as I write this fifteen years later as I was then. 

Ironically the next year they were moved to the weakest 4A region. The boys won and the girls were runner up. 

We had been getting more competitive in girls swimming the past few years because I was able to have more control in schedule making and I tried to schedule teams that had similar student bodies and similar histories to us. We couldn’t change the entire schedule because of teams in our league that we had to keep on the schedule. While they were considered in the bottom tier of our league with us the majority were still 5A schools. Our focus out of necessity was improvement and doing our best no matter who we swam against. 

My newsletter comments after the first meet were a pretty clear overview of our expectations. “Ladies the dominating win (120-42) isn’t what I’m impressed with. I am impressed with your effort in your events, your support for one another throughout the meet and the fact that with 9 swimmers who had never competed before we had only one disqualification. Great job and a good start to the season. Now it’s important that we work on fixing some things quickly. First, all of you need to smooth out your strokes, work harder drilling at practice. Think about what it feels like in the water, if you are twisting and turning your body, if you are running into the walls or lane lines, you are not swimming smoothly. Second, we have to get better as a team. We won’t win close meets or beat the better teams unless some of you step up and swim better, which translates to faster. We have to have three in every event, that means some of you need to step up in the fly, 200, 500, IM etc. Great job now lets keep getting better.”

Sierra 106 - Widefield 75. “Wow! You did exactly what we said you needed to do, win where you could and swim for points everywhere else and the results were what we hoped they would be. You beat Widefield for the first time in school history. Now it’s important that you don’t have a let down on Thursday.”

Sierra 95 - Pueblo Central 79. “You are 3-0 for the first time in school history. You have the potential ladies to have a really special season. It’s going to take a serious commitment from everyone, that means at practice, working in practice to improve your weaknesses, learning more strokes so you are a more versatile swimmer, keeping your grades up and doing what you need to do to stay healthy.”

It’s pretty obvious that our goals were to make the girls well rounded student athletes with emphasis on student first and that included improving as a student of the sport. 

Fountain Fort Carson 119 - Sierra 57. “The score doesn’t tell the whole story ladies. As a matter of fact I was surprised it was as bad as it was because I feel the majority of you swam well and competed hard which is what we asked you to do.” We only won two individual events and none of the relays but it wasn’t from lack of effort. As was the case in all of our loses we were simply out experienced. You can only do your best and the majority of the time without fail the girls did everything we asked. 

Sierra 98 - Pueblo East 75. 

Sierra 115 - Harrison 61. “Congratulations on your 5-1 record so far. You became only the 3rd team in school history to win 5 meets. No team has ever won more than 5. Next weeks meet with Mitchell will be a lot tougher than our last two. It is going to take everyone’s best effort to have a chance to compete with them. Anything less and we’ll get best as bad as we were beaten at Fountain”. 

Mitchell 101 - Sierra 68. “You wouldn’t think you could find much positive in a 33 point loss but there were some positives. We won 5 of 11 events and for the record, 4 of the 6 events Mitchell won they swam faster than our school records. Many of you swam season bests and several of you made the all time lists with some of you swimming events for the first time.”

Fountain Fort Carson Invitational 4th of 11 teams only 12 points behind Mitchell for 3rd. 

Sierra 101 - SkyView 75. “Ladies congratulations! The first swim team in school history to win 6 swimming meets. It started out slow with us behind by 2 points after diving but you came back like I expected you to. I told you SkyView was going to be tougher than we had ever seen before. Now lets get ready to have a competitive showing at St. Mary’s next week.”

St. Mary’s 97 - Sierra 73. “Once again we lost to a good team with several outstanding swimmers and once again they swam faster than our school records in four of the events they won. There were some outstanding races for all places. We are proud of the way you stepped up and competed throughout the meet. That was the last meet for some of you and you represented Sierra well. Those of you swimming at League have a final chance this year to make the all time list for yards”. 

Colorado Springs Metro League Championships- Lewis Palmer 369, Cheyenne Mountain 366, Palmer 330, Liberty 244, Pine Creek 168, Air Academy 165.5, Wasson 147, Rampart 112.5, Doherty 97, Fountain Fort Carson 84, Coronado 79, Mitchell 74, SIERRA 30, Widefield/Mesa Ridge 26 & Harrison 16. 

Every season ended the same way for us and basically that was getting run over at the League meet no matter how well we swam. “It’s always a tough way to end the season. For the first time we had two swimmers make the “bonus round”, EB in the 500 and SH in the 200. (The bonus final was for swimmers 17-24 from the prelims and scored no points it was just another opportunity for swimmers from the bottom tier teams a chance to swim again at League). Two of the three relays also made the all time lists in both prelims and finals. (While coaching the team I maintained lists of the top 15 individual and relay performances in both yards and meters as a motivational tool for the girls). Many of the younger swimmers finished with personal bests and took a step towards next year already. The season was the best in school history. You won 6 meets for the first time ever and became only the second winning team in 21 years”.

I mentioned irony at the end of Cross Country and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it here. The next year they only lost one four year letter winner and she was an important member of the team but who should move in as a senior? Fountain Fort Carson’s top swimmer. She broke three individual school records and five of the six relay records. She also became only the second swimmer in school history to make state. And the team became the 3rd winning team in school and again won 6 meets. 

Track season was usually the hardest for so many reasons that were out of our control as coaches. No matter how organized we were there were constant changes. As I write this summary many of those circumstances should become evident. Just as I’ve done with all of my posts in this blog anything in italics will be direct quotes from the pre and post meet newsletters that I gave to coaches and athletes. 

One theme that we always emphasized was, Every Point, Every Event, Every Meet and it was obvious after the Panther Relays, our first meet why we spent so much time reiterating that. 

“Great start to the 2005 Track and Field season ladies and gentlemen! I’m really proud of you and it isn’t just because of what happened at the meet. It was the way you did things all day. Not only was no one late to the bus (a first for the boys) but you were all early. You can’t imagine how much coaches appreciate that. With very few exceptions your conduct at the meet and support for one another was outstanding. Most efforts in your events were outstanding as well. 

Again for the most part warm up and cool down was handled well throughout the day. Very good first effort. Is there anyone who cannot think of where we could have picked up 2 more points in the guys and 4 more in the girls? You missed 1st place on both sides of the meet by a total of 4 points. Now is a very good time to emphasize the importance of every point, every event, every meet!”

There were 19 teams and the boys were second 80 to Sand Creek 81 while the girls were 3rd 67 behind Coronado 70 and Sand Creek 70. 

As was the case nearly every Spring in Colorado weather was the most unpredictable element that we dealt with. Competing in cold, wet and windy conditions was to be expected at some point every season. In addition we often had to deal with rescheduling and ultimately cancellations. From a coaching standpoint cancellations were probably the worst because it reduced the number of opportunmities for some athletes to compete. 

Fountain Fort Carson 6 Team - Cool and windy off and on. Boys 202 points for 1st over Sand Creek 121 and Manitou Springs 63. Girls were 3rd with 99 behind Sand Creek 152 and Fountain FC 150. 

“Very good job. Unfortunately there was more complaining and opting out of events this meet and hopefully that will improve”.

Two other issues that impacted the Spring season were Spring Break and First Semester Ineligibility. We handled the break by offering two options. First we scheduled practice four of the five days and second we gave a list of seven workouts they could do on their own and still earn letter points on the honor system. We usually came back from Spring Break without a big loss in performance. 

The tough thing about having athletes who needed to regain eligibility as well as any others who were having grade problems was the balance between allowing them to practice to establish fitness in case the could compete again in the future and making them use their time to get their grades up. 

“ELIGIBILITY: As you may or may not know several of your teammates were suspended from track practice and competition for grades and several others have been warned. This is going to remain the policy this season. To many of you had better start to understand that we are serious when we talk about the importance of academics.”

The next three meets showed how much Spring weather impacted track season when we had two out of three meets canceled and both of them were rescheduled before having to be canceled. The toughest part is that both of them were smaller midweek meets that is where we had opportunities to use more kids and to try others in different events both keys that we used to build depth and balanced scoring. That doesn’t even take into account practices that had to be moved indoors or canceled all together. 

The meet we got in between cancellations was the Panther Invitational and both teams performed well. In a field of 29 teams the boys were second and the girls 3rd just 2 1/2 points from second. After the meet I asked the following questions, “Where do we go from here? Each of you has to ask yourself that question. Where do you want the season to end? How good do you want to be? Your answer will come in your work effort and willingness to do the right thing, in the classroom, in the community, at home and in the program”. 

The next weekend was another example of the dedication I was fortunate enough to have from my assistant coaches. We had a Friday night meet at Sand Creek with schizophrenic weather where for the most part the kids did a good job. “The majority of you did a great job of handling the crazy weather and competing hard. Again your behavior was outstanding and a coach from another school stopped me to make a point of telling me how impressed he has been watching you at meets. Let’s keep up the good work and focus ahead on doing better every week. Remember, every place, every point, every event”. The boys won the meet and the girls had a respectable fourth place finish. 

The next morning two of our assistants were back on the bus before the sun came up to take many of our athletes who hadn’t had many opportunities to compete to a small school varsity meet at Elbert. 

“The team scores don’t reflect the entire day. You did a great job representing the Sierra Track program, Sierra High School and your community. With only one exception your behavior was outstanding and your performances were for the most part good. I hope you appreciate the extra effort put forth my Coach M and Coach J so you could have this opportunity to compete in a varsity meet. Our team has a reputation for knowing how to act appropriately, thanks for doing the right thing”. 

Our next meet was once again tenuous as far as weather the Sunday after our Friday - Saturday Double we literally had a blizzard followed by school being canceled for a snow day Monday. Because so many coaches put little value on weekday meets we’re fortunate that the three teams in our quad with us agreed to keep the meet. It always amazed me how so many coaches in our area would jump at a chance to cancel a midweek meet. Our boys won easily with 121 points, Wasson was 2nd with 69 and the girls won by five points over Fountain Fort Carson 97 - 92. 

Wasson got back at the boys in the Glenn Peterson Invitational winning with 109 1/2 points to runner up Sierra with 102. The girls were 4th in the 18 team field. 

Our next meet was the 11 team Colorado Springs Metro League meet and we were very successful. The boys won the meet over runner up Sand Creek 138 - 118. The tables were turned in the girls division with Sand Creek outscoring our girls 125 1/2 to 111. It was a meet where we had many outstanding individual and relay efforts including the boys breaking the 4 x 400 record that had stood since 1986. 

The next three meets were the kind that I really enjoyed as a coach. They were low pressure meets that allowed us to move athletes around in different events and get more kids competition. The first was a seven team midweek meet at Sand Creek and the good news is that the top three teams treated it seriously unlike Harrison that scored 0 in the boys side and Liberty that scored 4 on the girls side. The boys top three were Sierra 155, Sand Creek 139 and Doherty 127. The top scoring girls teams were Dohert 184, Sierra 176 and Sand Creek 135. “Good job! There were a lot of good performances at this meet. It was a great opportunity for many of you who haven’t had many chances to compete”. 

Next we had a 16 team Invitational at Fountain Fort Carson that was officially a nonscoring meet but of course once official results came out it was easy to score on paper. Both our boys and girls led all scorers the boys 133 to SandCreek 109 and Cheyenne Mountain 64 and girls had 92 ahead of Fountain Fort Carson 87 and Woodland Park 74. Sand Creek was right behind with 73. 

“Although this was a non scoring meet for teams it was pretty obvious who had the best teams on Saturday. It’s going to come down to Sierra and Sand Creek boys and Sierra, Woodland Park and Sand Creek girls at the Region. If we don’t stay focused and everyone on the same page you will come up short of your goals. We were really proud of how well you competed under lousy weather conditions. You have shown all season that no matter what the conditions you will step up and do your best. Keep that attitude and the next three weeks will bring good things”. 

The third meet was the Lewis Palmer Freshman-Sophomore meet and we always looked forward to it as a gauge of our future potential. I say potential because if you’ve read much of this blog then you know there is no such thing as day to day certainty at Sierra much less year to year. “The future continues to look bright for Sierra Track and Field. Congratulations to the boys on their victory. I don’t have girls team scores because they weren’t in the paper but when I get them I’ll include them in a future newsletter”. 

The boys meet was very competitive with the top four teams all scoring over 100 points. Sierra 134, Air Academy 116, Lewis Palmer 113 and Liberty 103. We never did get girls team results but we scored a respectable 65 points. 

We went into our final meet before Region, the Canon City Invitational without our top girl sprinter so we knew it was going to be a tough meet as far as team placement. The rest of the team stepped up throughout though and finished 4th in a 16 team field. The boys were big winners with 158 points over the 5A Metro League Champions, Palmer who had 96. It was the kind of dominating performance we hope for going into Region and State Championships. 

“Congratulations on an outstanding meet by both teams. As always the picnic was an outstanding way to start the day off and winning the boy’s 4x400 was a great way to end it. You continue to make a statement going into this weekends Regional meet. Now you can’t let up. If you want to reach your individual goals you have to do the right thing for two more weeks. Practice hard when asked, do the other things we ask of you at practice even on the ‘easy’ days, HYDRATE every day, eat as healthy as possible, get enough rest, don’t do anything dumb to get injured, behave in school at home and in the community, keep your focus on academics and just as important as all of the others, THINK TEAM! Again great job Friday now that one is behind us and the focus needs to be on the next two weeks”. 

“EVERY PLACE, EVERY POINT, EVERY EVENT”

“Congratulations on a wonderful effort by both teams. Not just your efforts on the track and in the field but the way you conducted yourselves for both days. It was fun watching you and as coaches you made us proud. You truly are positive role models for Sierra High school. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail here about the meet, it will be in the results below. I just want to tell you how proud we are of you. Boys, you made a statement. You have competed hard all year and you just put a punctuation mark on your season efforts. Girls, read the bold print above.  Once again the importance of every point was proven with your outstanding runner up finish. 

To those of you who are done for the year...thank you for sticking it out and doing your best. To those of you graduating...you will be missed. To those of you who are underclassmen...we hope every one of you will be back to again contribute and do your best. And finally...to those of you who have another week, don’t settle for anything less than your best this week. Don’t take anything for granted. Do your best in every event both days and good things can happen”.

Boys: SIERRA 183 1/2; Sand Creek 127, Pine Creek 72, Liberty 69 1/2, Woodland Park 56, Mesa Ridge 44 1/2, Harrison 43 1/2, Ridgeview Academy 35, Falcon 33, Widefield 33

Girls: Sand Creek 146, SIERRA 108, Woodland Park 107, Pine Creek 77 1/2, Liberty 68, Falcon 63, Harrison 52, Widefield 48, Mesa Ridge 36 1/2, Regis 20

With only a week left in the season we had already accomplished so much individually and as a team that state was going to be a bonus. Every year it was tough to convince kids that as long as they did their best when they got there then simply qualifying for state was an accomplishment that should be celebrated and not taken for granted. Basing your entire season on what you did at the state meet was only a set up for disappointment. My philosophy was always that while State was important it still didn’t define the success or failure of your season as an athlete or as a team. 

The State meet was held at Legacy Stadium in Aurora and it was on the hottest days of the year. It was exhausting for coaches simply trying to keep up with their athletes to make sure they stayed hydrated and as cool as possible between events. It was also important that we didn’t let our athletes slide out of warming up and cooling down properly simply because it was so hot. The results speak for themselves. Both teams finished 3rd with the boys just one point out of 2nd and the girls 8 points out of 2nd and 11 out of 1st. 

Boys: Mullen 75, D’Evelyn 50, SIERRA 49

Girls: Mullen 67, Longmont 64, SIERRA 56

“WOW! There are no words to sum up what a tremendous performance was turned in by both teams. You guys made us so proud and you left a lasting mark on Sierra High School Track and Field history. Legacy is certainly an appropriate name for the stadium. Unbelievable! I don’t even want to talk about how close you came to second in the boys and even first in the girls, third place in both divisions is wonderful.”

“The results only tell the facts. The rest of the story is in what a great season we all had as a team. Whether you qualified and competed in state, competed as far as the regional meet or didn’t even make it to Regionals, you are still a part of the success that these teams enjoyed. Each of you will always have played a role in the 3rd place boys and 3rd place girls 4A Track teams in 2005. In addition you are members of the Regional Championship boys team and Regional runner up girls team. The boys were also Colorado Springs Metro League 4A Champions and the girls runner up in the same meet. You had a tremendous season by any standards and each and every one of you should be proud. 

Good luck to those of you who have graduated and will be moving on. Keep in touch and get your email address to me so you can receive alumni newsletters. You will always be a part of this program. To those of you returning, I hope the success from this year will carry over to your other sports and to next years track team. I know the coaches are already looking forward to next year. Have a good summer. Train and do the right thing”.

20th Anniversary - "Tradition Never Graduates - 2003 - 2004

My 19th year coaching at Sierra was also the 20th year of Sierra athletics so I used meet result newsletters to share the 20 year history of the school. We were struggling with numbers in all of our programs so it was essential that I try to instill pride in our tradition as well as help current athletes realize that they were the "tradition" that future teams would look back on. While numbers were still poor to start the season the fact that the team was young was encouraging. In our annual 2000 meter time trial the top 4 boys were a freshman and three sophomores and the 7th runner was another freshman. Additionally the top two were ran well enough to earn spots on the all time list of best performances. The news wasn't as good for the girl's team as we only had four runners even run. The top runners was a freshman though and she also made the all time list.

We still weren't having a scrimmage because of difficulty getting numbers. There was no sense in traveling to another school or having another school travel to us when we couldn't even field a scoring team. Our 2000 time trial determined our varsity for the first meet of the year which was once again the Harrison Invitational. This was the first newsletter where I used the topic, "Tradition Never Graduates".

"What are you planning to contribute to the tradition of Sierra Cross Country? If yesterday's meet is any indication, you will contribute nicely. Several of you have already left your mark in the record book and you're just getting started. Unfortunately, there are no official results yet but we do have all of your times and most of your places. Great job running your first meet of the 2003 season. I told the guys warming up that it was the first time in several years that I was actually excited about the start of the season. The results of this meet only reinforce that excitement. It will be fun now getting in better shape, getting in some smaller meets and seeing what kind of team you are going to become this year." And as far as those "official" team scores from Harrison; as so often happened with certain meets, they never showed up.

Our next meet was the Sand Creek Invitational and it was just the kind of performance that we needed to continue building ownership and confidence for the teams. We won the varsity boys division had the individual winner in the boy's open division and had a scoring girl's team.

"Guys, congratulations. It was an outstanding total team effort. We need to keep working and keep improving and you will surprise some people. Great job! Filemon became only the 3rd varsity boy in school history to win a cross country meet. The other two were Lashon Robusky and Dale Valerio, look at your history and see who they were and what they accomplished. Great job Filemon. Carrick, Jose, Fabian and Fernando, it wouldn't have happened without great effort by all of you. You went out as a team, competed as a team and finished and won as a team. If you all continue to work and improve, this season will be one to be proud of." 

The most important thing that came from the next meet, Cheyenne Mountain Invite was significant because we had our best numbers to date; full scoring teams in boys and girls varsity and in boys open. Four of the open boys ran their first meet including Bryant who would end up being a key runner for us.

We continued to improve at the Florence Invitational and had top 10 finishers in all four divisions with Filemon and Carrick 4th and 9th in varsity, Alejandra (Alex) 10th in varsity, Maria 9th in open and Bryant, Scott and Ben 4th, 8th and 9th in open.

In the next newsletter I started another new feature, sharing comments and thoughts from alumni who have been a part of the program. I shared what they were doing now in addition to their thoughts on participating in the program. The meet was the biggest we ran every year, the Liberty Bell Invitational.

"Congratulations to both boy's teams on their top ten award winning finishes. This is the first time since we have been going to Liberty Bell that any boy's team has won awards, for both teams to do it is outstanding. Many of you PRed as you will see below and there was some positive movement on the "all time" lists. There is still time for many more PRs and changes in the "all time" lists. We have five meets left not counting Region and State. What are your goals, individual and team for the rest of the season? You should not just know them you should have them written down somewhere so you can see them every day. You have the potential to accomplish a lot this season". 

Top performers for the girls were both freshmen and they ran the 12th and 20th all time freshman times.

Our next meet was Buena Vista. this meet was always a favorite because it was small enough to see where you were in the race but still competitive with some quality small school runners and teams showing up. Filemon was 7th and we were 5th as a team and the girl's had a scoring team again. Despite the respectable finish we still weren't seeing the team pack running that we were going to need if I season wasn't going to end at Region.

"Every one of you should have the same focus right now as a team and that focus should be to qualify for state. You have the potential to do it this year for the first time since 1991. It can't be just Filemon or Filemon and Carrick or Filemon and Carrick and Fabian and Nando. You get the point. Someone, actually several "someones" have to step up. It's not something that will happen magically at Regionals. If you are not preparing for it every day in practice, at every meet and even on the weekends doing what we ask; it isn't going to happen and you will simply be another team talking about "what might have been". This isn't just to the top 5 or 6 or 7 guys, it's to all of you because you each have to work harder to push the guy ahead of you". 

WILKERSON PASS

After our next meet at Fountain Fort Carson I wrote, "The Race for State Started Here". We were 3rd in the varsity boys and 2nd in the open boys and it was obvious that we were starting to compete harder throughout the race. We still had a long way to go to improve our 1-5 and 1-7 pack times. For example our split was 1:48 and first place Woodland Park had a 14 second split. That was an amazing split. The negative at this meet was that we were back to a nonscoring girl's team again and between this meet and Region the girl's would have five runners only twice more. With the exception of our top 3 girls, Alex, Anna and Alicia there was little to no commitment.

The boys took another step forward the next week, winning the Pueblo Central Invitational and even though we only had three girls run they all had personal best times as did 3 of the 7 boys. From one of the fastest courses we would run all year at Pueblo we went to one of the toughest courses that we would run all year; the Pikes Peak Invitational at Palmer Park. All of our runners who ran the same course the previous year improved at least a full minute and our boys 1-5 pack time improved.

"Guys, you impress me more every week and every meet. You have really pulled together as a team. Whoever is top 7 the next two meets you need to close the gap on your teammates. The great job of packing must not only continue but move up. Some of you learned a lesson on Friday by not running your race, you paid the price but still hung in there and ran for the team. Good job. Friday will be a great chance to see how we look going into region and state. After these meet results I will be giving you some comparisons with other teams in our Region based on Pueblo results. When setting goals, you should have state included".

Our League Championship meet changed often. Sometimes it was just the 4A teams. Others it was the 4A and 5A teams running together scored separately. And some years like this one we all ran in one race and scored as one race regardless of classification. Needless to say, these were the toughest years.

"Congratulations on some very good individual efforts and on the 8th place finish of the boys varsity. After finishing dead last the past two years among scoring teams and not even having a scoring team three years ago, 8th of 19 is tremendous. Several of you set PRs and made the "all time" lists. The improvement over last year was outstanding. I am really proud of you for stepping up against the city's best and competing hard". 

"I apologize to you for the bus driver's rudeness, none of us should have to put up with that. I have a call in to her supervisor to deal with it and to find out why we didn't have a bus show up to pick you up after the meet. It will be dealt with".

REGION

"What a great way to end the "regular season". Becoming the first boy's team to qualify for state since 1991 is a tremendous accomplishment. I told you on the bus that "the sign of a good team is when you can do less than your best and still accomplish your goals". Not to take anything away from the other five guys but I hope you all realize how much Carrick and Fabian stepped up  Had they not we would have been just another 'woulda', 'coulda'. 'shoulda' team. I told you guys before the race that I was proud of you whether you qualified or not and I mean that. It's nice though to see all of your hard work pay off though with a well deserved trip to state.

I don't know how much time you guys have taken reading the history I have provided you all season but if you have, you must realize that you have the potential the next few years, starting now, to become not only the best boy's team, over time, in Sierra history but a force in cross country in this town and state. You can no longer be just an 'in season' runner if you want to reach your potential. Great job now let's focus on a final good performance next Saturday".

STATE

Three of the other teams from our region finished in the top 7 at the state meet so that is an indication of how hard we had to work to just get out of our region. We placed 17th and beat our final region team, Lewis Palmer who was 19th. The most impressive team performance for us was the fact that all seven guys ran there personal bests, set a new sophomore and a new freshman school record and each of the other five guys earned a place on not just their class lists but the "all time top 25 list", A great performance. Of course in typical Sierra tradition, little did we know that as a sophomore our new freshman record holder would be running for a competitor next year until mid-season until we would get him back for one meet before he would leave again.

I'm going to take the information for this season straight from the meet result sheets that were given to the team after every meet. The only meet I can't comment on is our dual with our rival Harrison. For some reason I don't have that result sheet. We did win the meet.

Just as I did with the cross country team I used newsletters to share the history of the first 20 years of the girl's swimming program. Unfortunately the first 8 years of the program was lacking in history with the exception of school records. The second coaching staff beginning in year nine started developing a history and we continued doing so through the 2004 - 2005 season. 

"Ladies congratulations on an overwhelming performance. (A 129-33 victory over Montbello a Denver Public Schools program). People will look at the score and assume you just beat an outmatched team. The reality is that they were outmatched but you beat them as soundly as you did because it was a great overall total team effort. I say total team effort but obviously it was a total effort by the 12 of you who had enough practices to swim. People who could barely swim 50 and 100 free last year were not only swimming longer and more technical events but placing and even winning them. Great, great job!"  We won every event and even finished 1-2 in 11 of the 12 events contested. Neither team had divers.

Our second meet was a victory over Pueblo Central, 101-62. "Ladies congratulations on a second total team effort. As proud as we were of you and your swimming we were disappointed with the lack of focus from several of you. Because we share these newsletters with people outside the program I won't single you out here. The bottom line is you know who you are and you know what you have to fix. If this meet had been as close as anticipated those three disqualifications would have cost you a victory. Trust me we are not a good enough team that you can think it's all fun and games. Every event in every meet has to be taken seriously if you want to have a successful season.

We suffered our first loss of the season against Widefield. 91-92. "Wow! What else can I say? You did a great job. Almost every swim was the best you could do and we came up just short. Someone said, 'I'd rather lose by a lot than just one point'. While I understand what you're saying, I couldn't disagree more. You competed to the best of your ability and unfortunately if they didn't have three divers you would have won. You beat them in the water by 12 points, you won 10 of 11 swimming events, many of you made the all time lists, Erin set a school record and most of you swam personal bests or swam events for the first time. The only thing this meet should do is give you confidence that you can compete well the rest of the season. It is the first time that we swam without Ashlee who we will lose at semester. Great job. I'm very proud of you". In our previous 6 dual meets with Widefield they won them all by an average score of 117-68.

Unfortunately our next meet ended the way the majority of our 20 year history has gone with a resounding defeat. Wasson beat us 133-46. "Ladies like I told you this is a meet we are not worrying about team score but we also don't want to get embarrassed. I think you did an outstanding job of competing no matter where you were in the race. Erin's new school record in the 500 and all time list performance in the 50, Madison winning the fly, the first win against Wasson in 3 years and on the all time list in two events, Ashlee on the all time list in the 50 and both free relays on the all time list shows that you competed hard. Anna just missed the all time list in the breaststroke. Good job overall".

We ended 2003 and the first half of our season with a loss to Fountain Fort Carson, 114-66. "Ladies, even after this meet we're still searching for the right combination for our meets after break. The meet started off slow for us and found you behind 17-54 after the first 5 events. After that things improved and you swam well; you were even better than Fountain in 4 of the last 7 events. It wasn't the final outcome we had hoped for but when the can put 40 people in the water and you have 14 it's tough to win.. But that's an excuse and you don't need excuses. You swam well for the most part with another school record and 5 additions to all time lists". We lost one of our better swimmers to early graduation before the second half of the season.

The girls did a good job of staying in shape over the break and it showed in our first meet back, a 132 - 34 victory over Pueblo East. I mentioned in the newsletter that fine performances were to numerous to try to point them all out in the newsletter summary, I did point out the fact that Erin set her 8th school record and there many additions to the top 15 all time lists. "I'll be honest with you, I was embarrassed by the score. I hate beating someone like that even though teams have done it to Sierra for years. Their coach was fine with it though when I spoke with her. She was more upset because her kids were so out of shape after break. I'm proud of those of you who obviously stayed in shape".

Our next meet was a victory over rival Harrison but as I mentioned earlier it is the one results newsletter that I don't have.

We next lost to Mitchell 103 - 72. "The final score doesn't even begin to tell how well you swam. I told you that your goals should be; 1. Swim hard and you did. 2. Do your best in every event and most of you did. 3. Improvement and the results tell that story and 4. Personal Bests and again that shows up in the results".

At the Fountain Fort Carson Invitational we had a good swim and finished 4th out of 12 teams. "Ladies great job! I asked you to go to this meet have fun and compete hard and that's exactly what you did. There were some outstanding swims as you can see in the results. I'm proud of those of you who have stuck it out especially the 3 seniors who have seen so many of their classmates either move or quit during the past four years. As four-year letter winners you all can be very proud of yourselves.

Our final two dual meets would decide whether we would have a losing season, a 500 season or a winning season. We won at home with Skyview from Denver 111 - 66 and then lost at home to St. Mary's 113 - 62. As a result we ended up 5-5. After the St. Mary's meet I wrote: "Ladies the final score doesn't begin to show how hard you swam and how well you competed. You were simply outnumbered and then losing Erin for the meet and Lori swimming sick were the last straws. I'm very proud of how hard the 11 of you swam. (We only had 12 swimmers at Skyview. There are a potential 60 places to place swimmers in a dual meet not counting divers that we didn't have most seasons). Every one of you swam four events and did your best in all of them. Good job! Now let's go to League this weekend and represent to the best of your ability. In most cases it's simple; you should be swimming for personal bests.

1 point! That's what separated you from the second winning season in school history. It was the difference between 5-5 and 6-4. The good news is that you are only the second team in Sierra's 20-year history to not have a losing season".

Every year that we were in the Colorado Springs Metro League was brutal and this year was no different. The League Champions were Cheyenne Mountain with 409 points while we were 14th of 15th and scored 30 points. This is what I said in the finally newsletter summary of the 2003 - 2004 season.

"Ladies every year we go to this meet and know what's going to happen. And yet every year you go and swim to your potential. With the exception of a couple of you who were sick you swam at or near your best throughout the meet. We swam 5 of 6 all-time best relays and Anna moved to 3rd on the all-time list in the breaststroke. Madison's new school record was tops in the fly and both Helberg's PRed and moved up on the list. I'm very proud of the way you finished the season. You must recruit and get more ladies out for the team if you have any hopes of a winning season next year. It won't happen with only the people coming back.

Even though you didn't reach your goal of a winning season, by finishing 5-5 you are only the second team in school history to not have a losing season. Where do we go from here? Last Saturday night one of the six athletes inducted into the Sierra Athletic Hall of Fame was a swimmer and runner. Will we have another swimmer inducted in the future? That is going to be up to you and how hard you are willing to work to become the best you are capable of being.

Congratulations to the 12 letter winners on having a combined 3.62 GPA and earning Academic All State Team honors. Also Congratulations to Paula and Lori for being recognized individually as Academic All State Honorable Mention. Next year there will be several more of you when you become juniors. Keep up the good work".

TRACK

The common theme for all of our teams this year was youth and as coaches we had to keep p[reaching the same things over and over particularly when it came to what we expected of our student-athletes. Under "Classroom Expectations" in the 3 pages of expectations handed out at our first meeting I wrote:

"Effort - I don't believe in 110%. Just like the television commercial says, 'the most you can have is 100%'. I don't even believe in giving 100% every day, all the time. What I do expect and even demand is your best effort. The best effort you can give considering all circumstances. Anything less than your best effort is unacceptable".

If only saying it could make it true. We started the season without some of our top athletes being able to compete because of academic ineligibility and things didn't improve. Those ineligible did have the opportunity to regain eligibility if they improved their performance in the classroom. The first two meets were the District 11 Relays and the Panther Relays. We liked to do several relay meets early in the season because it allowed us the opportunity to enter more people than usual in the field and distance events. It gave kids a chance to step up and compete in new events and to maybe earn more opportunities to compete later in the season. From a competitive standpoint we did well in both of the meets. Our boys were 3rd out of 6 and so were the girls at District 11 and at Panther our boys were 6th of 19 and the girls 5th. There were some all time list performances and several athletes earned the performance award certificates that we implemented last season. The newsletters were full of compliments about behavior, team support and track meet etiquette that was followed. It was important to us to reinforce the positive things that we saw from our young athletes and the leadership we observed from upperclassmen.

Sadly the issue that we would continue to fight for the remainder of the season showed up again on the second page of the Panther result sheet. "ELIGIBILITY: I wrote those nice compliments about you to start the newsletter and before I finished typing it I received the eligibility for this week. I'm disgusted. Several of you will be asked to turn in your uniforms after Spring Break if you have not regained eligibility by the end of this week. I will speak with each of you individually so you will have no excuse to not know exactly where you stand. We have the potential to be an outstanding program but that won't happen if we can never count on you to compete from meet to meet and week to week".

Sadly the issue considered to be an issue the majority of the season and we lost several athletes for the duration of the season after Spring Break. The next two meets had mixed results with the highlight being the boys winning and the girls finishing 3rd at the Fountain Fort Carson Invitational. Next we had Spring Break and while we had some organized practices the majority of workouts had to be on their own or with teammates. As an incentive I always allowed athletes to earn points towards their letter if they provided a written list of their workouts that they did over break. How kids responded to that often determined how the team would perform the remainder of the season. "Have a great Spring Break and come back ready for the stretch run in the classroom and on the track".

While we did lose some additional athletes for eligibility reasons after Spring Break we also got some key members of our team back and we started of well at the Panther Invitational. The boys were 4th and the girls 8th in the field of 25 and we were pleased with the fact that the majority of the team trained over the break. The newsletters continued to outline expectations and goals in addition to providing results and comments.

The next meet was the Sand Creek Invitational and the boys were meet champions again by a large margin. They scored 143 points while the host school scored 84 1/2. There were 14 teams in all. The girls were 4th. "If there were negatives in this meet, and there were, you know who you are and what they were. Those of you who still can't get the job done this late in the season need to be aware that opportunities to compete are going to become less and less and if you don't take advantage of those you are given you may find yourself without a letter. Enough of the negative. Great job boys winning the meet in a very dominating way. Ladies 4th and 95 points was a very good performance but I have to wonder how much better you are capable of becoming if everyone would commit to 5 more weeks. Look at the calendar ladies and gentlemen, it's all going to be over soon. How are you going to want to remember the season?"

The next two weeks we had a very busy schedule with two varsity meets and three meets for either sub-varsity or underclassmen. It required a crazy amount of scheduling to try to fill all of the events at all of the scheduled meets but that was one of my favorite things to do, 'working the pieces of the puzzle' to make them fit. Additionally there were always the unknown pieces that showed up like eligibility, illness, injury and a Colorado springtime favorite weather. In the one varsity event we ran, the Glenn Peterson Invitational we performed well again. The boys were 3rd and girls 6th out of 20 teams.

At the sub-varsity meet at Sand Creek and the Glenn Peterson freshman-sophomore meet official scores were not kept but our kids performed in a dominating fashion. The third meet we did for underclassmen was actual a small school varsity meet and our kids performed very well winning easily against small school varsity programs complete with upperclassmen. The second varsity meet scheduled during this time was the Metro League Championship meet that was first rescheduled and then canceled because of weather. We always scheduled sub-varsity, freshman-sophomore and small school varsity meets for our underclassmen as well so that they could have opportunities to compete and be prepared if they needed to move into a varsity spot for any number of reasons.

We had three more meets before Region and one of those was a sub-varsity meet. We needed to start firming up events before Region if we were going to be competitive as well as to get as many athletes qualified in as many events as we could for the state meet. We were hoping to avoid any further weather incidents as any further eligibility issues. First we had the Fountain Fort Carson Invitational and we ran well both teams finished 4th of  17 teams that competed. "Congratulations to both teams on some outstanding performances. I was really proud watching you compete throughout the entire meet. You also did a great job of supporting one another for the most part. The few of you who didn't know who you are and hopefully someday you'll mature enough to really be considered a team member and not just an individual with some talent".

The sub-varsity meet was successful in all ways. we were able to get all of our athletes entered who hadn't had many opportunities to compete and they did well with both teams winning. An important part of all sub-varsity and freshmen-sophomore meets was the chance to get more people real meet experience in relays in case they ever had to step in as an alternate on a varsity relay. For that reason we often ran multiple relays if lanes permitted.

Our final meet before what we thought of as the championship part of the season, region and state, was the Canon City Invitational. We ran Canon City on the same day that the school held "Spirit Day" so we always left early and picnicked at a park on the Arkansas River before going to the track. We provided lunch for the team since they were missing out on their spirit day lunch. The boys won the meet and the girls finished 4th among 12 teams. This meet was also one where it showed the importance of us having as many kids trained as possible for substituting on relays.

"Congratulations on a great day. Both teams competed and finished well. We got several additional state qualifiers. Several people filled in for "teammates" who continue to let you down and did a great job. Both 4 x 100's and the boy's 4 x 200 did great jobs with alternates running on them. The picnic was outstanding thanks to H.C.'s Mom's generosity. We had a great bus driver who actually seemed to enjoy his job and being around kids. With the exception of not being able to get in the building when we got home it was pretty much a perfect day for Sierra track and field".

Going into Region we stressed the same thing that we stress year round, "Every point! Every Place! Every Event! When the final results were tallied it was just as we said, every point was critical. Our boys finished 2nd behind Harrison 131 - 130 1/2! And while our girls were 4th they were only 16 points out of first place and 8 1/2 points out of 3rd. Our girl's program had a rich history of success at Region until recently. In out first 16 years competing we were 1st or 2nd 16 times and when that streak was broken in 2001 we finished 4th just 3 1/2 points out of 3rd. The next two years we were 7th and 5th which for us felt as if it might as well have been last. It would be an understatement to say that we had high standards and hadn't been meeting them. This meet felt like a step in the right direction.

"WOW! What a great Regional meet. You stepped up like we asked you to. The quote above about quitters should certainly ring true in your ears today. 1/2 point in the boys and only 16 points in the girls from where you finished to being Regional Champions. Think the quitters would have made the difference? Great job, now let's go to state and finish the season on a positive note". 

We qualified for state in a total of 21 events in the 33 that we competed in so we knew we would have a full schedule at State.

At State we placed in 10 events and we were in the top 15 in all of the events that we competed in. The girls finished 8th out of 48 scoring teams and the boys were 19th of 46 scoring teams. It was a positive way to end the season that had many positive as well as many negative things happen.

"With a few glitches that should have been made very clear to you on the bus after the meet it was a great State Championship for Sierra High School. Many of you performed at the top of your game and hopefully all of you got valuable experience for future state meets. A real positive is that all of out seniors who competed are leaving with awards from the state meet. There are literally thousands of seniors every year who graduate without ever competing in the state meet much less walking away with an award. To the seniors, you will be missed, Mouse and John you gave us outstanding efforts the two years you were with us and Hilario and Chris you join a very short list of male track and field athletes who have been four year letter winners at Sierra.

To the underclassmen, I hope you gained valuable experience that you will use not only to get back to state but also to do even better at state. Nothing can replace the experience of having actually been there even if you didn't actually compete. The main reason we try to take younger athletes is to allow you the experience of a state meet and then it will hopefully pay off in the future. S.E. said it best when I asked her how she liked watching so many great performances. She said, 'It makes me want to go back and work harder'.

To all of you who competed good job. Special congratulations to A.S. who became the 14th female track and field state champion in school history and to K.M. who not only qualified in 4 events but also placed in all four events. She also broke her own school records in both the 200 and 400".

Other than comments that we made at the awards banquet this is the final newsletter message that we gave to our athletes:

"Congratulations to all of you who completed the season. Track is a tough sport, you're out there performing all by yourself. You can't hide on the bench or behind a teammate who can cover your weaknesses. Because of that it takes a special kind of athlete to compete in track and field and be willing to put it on the line week after week. There were a large number of quitters this year, mostly on the girl's team, who didn't have the character shown by those of you who finished. Hopefully all of you who finished and did not graduate will be back and hopefully you can bring some of the others back in addition to newcomers. Look at the points scored at the regional and state meets, the future of Sierra Track and Field will be very bright if you stick with it, train in the off-season, compete in other sports, keep up your grades and behave the way you know you should. I'm proud to have had the opportunity to work with each of you. Even though there were ups and downs for many of you the good far outweighed the bad. Have a great summer and use the extra time to train. No matter what sport you are doing in the fall if you don't do anything to get ready you are selling out before you even start".

Pieces of a Puzzle - 2002 - 2003

I have always compared coaching to working a large and difficult jigsaw puzzle and adding the Boy's Track team to my responsibilities last year didn't do anything to change that. Because both track teams competed at the same meets in addition to trying to find meets for the lower level kids often on the same day the puzzle was like one of those where all the pieces are practically shaped the same. Overwhelming! I got my first dose of being head coach of five varsity teams last year and it was tough. Cross Country is usually easiest because the kids do pretty much the same workouts just varied by their ability and all meets regardless of level are same place, same day. Since the 2001 cross country season was pretty poor and because at Sierra you never knew from one season to the next much less one year to the next I entered the season with no expectations other than to continue trying to improve and rebuild the program.

As it turned out this year was mostly frustrating. At the 2000 meter time trial we only had 10 guys run and 6 girls run with only 5 finishing and the one who didn't finish didn't stay around long enough to ever compete; she was one of my swimmers I hoped would use cross country for conditioning. We also didn't have anyone make the all time top 25 list for the 2000 time trial.

Our first meet was the Harrison Invitational and while we were last among scoring teams we at least had scoring teams for both boys and girls. A highlight was that even though two freshmen finished 91st and 92nd out of 111 finishers, they ran well enough to make the all time freshman list at 22nd and 23rd. Something as simple as that made us hopeful for the future. The next meet was Cheyenne Mountain; the boys beat one scoring team and the girls none again and the freshman who had been 22nd all time last week improved to 19th. After the meet I gave the following comments to the team.

"Right now, we, the Sierra Cross Country Program are facing adversity. Inexperience is a big part of that and with more experience you will get better. Some of you though need to grow up fast and overcome adversity yourselves. A lot of the adversity you are seeing is brought about by your lack of commitment to becoming the best you can be. You miss to many practices and even miss meets, you loaf in practice and refuse to push yourself, you don't eat right or get enough rest, all things that hurt your performance.

You are not only the present Sierra Cross Country team, you are the future of the program and only you can determine the direction we are going to go. What some of you do this year and next can determine if you have a chance to be a member of the 2nd All Decade Team in school history. The team won't be chosen until the end of next season. How you contribute the next two years could earn you a spot on the team.

It's not going to happen if you don't break out of the rut so many of you are in where you prearrange your excuses before you even get to practice or a meet. There is potential in you to be a respectable team by the end of the season; it's up to each of you individually and all of you as a team to make it happen".

At the Liberty Bell Invitational the girls were still the last scoring team but the boys beat three scoring teams. Equally important is that our two freshmen improved to 8th and 10th all time and we had a sophomore and a senior each run the 21st best Sierra time in their class. What we didn't know at the time was that neither the sophomore or the senior would finish the season for various reasons. The next meet was a real low point for the girl's season; there were only two girls who competed. The future of the girl's program was looking bleak if we didn't find people in the future who wanted to run. The boys defeated 3 scoring teams again and that was without our senior. The highlight was a freshman new to the team who was our top runner in his first race and became 12th all time freshman. And we had another first time freshman finish as our top runner in the open division. In response to the senior not competing and only two girls racing I wrote the following. "I have been coaching for 27 years, volleyball, basketball boys and girls, track and cross country boys and girls and swimming. This is the worse team I have ever coached as far as teammates not caring about one another and letting each other down week after week, meet after meet".

The remainder of the season was pretty much the same, we only scored twice more with the girl's team, finishing last in both meets. The boys continued to offer hope for the future thanks to a group of freshmen that I was hopeful would stay with the program. After the League meet and before the Regional meet I wrote the following to the team. It stressed my hope for the future of the program,

"Two years ago at the League meet I said that it was the worst performance by a Sierra Cross Country team(s) in my years of coaching here. I still believe that that was the low point and that we are hopefully on our way back up. Whether we get respectability or not is going to be up to you. Go back and read again everything I wrote above and then decide if you are going to make the commitment necessary to get back where we once were.

For many years Sierra had no respect as a cross country program. It was just considered a given that we were a "speed school" but we couldn't run cross country or distance in track. Slowly but surely past teams proved that idea wrong. In 1990 and 1991 both of our teams qualified for state. Our girl's team continued to qualify every year through 1998. In 1999, 2000 and 2001 we were still represented by runners at the state meet. A run of 12 straight years. In 1996 our girls won the 3200 relay state championship. The bottom line is we can be whatever we are willing to work to become at Sierra High School and it is your decision to make as far as how good you want to be".

As I'm sure you realize if you have read any of my coaching blogs, tradition is very important to us. We took a team picture at what was known as the Sierra Tree at Monument Valley Park because we always set up our team camp there. Another thing we were proud of was maintaining a close relationship with the first head coach at Sierra, a long time Sierra assistant and the current Woodland Park head coach, Ron Payton. Finally we were always honored when former athletes came back from school to meet with and encourage the present teams.

SWIMMING - 2002 - 2003

Before the season started the school paper asked to interview me about the upcoming swim season and this is how I responded to the question, "How do you think it's going to go this year?" "Like any sport it all depends on how much the girls are willing to work and improve.If practice so far is any indication we should have a good season. We had almost two full weeks of preseason and a large turnout every day. The girls are swimming almost twice as far in practice as they were at the beginning of the season last year and they are working hard on all four strokes. We should do well".

What I was most excited about was the number of girls that we had on the team. We had only graduated 3 seniors, and one girl move. We also had one other girl who had scored some points for us just not come out. Last year we only had 2 freshmen on the team and we were starting the season with 14. Coming off the first winning girl's swim season in school history we were hopeful.

Our points of emphasis were the same that they had been every season; sportsmanship and character, effort and technique, and most important because if you don't pass your classes you don't graduate, much less swim, grades. Because we had a bigger than usual team we seemed to have more who were struggling to get the job done in the classroom which was ironic because the majority of the girls on the team were all honors students. 

We won our first meet before losing the next three in a row entering the holiday break. The low point was the Fountain Fort Carson dual meet right before we broke for break. Looking back through result sheets from our first meets we were working and reinforcing our points of emphasis. I don't know if it was the stress of finals, burnout or just the fact that vacation was started but we stunk it up at FFC and I made it clear how I felt in the result sheet. Here are some of the comments:

Fact: Every swim that was close we were beaten.

Fact: Everyone who came from behind to beat someone was in a Fountain suit.

Fact: Everyone who got passed in a race by someone was wearing a Sierra suit.

Fact: Most of you swam slower in every event than you swam last week.

Fact: The atmosphere and attitudes on the buus was unacceptable for a team that had just lost a meet.

Fact: If anyone ever writes something that ignorant on the bus windows again, it will be their last meet of the season .

Fact: As a team you were not mentally into this meet.

Fact: Final fact for now: We have 5 meets after break, we can win them all if we swim to our potential.

We came back from break and it seemed that the break did us good. We won 3 of the 5 meets and finished 6th of 10 at the Fountain Fort Carson Invitational. Our final dual meet was against St. Mary's and we were hoping to win and salvage a 500 season but we lost 85 - 100. The difference between our two teams was discussed in the newsletter.

"Finishing with a losing season is disappointing to say the least, especially when it looked like we might even go 6-3. But I feel that in this meet the majority of you gave all you had and it just wasn't enough. As a coach we can't ask for more than that. The results speak for themselves. Should it have been closer? We thought so. Was it a 15-point loss because you didn't try? Certainly not; although a few of you left something to be desired in your performances and again, the results speak for themselves.

The bottom line is that once again, you were out-clubbed. Club swimmers won the 200 free, the 200 IM, the fly, the 100 free, the back and the breast. If Grayson is also a club swimmer then they also won the 50 and the 500. Finally they stacked and won 2 of the 3 relays with club swimmers. That's not an excuse it's a fact. And the fact is that's why we lost the meet".

That wasn't a criticism of our kids for not being club swimmers it was simply pointing out that we had the majority of our kids who swam in-season only compared to teams with year round club swimmers including teams like Cheyenne Mountain who had All American Club swimmers every year. To make the point even more clear, at the League meet we finished last with 14 points while Cheyenne Mountain won with 415. As coaches we were extremely proud of how far our kids improved within the season when they were willing to show up and work. Our focus had to be on participating, learning, improving and being student-athletes at all times. From that standpoint even a 4-5 season was a success in our eyes. Our seniors finished their last two years 9-9 after starting their first two years 3-12-1 with the only win their freshman year being a forfeit.

TRACK

The track team picture tells part of the story and that part is the fact that we had good numbers on both teams. This was going to be my staff and my second year coaching and treating the track team as a single team with two divisions. We believed that doing everything, meetings, stretching, warm up and cool down together would help build the team unity that we wanted where they all felt that they were a member of the Sierra Track Team. In the past, before we took over coaching both teams we were definitely two different teams who often struggled to support one another because of some differences in how the teams operated.

We wanted to continue and build on what we had started last year. We wanted our team to be respected no matter where we placed in a meet. We wanted to be looked at as a class organization win or lose. We started developing the new culture last year and were determined to continue developing that culture from day one of season two. Some newsletter comments after both the scrimmage and our first meet, a meet we hosted show where we as a coaching staff were coming from. After the scrimmage we listed things that needed to improve and followed up with this comment: "These are all things that will be fixed by Tuesday's meet at Sierra or for some of you it might be your last meet. We will not take people to meets who do not know how to act appropriately". And after the first meet we made a point to point out and praise the positives but to also remind the team that there were still negatives. "What a great improvement from the scrimmage to this meet...Act with class at all times. Even if we're not the best team at a meet we will be the best acting team".

After our first big meet, the Icicle Relays at Harrison High School where we placed 9th in girls and 14th in boys out of 20 teams the kids were hearing a lot of doubt from students and even staff that were used to our teams being stronger. I was surprised that everyone else was surprised with our performance, after all last year we were 9th in girls and 7th in boys out of 10 teams at the regional championships. But when the first thing you saw when entering the gym at school were walls covered with league, region and state banners and most of them were from track it was understandable that we were expected to do well. The difference was our idea of doing well involved more that just where we finished when team scores were totaled. In the newsletter I wrote:

"Before I get into results, a few comments. All morning I've heard people say, "We didn't do very well Saturday". "I heard you didn't do good Saturday". Someone even said, "What's wrong with the boy's team"? The answer to all those comments is the same; the people making them don't know what they are talking about. You competed hard, you only had one disqualification in an all relay format, your behavior was good for the most part (make sure you read to the end of this though so you know our expectations for future meets. Some things need to be corrected!) and we have a very young team. I am very pleased with your efforts on Saturday". I addressed the youth of the team more fully in the next paragraph. Remember the hope we had for the future because of our freshmen in cross country? We had that same hope for the future of track and field for the same reason. With the exception of one young man who didn't get it done in the classroom between seasons we had all of the freshmen who made the all time lists in cross country out for track in addition to many more freshmen.

"Here are some numbers people questioning you don't know about: Of the 106 performances Saturday, 46 were by freshmen, that's 43%. Another 22 were by people on the team for the first time, that's another 21%. That means 64% of the performances on Saturday were from people who are on the team for the first time. Another 27 or 25% are 2nd year team members, so 89% of the performances were by 1st or 2nd year team members. Trust me you have no excuses to make and nothing to apologize for. You're only going to get better if you stick with it and work hard".

And we did continue to improve as indicated by each athletes individual improvement as well as team performances. We implemented a new program this year where an athlete could earn Performance Awards of bronze, silver and gold based on their time or distance in relation to a scale that we developed based on state qualifier times. Many of our athletes would not have a chance to meet state qualifying marks so we gave them something to shoot for and it was a very successful,although time intensive, program. We were fortunate to have an assistant coach who was willing to print certificates for the appropriate level as soon as I submitted the list to him and athletes received their awards in front of their team at the next full team meeting. 

Another indicator of the improvement and the prospect of a bright future was the performance of our teams at the Lewis Palmer Freshman - Sophomore Championship meet. Our boys won the meet and the girls were a respectable 8th out of 15 teams. In the case of the girl's team we didn't enter a couple of sophomores to allow more freshmen to compete. 

We continued to compete hard and improve the rest of the season and managed to get a few state qualifiers. More important was the fact that we had a much better regional meet than in 2002. The boy's were 5th and the girls 6th. After a regional meet where we had very tough weather conditions I wrote said the following in our newsletter:

"I told another coach on Friday night, 'I don't think there is another sport where you can be so up one minute and so down literally a minute later". This meet was definitely one with a lot of highs and lows. I don't intend to go into detail about the lows because they are self-explanatory season went as a whole. Some bad, lots of good and the good outweighed the bad.

Last year after the Regional meet I said that the program had hit rock bottom as far as I was concerned. I think after this weekend's efforts and the youth of this team we can honestly say that we are on our way back to the top. Granted youth doesn't mean much in a program if the trend to not come back out continues. But if you work together and care enough about each other to be loyal to your team and your school then the future looks bright. It will look even brighter if you get those who quit this year to come back out next year. I'm speaking mostly about the freshmen. If juniors quit this year they are probably the same people who quit last year and we don't need them out to quit again next year. The freshmen, we can at least blame youth when they quit the first time".

  

All in all it was a successful season and ended with us being hopeful for the next season.