A Numbers Game - 1999 - 2000

It doesn't matter how talented the kids you have are if you don't have enough of them. I presented a talk at the 1994 Colorado High School Track Coaches Association clinic in Fort Collins and the title of the paper that I wrote and presented was, "Building and Maintaining a Program". I had originally called it "Building and Maintaining a Successful Program" but then thought who would want any other kind? I shared a lot of those thoughts in earlier posts in this blog. The most important component for the program is, "The Athlete", and I stressed the importance of finding them, recruiting them and keeping them. I have also written in several previous posts how normal it was for us at Sierra to have a high transient rate among our student population and to not know from one season to the next who would be around. Despite the turnover rate among our student body we had still been able to have reasonably successful programs in both cross country and track.

I just finished reading a book written by an Illinois High School Cross Country Coach, Chris Quick. The book, One Way, Uphill Only, followed his team through a run for the state championship. One thing that really stood out to me as I was reading it and doing research for the 1999 - 2000 post was the following statement that reinforces my thoughts on maintaining a program.

"Unlike most sports, cross country and track do not recognize levels. I coach every man from the slowest freshman, to the sophomore upstarts, to the returning All-Staters. This divided agenda creates some difficulty because it requires a split focus. The team of the present has to be front and center, but your thoughts can never deviate too far from the team of the future. Focus on the former too much, you'll find the program lagging in two years. Focus on the latter too much, and you'll disappoint the now. Each year is a delicate balancing act between two equally important poles."

However, no matter how hard you try to look ahead and build for the future while not ignoring the present there are so many things that are out of your control. This really started rearing it's ugly head during the 1999 cross country season. One thing that made it difficult to recruit new students or freshmen into the program was the fact that we started practice before we were even back in school so we had no idea who was available. Additionally once school started and if we were able to find additional athletes they often had to wait to schedule a physical before being eligible to start practice. When they got their physical, insurance and parent permission taken care of then they had to have 9 days of practice with the team before they could compete and if the team had a competition even if they went to the meet and worked out there it didn't count as one of their 9 days. And all of this had to occur in a season that started for example on August 16th, the first day of practice and ended if you made it to state on October 30th. 11 weeks if an athlete qualified for state. And for the record, school didn't start until August 30th, two weeks after practice began.

It became obvious right from the start that we were going to struggle with the 1999 team from a numbers standpoint. When we ran our annual 2000 meter time trial on the 2nd Tuesday of the season we had only 4 boys and 10 girls run and at the scrimmage we only had 3 girls run the race, 1 run it for a time trial and 3 who only completed 3 miles. We had 3 boys run the scrimmage and one run a time trial.  Our number two girl from last year Rachel moved when her mother took a job in Leadville and was now there top runner, our top boy was a senior who had just started track as a junior and we were able to convince him to run cross country, Krishna and our #2 boy was a junior, Greg who would end up moving to Kansas after cross country. Numbers or lack thereof would be our nemesis throughout the season.

Comments from two specific newsletters provide a pretty good idea of what was happening during the 1999 season. After the Harrison Invitational I wrote:

"Let's talk about some positives. Your behavior was outstanding. Your support for one another and even runners from other teams when you weren't racing was outstanding. The fact that you did a good job cleaning our team camp was outstanding. Those are things we appreciate seeing because they are things we expect. Another positive is the fact that of the four of you who ran this race last year, three of you improved and improved significantly. None more than Sara". The fact that of the 11 total runners who ran only 4 ran the previous year is another example of the numbers problem we were facing. Talking about the boy's team results I wrote, "It was the first time in school history that we had a nonscoring team". 

And three weeks later after the Fountain Fort Carson meet I wrote: "I'm not going to make a lot of comments with this result sheet because there is not a lot positive to say. For the first time in my 20 years as a cross-country coach we didn't have a scoring girl's team because we didn't have five runners finish the race. The reasons don't matter, what matters is that we've returned to a level in this program that was pre-1987. Beginning with the 1987 season we have run over 130 meets and had a scoring girls and boys team every meet as well as scoring JV teams most meets, until this year. That is not the direction either Coach Payton or I want to see this program headed. To compound the issue, there were 2 of 7 varsity girls absent from practice Monday and 3 of 7 absent on Tuesday".

For the first time in 10 years we didn't have a team qualify for the state meet. The boys had qualified in 1990 and 1991 and the girls every year from 1990 - 1998. We did have two individual qualifiers, Tara and Sara. This was the 3rd year in a row for Tara and Sara was without a doubt the most improved cross-country athlete from one season to the next that I ever coached. In 1998 her best time was 27:30 and in 1999 she ran 21:39 the 17th best time and 10th best sophomore time in school history.

Tara - Sierra & Rachel - Lake County @ Buena Vista Invitational

Scrimmage

Wilkerson Pass on the way to Buena Vista

State Meet - 1999

 After Greg moved to Kansas he kept in touch and he was one of his school's top varsity runners. Obviously we missed him the next year. He sent me a letter in the winter of 2000 with a copy of an essay he wrote for his class in Kansas. Needless to say I was flattered and it made his loss tougher.

A Hero to Me

By. Greg Vasquez

     "The first thing I think about when I hear the word "Hero" is an imaginary character with a cape or mask. If you think about it your true hero is someone who has actually saved you in some way. In my eyes that person would be an administrator and coach from my recent school named Mr. Anstey. When I first saw him he seemed mean and looked like one whom was hard to get along with. I knew if I joined cross-country that he would be my coach. After meeting him my perspective changed completely. He was never the type to put you down but always congratulate you on what you accomplished. Even if it was the slightest little thing like finishing your first mile when you were suppose to run 3.1 miles. I could joke around with him whenever we talked but at the same time I respected him. I think he was the reason that I kept trying so hard. Just the feeling I got when he said good job made me work harder. I was taught to give your best effort even if you failed before. He made me feel like I was a part of something all the time. He didn't think of me as just another runner but as some one he cared for. Accomplishing something like cross-country was exactly what I needed but I couldn't have done it without the help of Coach Anstey.

     He also kept me out of trouble and believe me there was plenty at S.H.S. Whenever it seemed like I was going off track he was there to catch me. For example, when I was about to fight someone he made me think twice. Even though I had already made my mind up he got me to change it with just a few words. It seemed he was always watching my back when I needed it most. I sometimes made wrong choices like hanging with guys who I knew were in gangs. As soon as I got home my parents would some how know too. Thanks to him I stayed far away from gangs, alcohol, and skipping school. The thing I cherished most about him was that he was always there for me to talk to. No matter what the problem was I knew I could trust him. When I was leaving I don't think anyone in my school showed they cared so much about me than him. He seemed like a guardian angel out to watch over me. I couldn't have made it through my two and a half years at Sierra High School without him. I will always thank him for what he did for me. I will always remember him".

The 1999 - 2000 school year was the year that I took on more responsibility with swimming than I had in the past. Joe Gross retired from coaching and I decided to stay with the program. I had a lot of my cross country and track athletes in the program and I felt a responsibility to help them be successful in swimming as well. 

Despite the fact that this would be my 5th year coaching swimming I was smart enough to know that I wasn't proficient enough at teaching technique to be in charge. I convinced Laura DelVecchio to become the head coach if I would stay on as her assistant. Because she taught in one of our elementary schools I had all of the clerical, scheduling, getting stuff ready for practice, dealing with discipline and academics day to day and so on. In other words, I was head coach in every way except name and salary. I was okay with that because I knew Laura was a good person and a good swim coach. 

Despite the fact that Laura was a good swim coach we were still coaching the same kids. Kids who literally came into our program to learn to swim after getting the basics in PE. Of course the longer we had them and the harder they worked, the better they got. We did have one girl who had some club swimming in her past who also ran track and cross-country for us. She was a sophomore and moved to California the next year. We finished the season with 1 win and 7 losses and the only win was a forfeit because a team didn't think it was worth their time to make up a meet we had snowed out earlier. Comments from three newsletters summarize our season pretty well.

After the first meet where we were defeated by 5A Doherty 132 - 42. "If you look at the score we were soundly defeated and you probably wouldn't think we could have anything good to say. Nothing could be further from the truth. We were very pleased with the competitive effort shown by all of you who stepped up and participated. Many of you had never even competed in swimming before and yet you competed in 4 events and not without a lot of anxiety and some complications. As a team we will focus on continuing to improve and each of you should have the same focus. The final score is not our main priority.
     From the number of you who commented about 'being out of shape', it's obvious to many of you are going through the motions in practice and not pushing yourselves. You need to stop resting every 25 or 50 or even 100. Do the workout in its' entirety, the way it is written and take the unwarranted breaks out. You'll find that you do better in competition".

And after 5A Rampart two meets later where we lost 133 - 46. "Ladies you did a nice job of competing. Many of you were asked to swim events you weren't completely comfortable with and with few exceptions you rose to the challenge and did well. There are still some of you who need to either be willing to swim where you are asked or realize that you may not get many opportunities to swim the rest of the season. There are only so many 50s to swim and everyone on this team should be able to compete at 100 meters now and most of you should be able to compete at least 200. If you can't, you're taking to many breaks during the warm up and workout or missing to many practices. If your times aren't what you want them to be, the same things apply. 

And finally after the Colorado Springs Metro League Championship meet where the winning team, Cheyenne Mountain scored 392 points and we finished 13 of 13 with 38 points. "If you looked only at team scores, which unfortunately most people do, it would look as though you didn't have a successful League meet. That was definitely not the case. The majority of you went there and competed against very tough competition and you didn't back down. Most of you swam your best times of the season and the three relays improved from prelims to finals. The medley relay team of Autumn, Susana, Crystal and Tara set a new school record in the finals and the 200 freestyle relay of Tara, Autumn, Margaret and Crystal had the 3rd fastest time in school history. Looking at what you each did in your events and the support and enthusiasm you showed for each other, the meet was a success". Of the 5 people who made up those two relays only Tara would be back next year. Autumn was a senior. Crystal was a sophomore who moved to California and Margaret was a sophomore who moved before the next year.

Coming in to the 2000 track season we should have been looking ahead to more good things for the program. Unfortunately there continued to be leftover "issues" from last year's team and what I had written about the 1999 team was; "We were our own worst enemy this year. The factions and cliques on this team were the worst I've ever dealt with and I've coached over 60 teams in 4 sports during my 23 years". There was a lot more and you can read it in the previous post but you get the point. While we graduated 8 outstanding seniors, the social issues did not graduate with them. If I had been more observant I should have probably realized that things probably weren't going to improve as long as we continued to have individuals on the team that did not buy into our philosophy of team. Two articles from the Gazette provided some of the insight I chose to overlook.

A preseason article last year written about a transfer student was one indication for sure.

The Need to Succeed

Sierra newcomer knows No. 2 must try harder

     "Her gait exudes confidence as she runs the straightaways and accelerates through turns but there is something missing.

     Slightly bent forward against strong gusts of wind, LB's long strides make this lap seem effortless.

     It is surprising, then, when she needs a few moments to catch her breath after her third "warmup" lap during a recent Sierra track practice.

     It is clear that the sophomore is working hard to attain what was so very close a season ago.

     The transfer from Harrison was a state runner-up in the 400-meter dash and the long jump last year, accomplishments that are not good enough for LB.

     'I don't know, I was kind of disappointed to take second in two events,' said LB, who also took fourth in the triple jump. 'But you know I was a freshman last year so I've got three more years'.

    For Sierra girls coach Dana Anstey, it is a case of the rich getting richer.

     'She adds to what we already had,' he said, noting the Stallions' runner-up finish at last season's state track meet.

     While the 12th-year coach enjoys having LB (he says he builds around the 400), he won't even look beyond this season because, 'you never know what the next year is going to bring'. (Boy did that prove to be prophetic!)

     LB said one of the reasons she transferred was because of a change in the Harrison basketball coaching staff. Lining up jump shots from her shooting guard spot is LBs' first love, the one she hopes will take her to college on a scholarship.

     'Track is just something that I do,' LB said.

     She does it quite well, as evidenced by last year's showing at the state championships.

     'To me it was basically like a regular meet and I just thought of it that way,' LB said. 'I think I could've won (the 400). I changed the way I ran it at state for some reason.

     'I figured that maybe I needed to take off a little bit faster. Usually at most of the meets I have most of my energy left at the end to take off when I hit the last 100 (meters). I didn't have any energy left'.

     Watching her run, it is apparent that Banks should have plenty more chances to rectify bad performances. (2 seconds and a 4th at state "bad performances"?)

     'It's hard work and everything' LB said, 'but, you know, the hard work pays off.' "

And after our second state runner-up finish back-to-back this article was written in the Gazette.

     "If LB would have been able to participate in more than four events, she might have been able to give her Sierra track team a state championship.

     But it's talented athletes such as LB who force the limits.

     LB and her four state titles weren't enough to stop Mullen from winning its third consecutive Class 4A state girls track title with 97 points at the Air Force Academy on Saturday, while pacing her Sierra team to a second place finish for the second consecutive year, with 88 points...

     'Winning would have been nice, but that's OK, it turned out to be a pretty good meet,' said LB, a sophomore who won the 400, the long jump and anchored Sierra's 800-medley relay team after winning Friday's triple jump. 'It ended up being a fun meet'.

     Usually, LB doesn't enjoy track too much because her heart belongs to basketball. After running for Harrison last year and finishing second in the 400 and long jump, and fourth in the triple jump, her basketball coach transferred to Sierra and Banks decided it was in her best interest to move.

     Now, LBs' name is in the record books at her new school for the triple jump and long jump - a day after she won the triple jump on her first attempt; it took her until her last try to win the long jump. Her mark of 18 feet, 7 inches in the long jump was her personal record and a state meet record.

What those articles did looking back was just reinforce what we coaches already knew, despite her talent, her love for basketball was going to dictate what she did no matter what effect it might have on team. After a few of our weekday 3-team meets she decided that she no longer wanted to run the open 400 in spite of the fact that she was the defending state champion and was head and shoulders above anyone in the area. Despite the fact that I was always known as a strict and probably even hard-ass coach I never forced anyone to run events that they didn't want to. That doesn't mean I didn't put people in events they would rather not run but I wouldn't put them in events they refused to run. If I talked to them about the teams needs and where they could best help the team and they still refused there would be no point in fighting it. Needless to say not having her in the 400 cost the team 10 points in every meet that she didn't run it but she was still an asset to the team in the long and triple jumps and she was willing at the end of the season to run the 400 on the anchor leg of the medley relay.    

 As the title of this post says, high school sports are a "numbers game" and that is more true for track and field with so many different events, individual and relay. As you can see by the team picture our numbers were down from what we were used to. We had lost 8 seniors and 5 of them were 4-year letter winners and the other 3 were multiple letter winners. Additionally of the 5 junior letter winners only 3 were back. I also believe that we were having a tougher time getting new kids to try the track team because of our success the previous two years. That may sound counter intuitive but it makes sense if you realize that there were many kids who didn't believe they could cut it. They didn't give us the chance to show them how anyone could find success in the program. Also our numbers were impacted by the fact that we had lower numbers in cross country and the school had started a soccer program in the spring where there was no pressure to perform.

We won 4 of 4 Tuesday League meets but that didn't translate to success at invitationals. I'm going to let the newsletters from that season tell the story!

After the Icicle Invitational at Harrison I started with a quote by UCLA legendary coach John Wooden and that set the tone for the entire two-page newsletter.

"BE MORE CONCERNED WITH YOUR CHARACTER THAN YOUR REPUTATION, BECAUSE YOUR CHARACTER IS WHAT YOU REALLY ARE, WHILE YOUR REPUTATION IS MERELY WHAT OTHERS THINK YOU ARE". John Wooden

"Many of you had your character and the character of the team as a whole revealed on Saturday and what was revealed was not a pretty picture. In my 23 years of coaching track, I don't know if I've ever had a team that just gave up and quit like many of you did yesterday. You can justify it and rationalize it all you want, the reality is, many of you proved that you are quitters when it gets tough.

"THE ONLY THING WE FOUND OUT TODAY WAS WHO WAS THE TOUGHEST" Teenan Anderson, Harrison Boy's Coach and Meet Director

"He's wrong, we also found out who is the weakest.

"REMEMBER WHEN WE ALWAYS PRIDED OURSELVES ON BEING A TEAM THAT DIDN'T LET CONDITIONS EFFECT US? WHEN OTHER TEAMS QUIT, WE RAISED OUR LEVEL?" Ron Payton, Assistant Girl's Track Coach since 1990

"That's a question each of you has to ask yourself. Do I do what it takes to represent the tradition that is Sierra High School Girl's Track? Many of you have continued to badmouth the boy's team. I don't want to hear another word of criticism out of your mouths. The boys may not be very good right now but, they didn't quit on Saturday and they finished all of their events.

"INDIVIDUAL COMMITMENT TO A GROUP EFFORT -- THAT IS WHAT MAKES A TEAM WORK, A COMPANY WORK, A SOCIETY WORK, A CIVILIZATION WORK" Vince Lombardi, Former NFL Coach

"It's time right now for each of you to look inside and decide if you are going to make a commitment to see that we move forward from this meet and continue in the right direction. If you can't make the commitment to the team and put aside your egos and pettiness, please do us all a favor and turn in your equipment. The TEAM is bigger than the sum of the parts and to many of you fail to realize that.

"Saturday wasn't all negative. Congratulations to the shot put team of Tasha, Kharisa, Margaret and Terra, they won their event and beat the runner up team by over 12 feet. The hurdle relay, 4 x 100, high jump, and 5 x mile also placed. That's it. Becky and Rebecca both deserve to be recognized for agreeing to run the 5 x mile team race. Erica filled in on the 4 x 200 and the long ump. Jillian filled in on the high jump and Dominique ran the 800 and LaTasha the 400 on the distance medley.

"Those of you who didn't perform where you were asked or when you were asked; those of you who screwed up hand-offs and relays because you were more concerned with the cold than concentrating on your event; those of you who failed to warm up, cool down, and stretch; those of you who failed to step up and provide leadership we need when things are tough; you all need to stop and take a hard look at yourselves! Is that what Sierra girl's track has been or is it what it is now going to become? I can answer the first part, NO that's not what Sierra girl's track has been. You need to answer the second part, is that what it is now and how it is going to be?

"EVEN (KNOWING I WOULD LOSE), I THINK I'D STILL COMPETE...IT FULFILLS ME TO BE ABLE TO COMPETE. I NEVER WORRY ABOUT WINNING OR LOSING BECAUSE WHEN YOU COMPETE, YOU ARE ALREADY A WINNER" Daley Thompson, Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist in the Decathlon

We finished tied for 9th with 21 points. The previous 11 years we had been 1st 3 times, 2nd 3 times, 3rd 3 times, 4th once and the year we sent a split team of only freshmen and sophomores we were 8th. So it wasn't an exaggeration when I called it our worst performance ever at Icicle.

Continuing with the newsletter:

"CAN WE STILL BE REGIONAL CHAMPIONS AND DO WELL AT STATE?

I don't think there is any doubt that we can and will accomplish both of those team goals if you stop, right now, each of you individually and on your own, refocus your goals. Make the team goals, your goals and stop worrying about yourself. Here is something from the Gazette today about the NCAA Basketball Tournament: 'Before Iowa State Junior forward Marcus Fizer boarded the team bus to Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome on Saturday afternoon, a woman approached him in the hotel lobby with a recent issue of Sports Illustrated in hand. Emblazoned on the cover of SI's March Madness preview was Fizer, the 6'8" 265 pound force of nature who had carried Iowa State for much of the season. 'So you're the one all the fuss is about?' the woman asked, holding up her magazine. 'No, it's about my team', Fizer said.

"And finally, Rick Majerus, Utah's coach talking about Michigan State being his favorite to win the NCAA tournament, 'they've got a lot of weapons and they're very cohesive. There's not a lot of selfishness on their team'."

We followed that meet with two easy Tuesday League meet victories before we returned to Harrison for the Panther Invitational. We finished 3rd with 79 points behind 5A Boulder Fairview 112 1/2 and Rustenburg, South Africa 88. There were 17 teams.

"As far as performing, we are very proud of you. To finish 3rd in a big invitational like this with Leslie only being able to do one event is very commendable. It's easy to see that we would've been 2nd and we had the possibility of winning it. Congratulations to Leslie and Tasha who have already qualified for state. I think I was proudest of the fact that the 4 x 800 started off the meet with a 5th place finish and the 4 x 400 finished off our part of the meet with a 4th place finish. This is the best we have done in those two relays all season and we needed them both to perform well.

After we decided to hold Leslie out the rest of the meet, we had to break up the medley to put people in other events and try to recover some points. With one exception, you all did what we asked without complaining. That's what team is all about. Now we need to continue to work hard and move forward."

We ran and won another Tuesday League meet and then ran the Glenn Peterson Invitational at District 20 Stadium in more cold, miserable weather with snow off and on throughout the day. We finished 3rd again with 70 1/2 points behind 5A Rampart 114 and Harrison 74. There were 19 teams total. Once again we were missing a key member of the team.

"Ladies we are very proud of you. We know you didn't really want to compete in the cold weather but you did anyway and for the most part you did an outstanding job. We should have been 2nd and could have been 1st but that is not what is important. What is important is the way that those of you who chose to compete competed and did your best for the team.

As those of you who have been involved in the program know, track and field at Sierra High School is a team sport. That's why we emphasize every place, every point, every event. You beat 16 other teams because you performed with the team concept in mind. Having to start the meet scratching the 4 x 800 was a negative but ending the meet with a scoring 4 x 400 and medley was a positive."

Our next meet was the Liberty Freshman - Sophomore Invitational back at District 20 stadium and again the weather conditions were brutal. "Unbelievably windy. The sky literally disappeared because of the dust and then got cool when the sun went down". We finished 3rd out of 13 teams.

"Ladies good job competing in some very poor conditions. For the most part you represented Sierra well and competed hard. Some of you need to take a hard look inside for the future though and ask yourself, "am I really doing my best?". "When the competition gets hard, when the race gets close, when I start to hurt, am I really doing the best that I can?" Hopefully you have 2 or 3 more years to be a part of this program and you need to get tougher when the competition does and not back down and slack off in a race."

The Colorado Springs Metro League meet was next and the insanity continued. One of our top 4-event athletes. And by 4 event I mean almost a guarantee to score in 4, didn't show up for the bus. When we called her at home she said her mother was out of town and she had to stay home and babysit her younger brother and sister. (Ironically they would both wind up running track for me in the future). We knew we needed her if we were going to have any chance to win the League Championship and we offered to bring her siblings to the meet with us and Coach Payton offered to watch them when she was participating. Her mom said no. We finished 4th with 95 points behind Widefield 111, Lewis Palmer 111 and Sand Creek 98. The rest of the League scores were; Harrison 87, Cheyenne Mountain 85 1/2, Mesa Ridge 67 and Woodland Park 66. We were missing 20+ points without her.

"Congratulations ladies you have accomplished something no other team in Sierra's 16-year history has done. You finished lower than 2nd in the League meet. Am I being sarcastic? Only a little. There are many reasons why we lost this meet but there are no excuses. I'm not going to put the reasons in this newsletter because other people outside the team read them. (And unlike many of you, I am loyal to the team and I do care what other people think). We will talk about why we lost this meet at the team meeting and I'm telling each of you right now, there better not be any finger pointing at any one person because many of you contributed to the loss.

"The positive thing is that many of you did some good things and helped to salvage fourth place, it could have been worse. Probably the most frustrating thing to me besides those who didn't perform either at all or give their best effort was the quote in the paper from the Lewis Palmer coach, one of the co-champions. She talked about the importance of team and the importance of 3rd and 4th places, etc. The same things we have tried to instill in our teams at Sierra for 16 years. It's tough to get beat when the people beating you are preaching your philosophy.

"Two meets left until Regionals. What's going to happen at Region? Are we going to suck it up and perform like a Sierra track team or are we going to crawl out again with our tails between our legs reading about how some other team won using our philosophy because their athletes are willing to do what is best for the team." 


We had two invitationals, Fountain Fort Carson and Canon City left to run before the Region meet. In both cases we had performances that many programs would gladly have taken. At Fountain we were 3rd of 12 with 97 1/2 points behind Fountain Fort Carson 117 and Canon City 98. At Canon City we were 4th with 83 points behind Canon City 101, Rampart 85 1/2 and Fountain Fort Carson 85. In both meets we could easily have won if everyone had run the events that they should have. I was very clear about how I felt after the Canon City meet. It had been a frustrating season with some of our most talented athletes not willing to give their best for the sake of the team.

"Imagine my frustration when we arrived at Canon City to a hot day only to have the same people who complained about the cold the most, complaining about the heat. Imagine how the frustration continued when once again we came up short at the end of the meet. We were 2 points out of 3rd and 2 1/2 points out of 2nd. Once again it is easy to find several areas where we should have made up those points.

"Unfortunately for the first time in my 23 years as a high school track coach I have a team who doesn't buy my philosophy. My philosophy is and always has been simple. Get as many people involved as possible, have fun, and realize the importance of every place, every point, in every event. It is evident from our finishes throughout the season that you don't accept the philosophy. How sad for you. I'm not changing because my philosophy has led to 14 regional championships and 2 runner-up finishes in 16 years as a head coach. My philosophy has led to 3 state championships and 3 state runner-up finishes in 16 years. And my philosophy has led to countless team victories in meets for 16 years. I'll still be here with the same philosophy next year. Unless you're going to buy into the philosophy don't bother coming out for the team."

And that's how we went into the regional meet where we started the season hoping to defend our title. The weather conditions were once again unfavorable for outdoor track and field at regionals; it was cool to cold and very windy both days. We knew that if everyone stepped up we had a chance to win our 12th regional championship but we also knew that we should have won the majority of meets this year that we came up short in. We also knew that we were giving up 10 points in the 400 before the meet even started because the defending state champion in that event was refusing to run it. Instead she anchored the 4 x 100 relay that finished 4th and didn't qualify for state. She did however win the triple jump, finish 2nd in the long jump and run the 400 anchor leg on the winning medley relay team. We won the championship by 8 points over runner-up Sand Creek 131 - 123.

"After a shaky season at best you pulled it together in the end and pulled off another Regional Championship. One that truly was a "total team victory". Look over the places and points and see how many people had to come through in this meet in order for the team to win. I say again, "don't tell me track is an individual sport". Track has never been an individual sport at Sierra and it never will be as long as I'm coaching. That doesn't mean that over the years we haven't had selfish individuals who think they are bigger than the team. It does mean that the 12 Regional Championships we have won have been by teams, not individuals and this one was no exception.

"Congratulations and great job! I'm very proud of you. Joelise told me early in the season that she was worried about the team performing. I told her then, "don't worry, if we do what we're supposed to, we'll be there in the end". And although we got off track more times than we should have, we got it together when we needed to and the results came out the way we wanted them to."

Regional Champions

At the state meet we had good weather all weekend except for a hard rain that caused a rain delay on Saturday. The girls pulled it together and finished as state runner-up for the 3rd year in a row. The biggest negative that occurred at the meet was Joelise failing to place in the long jump. She finished 11th, 1/2 inch out of 10th which would have placed her in the finals. Her prelim jump was over 2 feet short of her best. When our jump coach went over to help her and Leslie, who finished 2nd, get their marks and their steps down he got in an argument with one of them and walked off. By the time I got over there the competition had already started and Joelise never got her steps down. Had she found that extra 1/2 inch she could have worked on her steps again before the finals and there is not a doubt in my mind that she would have placed high. As a junior this was Joelise's 3rd trip to the state meet and she was a 4 event qualifier each year. She placed in 11 of 12 opportunities. Leslie did defend her triple jump title and anchored the state record setting medley relay team with a remarkable 55.8 400 meter leg. It was disappointing that she chose not to defend her 400 meter title. As a junior she now had 6 state championships, 3 runner-up finishes and a 4th.

State Championship & State Record Holding Medley Relay
(not pictured Leslie)

"What a great way to end the season as State Runner-Up for the 3rd year in a row. It was a tremendous accomplishment and it was made extra sweet by the way you did it and beating Harrison by 1 point for 2nd. There were a total of 44 teams who scored at the state meet and around 60 total in class 4A. For the 3rd year in a row, the only team to beat you has been a private school in Denver that is allowed to recruit and provides scholarships. In addition, they require participation in extra curricular activities. You are the #1 public 4A school in the state of Colorado 3 years in a row."

With only 4 seniors the future looked positive, although 3 of them accounted for a lot of points at state!

Presenting Letters and Awards at the 2000 Track & Field Banquet

     

"I Love Me Wall" - 1998 - 1999

I had a young lady on my track teams from 1991 - 1994 and cross country teams from 1991 - 1993; she wasn't a top runner but she was a solid, dependable runner the kind that we built our teams around. Additionally she was an outstanding student. Her father was in the Air Force and he took a great deal of pleasure in racing her in a mile on the track ever year when he was preparing for his PT testing with the military. That is until her senior year when she beat him for the first time when she said his attitude towards her running changed. She had a wall in her bedroom where she hung pictures and awards from her running and academic achievements and he started referring to it as her, "I Love Me Wall". She was initially upset when she told me the story but we talked about his ego being a problem and not hers. I encouraged her to continue to take pride in herself and to continue to use her wall as a reminder of all that she was accomplishing.

I had always encouraged my own children as well as my athletes to keep photo albums and scrap books. I would show them my newsletters from high school and encourage them to keep their own because I told them that they would mean even more to them in the future. After my conversation with Nina I also encouraged them to have an, "I Love Me Wall" and still encourage my grandchildren to do it to this day.

After we finished 2nd at State in 1998, Ann Tatko a sportswriter at The Gazette at the time wanted to do a preseason story on our team prior to the 1999 season. At the time I wasn't teaching I was the school's Portfolio Director so we met in my office. Here is what she wrote:

Going to the Wall

The photos adorning the office walls stand as more than a testament to Dana Anstey's 14-year coaching career at Sierra High School.

They represent the school's success in girls track and field better than even the plaques and trophies can.

The state runner-up award from last year may bear the label of the program's greatest achievement, but those are mere words.

The sport may boast the school's first state champion, Leilani Toloa in the '94 discus, but even she would be nothing more than a name -- if not for the photos.

Crowding inside each frame blanketing the walls of Anstey's office are faces of success. The athletes who built this program. The athletes who still inspire the heirs of Sierra's legacy.

"They want to be a part of the tradition," Anstey said as he cast a quick glance around his office. "It's as simple as having the pictures on the wall. The kids want to know why theirs aren't up there too -- and when they will be. They take a lot of pride in their program."

Pride comes naturally to a program that has placed first or second at regionals since the school opened 15 years ago.

Respect is a little harder to come by, even for a team that finished only 10 points behind last year's state champions, Mullen.

The Denver media tabbed Mullen as the favorite to repeat this season, while ranking Sierra No. 4. But rankings don't always tell the real story. Sierra looks like the strongest contender for the 1999 state title.

The Stallions lost only three of their state meet points and one of their relay legs to graduation. In return, they got Harrison transfer and state qualifier Leslie Banks, who placed second in the 400 and long jump and took fourth in the triple jump.

"Mullen lost two girls who their coach said were the heart of their program and we gained 22 points while only losing three," Anstey said. "But the bottom line is that it's not where you are now but where you are in May."

Sierra plans to be at the front of the pack in May when the class 4A meet takes place at the Air Force Academy.

The Stallions accomplished that last year, and they expect to do it again -- this year and in the years to come.

Merging success with continuity has become a hallmark for Sierra because Anstey and his assistants stress going the extra mile -- literally.

Unlike many track coaches, Anstey employs cross-country training with all of his runners, including the sprinters.

"Any team can have a lot of kids, but you only win with quality depth," said Anstey who has a squad of 60 athletes, including 22 letter-winners and 11 state qualifiers.

"Often we rely on kids, like the sprinters, to step up and fill spots where we have a real need, and sometimes that means doing another race."

At Sierra, the bar of success can always rise higher -- even for a young state champion. Last year Tasha McLaughlin won the discus title as a sophomore. Now everyone has targeted her as the thrower to beat. But McLaughlin's goals for '99 go beyond just defending her title. "I was eighth in state in the shot put, and this year I hope to do even better," she said. "That will help the team, so maybe we can all be state champions."

And maybe after this year, they will all find a place among the photos in Anstey's office.

While I didn't know it at the time the 1998 season had some indicators that it was going to get rough for a while after '98. At the scrimmage we only had 5 girls and 2 boys with enough practices to compete and 1 girl and 6 boys who ran the 5k time trial. Additionally there were 6 girls who only ran the first mile of the course for a time trial. Only 4 of the girls who would eventually be our top seven at the end of the season ran. Numbers continued to be a problem throughout the season and we still had only 12 of 15 boys and 12 of 15 girls compete when region came along.

We had a solid top 3 girls throughout the season as well as our top 2 boys.

Despite our issues with numbers we had a good finish to the season. After the Regional Championship meet I wrote: "Congratulations on an outstanding finish to the regular season. The 6th place finish by the boy's team was the highest finish since 1991, the last year the boys qualified for state. The 3rd place, state qualifying finish by the girls was only the 4th time in school history that the girls have finished in the top 3 at the Regional Meet.

Congratulations to Tommy and Kelly on their state qualifying performances. They are the first males to qualify for state since 1992. Congratulations to the girls' team for qualifying for state for the 9th year in a row. Like I told you on the bus, this year's freshmen were in kindergarten the last time the girls didn't qualify for state. Great job Ladies, you exceeded our best hopes. Great team work and great support for one another. If those of you in the top 5 hadn't passed the girls that you passed from the last 1/2 mile in, you would have finished 5th and been staying home."

At state 4 of the 7 girls PRed.

So what were the indicators besides having so few ready to compete by the time the scrimmage rolled around? It took a couple of years to see but looking back here is what it was. On the girl's team there were 13 who lettered. 4 of the state qualifiers were seniors in addition to a senior foreign exchange student so that brings the number of potential returners to 8. Two of the seniors were first year runners including one who went to Falcon her first three years even though her brother went to and graduated from Sierra. Of those 8, our #2 runner was a junior who was at Sierra for her first year because her mother was a new science teacher (she also had a very promising sister in the 7th grade), the next year her mother took a job in Leadville so she wasn't back. Now the number is 7 potential of 13. We had a junior who was a second year runner and didn't come out her senior year. We had two sophomores who would be four year letter winners when the finished including our #1 runner at the time, Tara. Finally we had 4 freshmen. One didn't come out as a sophomore. One didn't finish her sophomore year our #3 runner several times. One moved after her sophomore year and the 4th is the only one who ran and lettered all four years. Ironically she was the slowest of the four and we only had her run the first mile or two of races until the 4th meet of the season. She would graduate as a two time state qualifier and only an injury her junior year prevented it being three times.

And the guys were similar of the 15 who lettered 6 were seniors including one of our top two runners. Our usual #1 was only a sophomore but he chose not to come out his junior or senior years so he could, "focus on basketball". And our 3rd runner all season was an improving sophomore who would run his junior year but then move to Kansas and have a very successful senior season.

One of the seniors, Sheila wrote the following essay for her sophomore English class and her teacher shared it with me.

"A Person Who Influenced Me"

"A person who has influenced me is my cross country coach, Coach Anstey. He has always been there and never let me quit, no matter how bad I ever felt or how bad I was doing. Even when I was doing horrible, he always made me feel good about myself, and he told me I was doing fine.

Coach Anstey helped me to realize that it is better to finish dead last than to quit and then feel bad about it. I remember my very first meet and I felt really bad and I did not feel like I was running very well, but he was on my side and never let me quit, and when I was finished he told me I did good.

I also learned that it does not matter what place I ever got in a race, it does not matter as long as I did the best I can. My coach pushed me and pushed me. It really paid off because the harder he pushed me the harder I pushed myself and the better I got. He never put me down and always made me feel good about myself." (She wrote this after her first season and two years later as a senior she was part of our state qualifying team).

Our 1998 - 1999 swim season was pretty much the same as the past three seasons. The girls competed hard, worked hard in practice and had fun. We were 2-7 tying the best record for the four years that Joe and I had been coaching together. The move to the Metro League continued to work out just as we anticipated. For example; at the League Championship meet we set school records in all three relays and finished 12th, 11th and 10th out of 13 total teams. As far as individual events our top finisher was Crystal who set a school record in the 100 freestyle and placed 27th. Joe announced that this was going to be his final season as head coach so the first order of business moving ahead was going to be finding a new head coach. I definitely didn't want the added responsibility on top of being head girls track and head boys and head girls cross country. Joe and I finished our four years working together with a 6 - 27 record and yet we saw a lot of growth in the program. 

One of our athletes who was a four year letter winner and school record holder wrote the following narrative essay for her college freshman English class. Where she reflected back on her time at Sierra.

"Quit Does Not Spell Success"

" Freshman orientation was a scary day. I walked into Sierra High School unsure about everything, activities I wanted to do, who my friends were, and even where the bathroom was. I didn't know anything. Then a man walked up to me and introduced himself. He had dark brown hair with streaks of gray and a neatly trimmed mustache. The man was also wearing tinted eyeglasses. He was Dana Anstey, Portfolio Director, coach for cross country, girl's swimming and girl's track. Anstey was average build, and at a height of maybe five foot, nine inches. Not a very big man. I wish I could say the same for his ego, and how blunt he was. Instead of asking me nicely if I wanted to involve myself in athletics, Mr. Anstey rudely asked, "Do you plan on being a couch potato through four years of high school?"

My response was, no. Mr. Anstey then described a succinct explanation of how athletics would help me make friends, and get good grades. I accepted his offer and joined a few sports. I had no idea that Mr. Anstey would become my coach, friend, and teacher through the next four years. He has changed my life by teaching me that if I push myself one step further I succeed and that quitting is two steps backwards in success.

At the end of four years in girl's swimming, I achieved the title of team captain and most valuable swimmer for two years. Also I held fourteen school records at one point. Starting as a freshman I barely knew how to swim.

Coach Anstey put me in my first event, the five-hundred free style, which is ten, long laps. I knew the five-hundred was the most rigorous and stressful event. Every lap I did Anstey would walk along the pool and try to motivate me. I couldn't hear him, but I could read his lips. He was saying, "Kick your legs and beat the girls next to you. Truthfully I didn't want to win, I wanted to strangle Coach Anstey for putting me in this race. Then, I realized I was halfway done. I ended up finishing the race in fifth place, out of six swimmers.

The next practice I told Anstey and the other coach, I wanted to be a sprinter and to learn to do the butterfly. It happened, because a few meets later I was in the one-hundred butterfly. I really didn't know how to do the stroke. I was placed in lane six, and that is supposed to be the slowest lane. Before the event I went to everyone looking for sympathy. Most people said I will do just fine. Anstey just told me to "shut up and get on the blocks". I ended up being very nervous, but I stood at the blocks and waited for the start. I had butterflies in my stomach, and I couldn't think. Suddenly it was time, and the gun went off. I jumped in the pool and felt my body freeze. The water was ice cold. Within seconds I made it to the other side of the pool. I finished my first length. With plenty of confidence I pushed off the wall, ready to compete. Once again Anstey followed me back and forth across the pool cheering me on. I had a thrustful (sic) kick that made huge waves, until the last lap. My arms and legs began to slow down. I placed my hands on the wall with a death grip, for my last flip turn. My head was saying, "Don't you dare let go." but my heart was saying, "Finish the race". I let go of the wall and headed for the finish line. On my last stroke, I kicked hard and grabbed the wall, realizing I had finished in second place. My heart was beating faster than the speed of light. That race was the start of my competitive, passion for swimming. Mr. Anstey and the head coach ran up to me, gave me a big hug, and told me I broke a school record. Coach Anstey doesn't show how proud he is in the most obvious ways. He may only give a thumbs up, but coming from him that thumbs up is better than any award.

For the next three years I continued to break records and earn ribbons for first and second place. I became a swimming champion at my high school. I have Coach Anstey to thank, because he always knew what I needed to succeed, and that was opportunity and motivation.

From freshman to junior year, I played varsity volleyball. The coaches were not supportive and caused me to lose interest in the game. At the end of my junior year, I became deathly sick with mono. I lost energy, muscle and weight. Recovery was very hard. During the summer I had to make a decision. My choices were, to play volleyball with a team that really didn't get along, try to work with a new coach, or lose my position on varsity volleyball and try a new sport and plan to have fun. I remember Anstey asking me if I would consider running cross country for him. He promised me that if I tried my hardest at running I would build my strength back and have fun doing it. I agreed. So the fall of my senior year, I passed up my volleyball position and ran cross country.

Practices were difficult. I was not the fastest runner nor the slowest. Sometimes Coach Anstey would run next to me. He would give me advice on how to improve my running form and then tell me to catch the girl ahead of me. He always believed I could do better. After a few weeks I gained muscle weight and energy. With plenty of effort I ranked number four in the team and made varsity. When I looked up the history on girl's varsity cross country, I found out that as a team they went to state every year for the past eight years. I had never been to state for any sport. From that moment on I pushed myself to run faster. I wanted to go to state.

There was a meet at Monument Valley Park and I pushed myself too far. Suddenly after two miles I couldn't breathe, my legs became heavy. I slowed down considerably. Coach Anstey was standing next to the trail that I was running on, and I will never forget what he told me. He asked with a serious and angry voice, "Do you want to quit? Because if you do, stop right there and walk back to camp." His words caused my pain to decrease and anger appeared. With little effort I yelled out, "No, I will never quit." My speed increased and I finished the race, with an embarrassing time. I knew I could do better and so did he, and he tried helping me with advice. His advice has always been the best for me so I took it, and came out with a couple of personal best times.

At the end of the season, I qualified for state. The state race was in Kent, Denver. The temperature was thirty degrees, plus strong wind, and heavy rain. As if the weather wasn't bad enough, rules for state dictated that all coaches remain at the finish line and could not help runners during the race. Then standing at the starting line, seconds before the race was to begin, I motivated myself by thinking, "What would Anstey want from me this race?" I achieved all my goals throughout the season except to have fun. For this race, I was going to have a good time. Finally I heard the refs say, "Runners take your mark, get set, BANG!" The gun was shot, and I was off running. The rain was difficult to run through, but I imagined myself running through sprinklers in my front yard, and felt no worries. During the race I could hear Anstey talking to me. He was saying, "Amanda catch that girl ahead of you." I kept looking for him. Then I realized he was in my head. This man that I thought was so blunt was a part of me, and I know one of the best parts of me. My last obstacle was a huge hill that I had to run down. It was slippery and had bad footing. I pictured myself as a bird, so I could spread my wings and fly down the hill. I finished the race not even wondering what my time was. All I could think about was how much fun I had and how proud I was. About thirty minutes after the race, I found out that I had another personal best time and made my high school's top list for cross country. I have Coach Anstey to thank for helping me succeed.

The last time I saw Mr. Anstey was at the World Arena for my high school graduation. I was nervous, waiting for my name to be called. I had chills of joy and chills of fear racing through my body. I was happy because I successfully passed four tough years and scared because my future was unknown. Finally I stood at the bottom of the stairs and my name was next. All I could think about was, "What am I going to do after graduation, how can I face the world, and how scared I was to even try?" Then my name was called. As I walked up the stairs, Coach Anstey stood at the top, staring down at me. He was deep in thought with no expression on his face. I reached the top and made eye contact with my Coach. The air was thin, and I was sweating. Out of all the pressure I had in high school, I knew I was never as nervous as I was at that moment. Still having eye contact, Coach Anstey slowly said, "I am so proud of you, and you will always succeed just because you never quit." We turned and faced center stage. Anstey held out his arm for me to hold. I took a deep breath, realizing it was going to be okay, and then smiled. Coach Anstey walked next to me as I received my greatest achievement, my diploma."

  

After finishing second at State in 1998 we were entering the '99 season with high hopes and I wanted our seniors to take an active leadership role. In January I mailed a letter to 8 seniors who would be at least three year letter winners. Five could become four year letter winners and three, three year letter winners.

"LaTonya, Nora, Tanya, Christina, Danielle, Stephanie, Patty and Antoinette;

Happy New Year Ladies. I hope you all had an outstanding holiday break and that you are looking forward to your final track season at Sierra as much as the coaches are. For some of you, it will be your fourth year on the team and for 3 of you your third. You have all meant so much to us, not just as track athletes, but as fine young ladies who have represented Sierra in many positive ways.

I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to work with each of you one final time. Take a few minutes and think about all that you have accomplished as a member of either two or three Sierra track teams. Individually and as a team, you have been outstanding. I want this to be the best year you have had.

There is no pressure on any of you this year ladies. You have already accomplished great things. The only thing each of you need to do is have fun, work hard and make this your best season yet. No matter what happens, you will be remembered for a long time as the best girl's track team (over 4 years) that Sierra has had (and we've had many good ones). You have already won two Regional Championships and been 2nd once. On the State level, you have been 4th, 15th and 2nd. What will this year bring? We'll just have to work hard as coaches and athletes and see what happens.

There is one thing I am going to be counting on each of you for. I need your leadership. Because we have such an outstanding group of seniors, I am not going to designate team Captains. As far as I'm concerned, each of you will be acting as a team captain with the leadership you will provide. If you are filling out resumes or applications, feel free to put down that you were a team captain this year. I will be counting on each of you to act like one.

Then on March 12th we held our group meetings to go over tradition, expectations, pride, preparation and philosophy. These meetings were led by our seniors and some of our more talented juniors and a sophomore who was a defending state champion.

I wish I could say that all of this preparation resulted in an easy season but that would be a total misrepresentation of what the season was like. It was one of the hardest, if not the hardest coaching job that we ever had just keeping things together week to week. Part of the problem was that despite the fact that our seniors were talented, the most talented girls on the team were sophomores and they weren't always willing to be led. In in typical Sierra fashion we lost one of the seniors who received the original letter, she quit for personal reasons and then Autumn who was now a junior and one of our best hurdlers didn't finish the season, also for personal issues.

I'll share some newsletter entries from throughout the season.

After the Panther Relays that we won with 99 points. The next 3 teams were 5A schools and 5th place was defending state champion Mullen with 45. (April 7th)

"Ladies you won because this was a total team effort at least as far as performances go. As far as being a team and doing the things a team should do, you are quickly becoming the worst team I have worked with since my first year here as an assistant in 1986. It is going to stop now. If you can't put away your petty differences and petty attitudes towards one another, I would just as soon you quit. TRACK IS NOT AN INDIVIDUAL SPORT OR A SPORT WHERE EVERYONE DOES THEIR OWN THING. AT LEAST THAT IS NOT THE WAY IT HAS BEEN DONE IN THIS PROGRAM, IN THE PAST AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE DONE IN THIS PROGRAM, NOW AND IN THE FUTURE!!! I am only going to touch on these things briefly in the team meeting today. If  that's not enough then you will never get it. I don't care how many meets you win, if you can't be a team and act like a team, I am ashamed to be your coach.

Warming up was poor, leadership was nonexistent, cool downs were ignored, stretching was poor, support for the distance runners in particular was nonexistent, the whole idea of team was missing. Go back and reread your meet expectations, I will probably mention some in today's meeting but in case I forget some, you are responsible for them. I want you to have fun in track but I want you to do it the right way. Please, don't embarrass me again or make me talk about this again."

And after the Canon City Invitational that we won with 104 points over 2nd place Rampart who had 56 and 22 other teams it was obvious that despite the hurdles we had throughout the season, we finally got things turned in a better direction. The meet was actually rained out with four events left. (May 4th)

"Ladies congratulations on another great effort. With that victory, you finished the season undefeated in meets where the entire team competed. You won the Icicle Relays, the Panther Relays, the Fountain Fort Carson Invitational and the Canon City Invitational. In addition you won two weekday League meets.

It hasn't been easy this year. The weather has been the worst I can remember in my 22 years as a track coach and there have been some unnecessary personnel issues. Hopefully you can put everything behind you now and just focus on the next two meets. Good luck at Regional on Friday and Saturday. Have fun and compete hard."

A week later after we competed in the Regional Championships and won easily. We scored 194 1/2 to 2nd place Lewis Palmer 106. (May 11th)

"Ladies congratulations on once again becoming Regional Champions. In Sierra's 15 year history the Lady Stallions have won the Regional Championship 11 times. You seniors have contributed to 3 of those wins. Great job! You are the only team that placed in every event. You are the only team that qualified all 5 relays to the state meet. You outscored the runner up by 88 1/2 points which was more than any team except Lewis Palmer scored. You set a record for points scored in a regional meet and for the widest margin of victory at Region. Individually and on relays you had some of the best performances of the season."

Going into the state meet we felt that we had an opportunity to beat Mullen the team that beat us by 10 points last year. The fly in the ointment turned out to be the fact that CHSAA in their infinite wisdom decided in February to add the pole vault as an event and instead of having it be a nonscoring event until schools could be brought up to speed it immediately became an official scoring event at the state meet. In 1998 we lost to Mullen by 10 points. In 1999 we again finished 2nd to Mullen this year by just 9 points. Mullen scored 10 points by winning the pole vault. We didn't have a pole vaulter qualify for state after finishing 4th, 5th and 8th at Region.

On April 1st the Denver Post had written the following story about our team's efforts to find pole vaulters from among existing athletes none of who had ever vaulted before.

"AROUND THE STATE"

     "When Dana Anstey went looking for pole vaulters, the Sierra girls track coach tried to round up the usual suspects.

     "I started looking around and we didn't have any gymnasts or divers," Anstey said. "So I went with plan No. 2 -- I started looking for kids with better-than-average speed and good upper-body strength."

     He found some.

     Rachel Ernzen had run on Anstey's cross-country team and already was a distance runner on the track team.

     Becky Durgin arrived from the Stallions cheer-leading squad.

     "I asked four or five kids if they wanted to give it a try and they told me absolutely not," Then he ran into Ernzen and Durgin.

     "They said they would give it a shot because of the kind of kids they are," Anstey said. "Rachel is just a tough competitor and Becky just said OK."

     Ernzen has gone 6 feet, 10 1/2 inches while still running the 800 meters and a leg on the 3200-meter relay team. Durgin cracked the 7-foot barrier Tuesday.

     "I really didn't like the way they added the event," Anstey said. "But I knew if we wanted to have a competitive team, we had to do it."

     "We've done it."

     The Stallions will get their first look at defending state champion Mullen this weekend.

     "We won't have our whole team and I'm sure they probably won't have their whole team, " said Anstey. "But we will get to see bits and pieces of each other."

Notes from the State Newsletter:

"The state meet was an outstanding ending to a very stressful season. This was without a doubt, the worst season for weather in my 22 years as a track coach. I talked to coaches who have coached here longer and to people who have been here most of their life and they agree. The ladies on this team didn't let the weather be an issue. Good or bad (and there was very little good), they were outside and did the work we asked them to do.

In our previous 14 years, Sierra had won a total of 4 championships at the state meet. This year the team won 5.

What does the future hold? That will depend on what the girls who should return want it to hold. We have the potential right now, not counting next year's freshmen and any additions to the team, to be a very good track team again. What can prevent that from happening? If the girls decide that they are already good enough and aren't willing to train year-round to get better. I don't mean track year-round, I mean run, get in the weight room, do other sports and most important get the job done in the classroom.

We were our own worst enemy this year. The factions and cliques on this team were the worst I've ever dealt with and I've coached over 60 teams in 4 sports during my 23 years. It took everything we as coaches had to continue to work with the negative atmosphere that was caused by these things. If we are going to be successful in the future this will not be allowed to go on. To the girls who didn't get involved in the things I'm talking about, and there were many, thank you. You made it possible for us to sit down after practice and talk about the positive things that could and would happen in the future. Let's move on now and celebrate your successes and leave the negative behind."

And Kawana, the second young lady who went to state as an alternate two years ago as a freshman, she earned medals at state as a member of the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relays and qualified to participate in the triple jump. Additionally she just missed qualifying by finishing 4th at Region in the high jump.

4 State Championships
Long Jump, Triple Jump, 400 & Medley Relay