September/October 2014 RunWashington Magazine by RunWashington Magazine

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COVER PHOTO: NORA MCUMBER of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School returns for her senior season, after a strong 2013 cross country campaign that saw her win the Nike Cross Southeast Region and a track season that included Maryland state titles in the 1600 meters and 3200 meters. RUNWASHINGTON PHOTO BY DUSTIN WHITLOW

LETTERS / CONTRIBUTORS . . . OFF THE BEATEN PATH . . . . . . MILITARY RUNNING . . . . . . . . . . NEW YEAR, NEW FACES . . . . . HEY, WHAT‘S HAPPENING? . . . UPCOMING RACES . . . . . . . . . . . COACH REEKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . OAKTON GIRLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GEORGETOWN DAY SCHOOL . POOLESVILLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FAST FRIENDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DESMOND DUNHAM . . . . . . . . . TRACKADEMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WE ARE THE 92% . . . . . . . . . . . . CELEBRATE RUNNING . . . . . . . .

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Publisher Kathy Dalby RunWashington Media LLC Editor in Chief Charlie Ban charlie@runwashington.com Senior Editor Dickson Mercer dickson@runwashington.com CREATIVE / production AZER CREATIVE www.azercreative.com Sales Director Denise Farley denise@runwashington.com 703-855-8145 Customer Service office@runwashington.com branding ORANGEHAT LLC The entire contents of RunWashington are copyright ©2014 by RunWashington Media, LLC. All rights reserved, and may not be reproduced in any manner, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the publisher. Unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, results, or other materials are welcome but are not returnable and are preferred via electronic communication to charlie@ runwashington.com. Please inform yourself of applicable copyright and privacy laws before submitting for publication; if we decide to publish your submitted material we conduct no such checks and you alone will ultimately be responsible for any violations of any laws including infringement and copyright. Views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the publisher, advertiser, or sponsors. Back issues are available for $5.00 for each copy to cover postage and handling. RunWashington is published six times yearly by RunWashington Media LLC, 4544 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22304. Complimentary copies are mailed to subscribers, area businesses and events. Be advised that running is a strenuous sport and you should seek the guidance of a medical professional before beginning an exercise regimen.

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RunWashington Photo by Dustin Whitlow

Last year was my real immersion into high school cross country in the D.C. area. I made it to five different meets, including day one of the Virginia state championships, and I feel like I completed a crash course in the local scene. The crash wasn’t too jarring, though, thanks to the hordes of coaches, parents and athletes I met who took the time to get me up to speed on what I needed to know. I owe a great debt to the RunWashington coaches panel that gave me a running start before I dove in, including Desmond Dunham (page 40), and anyone who didn’t look at me like my hair was on fire when I asked an obvious question. More than once I introduced myself to a coach a second time, a little loopy from meeting dozens of people in monogrammed shirts, carrying clipboards. One such meeting stood out, though. While covering the Georgetown Prep Invitational, I interviewed the winners of each of the races. With a variety of different races, Poolesville split its squad, and I ended up talking to a lot of the team’s runners, who did quite well. And that meant consulting with their coach, Jim Vollmer, and man, was that a delight. My first time talking to him, I knew his kids had to love him. His voice. His mannerisms. The way he teased a freshman who was bashful about having run well. That made the Memorial Day news of his passing such a shock. Dan DiFonzo’s profile of him (page 36), and where the Poolesville team will go from here, is an emotional investment, but it’s well worth it. Learn about Sherwood coach Dan Reeks (page 28), a legend in Montgomery County running. And although it can be hard to get a polysyllabic answer out of a teenager, I continue to enjoy getting to know the stampedes of runners we’re watching out there on the cross country courses. I’m getting to the point where some of them are half my age, and I wonder how much I, as a 16-year-old, would have in common with myself right now. I wonder if I’ve become the goofy reporter who isn’t “cool” (actually, listening to some of the interviews I’ve done, I know I am). The unequivocal truth I’ve learned is that these kids love running. And that works, no matter how old you are. See you out there, Charlie SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014 | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | RUNWASHINGTON | 3

CRAZY DOES TM

LETTERS

CONTRIBUTORS

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Thanks so much for publishing Run Washington every month! You always have such great content, and it’s so exciting to be able to pick up a running magazine just about the DC area! Keep up the awesome work! Brandi Neifert Fairfax Thank you, Brandi. That’s what we’re aiming to do! Having the published RunWashington article has helped in my initial healing process to return more to normal. Without an external media source to share my accident, and related emotions, I would not be where I am today. I sincerely thank you and RunWashington for the write-up. Nicholas Nguyen Washington, D.C. After nearly dying in a hit-and-run while he was crossing the street on a run, Nick (featured in our March/April 2014 issue) is back to work and cleared for international travel. He is planning to celebrate the year since his injury by running the New York City Marathon and raising money for UNICEF.

holabirdsports.com Don’t be shy, let us know how you feel. Send letters to the editor to charlie@ runwashington.com.

A new kind of crazy has arrived. The Clifton.

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Dan DiFonzo (The Tower) is a longtime runner with nearly 50 marathon and ultramarathon finishes to his name. He is active in the Montgomery County Road Runners Club, for which he contributes to the newsletter Intervals, takes photographs and announces at club races. He is an RRCA-certified coach.

CORRECTIONS RunWashington regrets the following error in the July/August 2013 issue: Page 17- Amy Dunning and Caroline Krewson’s military service branches were incorrect. Krewson was an Air Force reservist and Dunning was a Marine Corps reservist.

BUT THEN THEY HELD ONE FOR THE FIRST TIME AND WERE AMAZED. IT’S CRAZY LIGHT. THEN THEY RAN IN IT. AND IT’S CRAZY FAST. THE WORD OF MOUTH SPREAD L I K E WILDFIRE. ULTRA MARATHONERS BEGAN TO RUN IN AND WIN IN THEM. BLOGGERS TWO GUYS GIVING UP T H E I R D I S T I N G U I S H E D C A R E E R S AT S H O E M A N U FA C T U R I N G G I A N T S T O HOLE AWAY IN THE ALPS DEVELOPING A REVOLUTIONARY RUNNING SHOE. AND IT WAS. THEY MADE CRUDE PROTOTYPES BY HAND. SHAVING AWAY AT THE FOAM SOLE WITH A SANDER AFTER EVERY R U N D O W N T H E M O U N TA I N . T U N I N G THE RIDE LIKE ARTISTS. MEASURING E V E R Y A D J U S T M E N T I N T H E W AY I T FELT INSTEAD OF LETTING A COMPUTER S I M U L AT E I T F O R T H E M . U S I N G N E W LIGHTER FOAM, A META ROCKER AND LOW

BEGAN WRITING ABOUT THEM. MAGAZINES BEGAN FEATURING THEM. BUT IT’S ALWAYS BEEN THE LETTERS FROM RUNNERS THAT A F F I R M O U R C R A Z Y S T O RY B E S T. T H E Y E X P R E S S E D T R U E G R AT I T U D E F O R T H E PRODUCT. SAYING THAT WE HELPED THEM B E A B L E T O D O M O R E O F W H AT T H E Y L O V E D M O S T. R U N N I N G . W E L L , T H AT ’ S ALL THE VALIDATION WE NEEDED. OUR JOURNEY HAS JUST BEGUN. AND SO SHOULD YOURS. FROM 100 MILES TO YOUR FIRST, THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN’T ACCOMPLISH IF YOU’RE CRAZY ENOUGH TO THINK YOU CAN.

DROP GEOMETRY DESIGN, THE IDEA OF MAXIMUM CUSHIONING WITH INCREDIBLE STABILITY WAS REALIZED. THE HOKA ONE ONE WAS BORN. OF COURSE, AT FIRST, THE RUNNING INDUSTRY, WELL, LAUGHED. THEY THOUGHT WE WERE CRAZY TO I N V E N T A N OV E R S I Z E D R U N N I N G S H O E .

A new kind of crazy has arrived. The Clifton.

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6/20/14 4:16 PM

By Dickson Mercer It takes an hour to get here from Washington, D.C. You head north on Interstate 270, pass by the main exits for Frederick and continue onto U.S. Route 15. Catoctin Mountain comes into view. And as Cactus Flats Roadhouse passes by on your left, be on the lookout for your exit: Mountaindale Road. You wind down through fields, passing by Mountaindale Convenience Store. When you have to choose right or left, choose left, and continue on what is still Mountaindale (Putnam Road is to the right). If you start seeing log cabin-inspired homes and the Cold Deer Hunting and Fishing Club, you chose correctly, and are almost there. You park in a small nondescript lot across from the entrance to Fishing Creek Reservoir, putting you just a little jog away from the bottom of a dirt road angled upward. A sign, before you enter this dirt road, notes your location: Frederick City Watershed. Before I tell you more about my favorite dirt-road loop ever, let me say that I am hardly an expert of everything these 7,000 acres of beautiful forest land - known officially as the Frederick City Cooperative Wildlife Management Area - offer. I know it is popular among hunters and fisherman. I know that it is owned by the City of Frederick but managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and located between Gambrill and Cunningham Falls state parks. I know, from what I hear, that there are some incredible trails in these woods: enough, in fact, to host the Catoctin 50k. And I know Camp David is somewhere in this woods-sphere. But I am not exactly the trail shoes and mud-and-rocks type, or even a fan of casual trail running, really. This was the first time, when I brought my GPS watch for this run, that I noted how much elevation I gained. I am a road runner. Another way of saying it is: the dirt roads that most visitors use to get where they’re going here, that is where I’m going here. The climb, from the beginning, is never steep, exactly. It is steady, with 1,000 feet of elevation gained in the first four miles. Those first 15 minutes, while your legs are still stiff, can be a little rough. But then you start to loosen up, and you find your groove in the dirt road, and you listen to the streams, and look at all the trees, and you find yourself amazed, with the shade and the dampness, that it feels cooler than the actual temperature. You think, This is the hard training. At this point in a run, Charlie, Luke, and I, typically, would be, as that line in John Parker’s “Once a Runner goes,” gabbing like magpies. But right now the conversations are more staccato. Luke, for one, realizes his heart rate is not far below his target for a tempo. The Olympic Trials qualifier - and just a righteous individual - had planned to add on a little 20-minute pick-up at the end after we 6 | RUNWASHINGTON | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014

finished the loop, but happily discovered the climb was sufficient. Charlie, editor-in-chief, says things like, “This is awesome. This is awesome.” To which I say: “Yeah, I knew. You guys. Would like it.” When you first start out, you are technically still on Mountaindale Road. But soon you reach a fork, where left is Fishing Creek Road and right is Gambrill Park Road. I advise going left, and not taking any turns until you have to, about four-plus miles into the run, where you turn right on what is … Gambrill Park Road. Confused? Think of it this way: now you are returning on the road you chose not to take at the beginning, or heading back towards that fork. After you turn right, this is where the road flattens out, and starts gradually giving you back 1,000 feet. Starting out, two-plus minutes over your typical training pace, as Luke noted, gets your heart rate up. Towards the end, running much faster than usual is breezy. I wish I could remember how I found this place. My first newspaper job was in Frederick, and I think maybe another runner told me about it. This was back in 2005 or 2006, and I wasn’t using things like Google Maps or GPS watches. The first time I ran here, that left early on at the fork was a guess. And as I took in my surroundings, and got to thinking how much better this was than being around cars and stoplights and smashing my legs on pavement, I started hoping really hard that I was beginning a loop and not an out-and-back, and that I would get back to my car before dark. Thankfully, it worked. I was done in 65 minutes and wrote “9” in the log. Now I know the loop, thanks to the watch, is closer to 10. When I lived near here, I did this loop once or twice a week. Sometimes I would park up at Cactus Flats, run down on Mountaindale Road, do the loop, get in about 17, then head into Cactus Flats for some bluegrass and an adult soda. I also sometimes would do the loop once, stop at my car for a gel and water, and do it again. In 2006, I ran my best in the marathon, so maybe the hard training on these roads really works. Maybe this watershed holds secret speed work. All I really know is that running here is a lot of fun and refreshes your spirit. You feel really free on these roads: that clear sense of place - like, I am in Maryland, I am in D.C., I am in Virginia - slips away. Also, afterward, you feel really hungry. So bring some snacks, or stop at Mountaindale Convenience Store, and load up for the hourride back, like we did, with snacks on the cheap: Gatorade, chocolate milk, processed cakes, Pop Tarts, salt-and-vinegar potato chips, cookies, and moon pies. I can’t wait to go back.

TAIN OUN IN M OCT CAT

GAMB RILL P ARK R D

D CREEK R FISHING

K RD ILL PAR GAMBR

Y HW

FIS HI NG

CR EE KR D

FISH HATCHERY RD

FISHING CREEK RESEVOIR

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BY ERIN MASTERSON Brandon Rockers has long dreamed of attending college at a military service academy and to follow in his Air Force officer parents’ footsteps with a career in the military. He joined the Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) last year to prepare himself for the rigors of life as a midshipman or cadet, adding to his already demanding schedule as a student and runner at Thomas Edison High School in Alexandria, where he is starting his senior year. But he feels like the work is paying off. “I believe JROTC, in conjunction with opportunities at service academies and parenting from active duty service members, has prepared me for a successful future military career,” he said. “I’ve gotten a lot of insight as to how the military works, what to do to set yourself up for success, and what service to your country truly is.” Bernadette Flynn, the head cross country and assistant track coach at Edison, has coached Rockers for the past three years and has seen the JROTC’s impact. “Brandon is a great team leader and one of our captains for cross country,” she said. “I have no doubt that JROTC has helped Brandon develop into the fine young man he is and it is a pleasure to have him on the Edison cross country and track teams.” Rockers is starting on his applications to the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. He hopes to attend one of them in fall 2015. While exploring his options, he spent a week in July attending a cross country camp at the Naval Academy in Annapolis and participated in the Air Force Academy’s summer seminar in June. These experiences helped him develop a better understanding of what life would be like as an NCAA athlete and a student at one of the service academies. Participation in JROTC, like all military services and academies, requires all students to meet and maintain a physical fitness standard in order to participate. This includes various forms of exercise such as push-ups, sit-ups, and running. The running component of JROTC can be challenging, depending on how active a student is outside of JROTC. For those students who do not participate in a varsity or club sport in high school, some do train and work out specifically so that they can meet the JROTC physical fitness requirements. The battalion at Edison has a Raider team that trains to compete in physical training competitions. Rockers has seen a lot of cadets out on the track or on the pull-up bars in preparation.

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“(But) I still get teased for being the ‘cross country kid,’” he said. It appears to be helping. According to Flynn, “Brandon is very fit with excellent endurance as well as strength. He was one of our top 800 runners this past season. His dedication and discipline make him a great role model for his teammates.” At Mount Vernon High School, Lindsay Sopko, also a senior, has run track and cross county while participating in Mount Vernon’s Marine Corps JROTC program. Her brother David, a junior, also splits time between running and JROTC. Lindsay is considering applying to the U.S. Military Academy, though her first choice for college is the Virginia Women’s Institute for Leadership program at Mary Baldwin College, the only all-female Corps of Cadets in the world. David will be applying to the Coast Guard and Merchant Marine academies, with an eye on a career as a microbiologist or virologist. The Sopkos’ brother Morgan is now serving overseas in the Marine Corps, and also continuing a long family legacy of service in the military. Their mother retired from the Navy as a senior chief petty officer, and their father served 12 years in the Navy. Their grandfather, now 84, served in the Army and fought in the Korean War. “Participating in JROTC has taught me invaluable lessons about leadership and how to work as a team, which has allowed me to not only collaborate more effectively with my fellow cadets, but use these skills and translate them into my cross country life,” Lindsay Sopko said. “Cross country is both a team and an individual sport. You not only strive to better yourself, but seek to encourage your teammates to aspire for victory.” Rockers and Sopko agreed the leadership component that both JROTC and cross country have instilled in them is perhaps the most important aspect in preparing students for a future military career. “Army JROTC has helped my leadership by exposing me to the best leaders my age,” Rockers said. “There are a lot of great cadet as well as Army leaders that I’ve learned from and emulated with positive results. I have to credit them with a large part of my organizational and self-disciplinary skills.” Sopko added, “I would adamantly attest JROTC has immensely prepared me for a future military career. The leadership experience I have gained through this course is something I have yet to find anywhere else. I have come to realize it requires every single individual to come together to get a job done, and everyone has something unique to contribute.” Discipline is key to both activities. “Both JROTC and cross country require

their members to be on time, wear the proper uniform respectfully, and give the program their all,” Sopko said. “I have learned to care for and maintain a neat, presentable uniform, as well as carry myself in a manner becoming of my unit, our military, and our great nation.” JROTC also offers students different experiences. For Sopko, participating in the Region 6 Drill Championship, held her freshman year at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was especially memorable. “That experience has carried me through the rest of my years in JROTC, and has given me something to aspire to create for our new freshmen cadets, so that they may have similar fond memories someday,” she said. Most valuable to Rockers is the role that participating in JROTC has played in preparing him to attend a service academy. “JROTC has and will continue to enhance and influence my high school experience,” he said. “For the opportunity to attend a service academy, JROTC has been the leading factor in motivating me to go all in with all that I have and lead my country.” Sopko shares a similar appreciation for JROTC. “(It) has provided me with immeasurable leadership experience, discipline, and strength,” she said. “In addition, this program has afforded me opportunities to give back to my community through volunteering with organizations such as the Fisher House Foundation and No Greater Sacrifice. All in all, I wouldn’t trade my time in JROTC for the world.” Many of the instructors and coaches who work with these student athletes recognize the value that participating in each program provides. Caroline Simkins- Mullins, Col, USMC, Ret., senior marine instructor for the Marine Corps JROTC at Mount Vernon, taught the Sopko siblings this past year, and has also taught a number of other students in her program who are also cross country and track runners. A runner herself while a midshipman at the Naval Academy, of which she is a 1984 graduate, Simkins-Mullins said, “Although I did not participate in JROTC in high school, I ran on the Naval Academy cross country team and found it was very beneficial to my overall performance at the academy. I continue to run today because of the mental and physical boost it gives me to do my job.” Simkins-Mullins has just finished her first year teaching JROTC at Mount Vernon, following her retirement in 2013 from the Marine Corps, where she served as an air command and control officer. In choosing her new career in teaching, “My goal was to give back, but the kids have ended up giving me more than anything I could have expected,” she said. “I go in every day being motivated, because they have that mindset too.”

Edison senior BRANDON ROCKERS. PHOTO BY JOY RANGEL

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OCTOBER 25, 2014 | VIRGINIA BEACH, VA | WICKED10K.COM

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! Party at the Beach

Costume Contests

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Plenty of Blue Moon Beer

BY CHARLIE BAN

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RUNWASHINGTON PHOTOS BY DUSTIN WHITLOW

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Simply put, last year was good for the D.C. area’s cross country runners. West Springfield’s Caroline Alcorta’s third place was the best Footlocker Cross Country Championships race since Erin Keough won it all in 1986. Katy Kunc and Hannah Christen gave Lake Braddock two national championships qualifiers. Edison’s Louis Colson and Marshall’s Mackenzie Haight proved the 5A class’ depth by making it, and St. Albans’ Tai Dinger gave D.C. its first qualifier since Sidwell’s John McGowan. But that was last year. And aside from Alcorta, none of those runners made it to the finals the year before. Oakton’s Allie Klimkiewicz did, and she and Bethesda-Chevy Chase’s Nora McUmber, who won the Nike Cross South Regional, bring the most national cross country experience back to the crowd that will take the fields in a few weeks to kick off the season. So with a combination of their experience and the emerging talent that became apparent over the recent track seasons, our runners will likely remain a force in the new year. Let’s meet some of our pre-season AllRunWashington team members.

How it’s done With the help of its panel of experienced coaches, RunWashington looked at runners from D.C., Northern Virginia and Maryland to peg who is primed for big things this fall. Coaches selected 10 runners whom the D.C. area would send to compete against other metropolitan areas’ best. Coaches from Virginia, Maryland and D.C. then chose the seven best remaining runners for the AllVirginia, All-Maryland and All-D.C. team. Runners’ schools determined which region they would represent. Their prior cross country seasons played a big part, but track performances often point to major improvements on the horizon. Who knows whether a great mile time will hold up over 5k, but the panel’s consensus was that talent tends to find a way.

Virginia

TRISTAN COLAIZZI

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Fairfax’s Alex Maguire is trying to prove the panel right. Though he considers cross country his weak sport, he has been focusing on building endurance this summer, part of which has been spent in the Cayman Islands. He wants the 4:15:45 1600 meter he ran at the Virginia state meet in May to translate to grass, and he hopes the money he puts in the bank while on vacation builds up. “It is very hot during the day and extremely humid, so naturally it makes it very difficult to run,” he said. “But, it definitely is a positive because it teaches me to be able to run hard in adverse conditions.” Andrew Hunter started coming on last fall with a 3A state championship in cross country. The Loudoun Valley sophomore cruised to a comfortable win at Great Meadows, but made

his mark breaking nine minutes in the two mile at the New Balance Outdoor National Championships during track season, finishing second in 8:53.81. That’s going to make him a player on the national scene, with that two mile ranking him fourth out of returning runners. His 4:10.04 1600 meter from New Balance demonstrates his range. Klimkiewicz also brings national championship experience, having qualified for the Footlocker Cross Country Championships in 2012 and finishing two spots short of qualifying for a repeat trip to San Diego. Her sophomore teammate Casey Kendall is poised to make a jump in her second year as last year’s second-fastest freshman at the 6A state championships. Read more about the Oakton girls team on page 32. Nearby at James Madison High School, Amanda Swaak is hoping to continue her lateseason momentum that saw her finish 19th in the Footlocker South regional meet, where she ran a PR of roughly 40 seconds. “I love distance,” she said. “I wish we raced longer than 5k.” Swaak finished 12th at the state meet, one place ahead of Robinson’s Lauren Berman but two behind Chantilly’s Xaveria Hawvermale. Outside of the 6A classification, Heritage’s Georgie Mackenzie’s 5:10.47 1600 could adapt well to the cross country course, ala Alex Maguire. Alex Corbett ran to a strong second place individual finish last year, leading his Lake Braddock team likewise to the runner-up position. Though he doesn’t have the turnover that many high schoolers take for granted, his endurance allows him to run fast much longer. “He’s going to be a great 10k runner some day,” said his coach, Mike Mangan. Though the state meet wasn’t his fastest race of the year, Corbett was pleased with his tactics and execution. His teammate Kevin Monogue came out of nowhere during his sophomore cross country season, suffered an injury during track and then caught up by the end of his junior cross country season to be part of a pack of four Bruins who finished within five seconds. Monogue was third in that group, finishing 31st overall. Like Corbett, he excels at longer distances, with a 3200 meter best of 9:23.04. West Springfield’s Tim Ward is another distance specialist, with a 9:27 3200 best and a penchant for cranking out laps around Lake Accotink. Ryan McGorty returns with another year of experience under his belt, one during which he took charge of the Chantilly team from his graduated brother and led the Chargers to a repeat state championships, and a narrow one at that (two points). Though his teammate Dakota Lange’s move back to Utah will gouge the team’s depth (McGorty and Lange finished third and fifth, respectively, at the state meet), McGorty is not shying away from the challenge. “Once the season gets started, we’ll see who’s ready to step it up. We’re still hoping to do

TIM WARD

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big things,” he said. “My favorite memory last year was seeing the Robinson kids and Battlefield kids saying they had won, and we all thought we’d lost. Then we saw our coaches hugging in the distance and we knew we’d made it.”.

D.C. Tristan Colaizzi from Georgetown Day School’s sophomore track season ended prematurely, but he filled in throughout cross country for his injured brother, then-senior Griffin. That season’s high point was a tie for the D.C. state championship with teammate (and All-D.C. honoree) Aidan Pillard. “It was great to share that with him, because we train together, put in the miles,” he said. “We feed off of each other and it’s great to see that all come together.” The two led the way for GDS’ team victory, she along with three other runners will return for the Toppers, giving them a claim as preseason favorites among D.C.’s boys teams. “I started off last year three seconds behind where I left off freshman year,” he said. “It was great to see I was just as sharp as I was at the end of the year before.” Ellie Leape discovered early on at Sidwell Friends School how different high school training could be, but she mastered the adjustment and asserted herself in her freshman season. “When I got to high school, training was a lot more intense,” she said. “I improved greatly just in the preseason. I had never followed a training plan before.” It kept working for her, as she ran to a healthy win at the ISL cross country championships, ahead of the Georgetown Visitation trio of Emily Kaplan, Lauren Cormier and Margaret Lindsay (all of whom are AllD.C. team selections) that will loom large over the D.C. team scene.

Maryland

ELLIE LEAPE

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In Maryland, Walter Johnson’s girls team came on strong toward the end of the last cross country season, upending Bethesda-Chevy Chase in the regional and state championships. Coach Tom Martin attributed that success to mutual respect and support among the girls, which he insists was entirely their doing. “I wish I knew how to make girls like each other, but this team works together and they run for each other, instead of against each other,” he said after they won their state crown. “It makes a big difference.” Kiernan Keller finished fifth at the state meet and led the Wildcats throughout the year, but was a surprise for Martin, transferring from the Academy of the Holy Cross. It was there she saw the quality that may have been so key for the team. “Everyone was very open and welcoming,” she said. “They made me seem like I had been on the team for years.” Her teammate Emily Murphy spent most of her freshman year injured, so not only was she

All-RunWashington

Tristan Colaizzi Lauren Berman Alex Corbett Xaveria Hawvermale Andrew Hunter Kiernan Keller Amir Khaghani Casey Kendall Alex Maguire Allie Klimkiewicz Ryan McGorty Ellie Leape Kevin Monogue Georgie Mackenzie Tim Ward Nora McUmber Evan Woods Emily Murphy Diego Zarate Amanda Swaak

Jr. Georgetown Day School Sr. Robinson Sr. Lake Braddock Sr. Chantilly Jr. Loudoun Valley Sr. Walter Johnson Sr. Walt Whitman So. Oakton Sr. Fairfax Sr. Oakton Sr. Chantilly So. Sidwell Friends Sr. Lake Braddock Jr. Heritage Sr. West Springfield Sr. Bethesda-Chevy Chase Sr. Walt Whitman Jr. Walter Johnson Sr. Northwest Sr. James Madison

D.C. Virginia Virginia Virginia Virginia Maryland Maryland Virginia Virginia Virginia Virginia D.C. Virginia Virginia Virginia Maryland Maryland Maryland Maryland Virginia

All-D.C. Liam Albrittain Sr. Georgetown Day School Erin Bell Jr. National Cathedral School Christy Andjalepou Jr. Cardozo Lauren Cormier So. Georgetown Visitation Jacob Floam Jr. Gonzaga Emily Kaplan Sr. Georgetown Visitation Joey Gaines Sr. St. Albans Sami King Jr. Field School Aidan Pillard Sr. Georgetown Day School Mayim Lehrich So. Woodrow Wilson Peter Sikorsky Sr. Gonzaga Margaret Lindsay Jr. Georgetown Visitation Will Wimbish Sr. Gonzaga Katherine Treanor Jr. Georgetown Day School

All-Maryland

Rohann Asfaw So. Richard Montgomery Claire Beautz Sr. Poolesville Itai Bezerahno Sr. Walter Johnson Sophie El-Masry Jr. Richard Montgomery William Kirk Sr. Rockville Katherine Kirsch So. Walter Johnson Alex Roederer Sr. Walt Whitman Theresa Nardone So. Poolesville Colin Sybing Jr. Wootton Lucie Noall Sr. Clarksburg Liam Walsh Jr. Quince Orchard Julie Reicin So. Winston Churchill Jack Wavering Jr. Good Council Lucy Srour Sr. Winston Churchill

All-Virginia

Johnny Pace Kathryn Eng Bobby Dunn Kelly Hart Anetnah Girma Sara Friex Robert Lockwood Leya Salis David Frame Jillian Everly David Falcone Kate Murphy Aviad Gebrehiwot Morgan Wittrock

Sr. Westfield Sr. Washington-Lee Sr. Centreville Sr. Yorktown Sr. T.C. Williams Jr. Westfield Jr. W.T. Woodson So. Oakton So. West Potomac Sr. Osbourn Park Sr. W.T. Woodson So. Lake Braddock Sr. Annandale Jr. James Madison

COACHES PANEL

Mike Mangan Lake Braddock Cindy Walls Bishop Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connell Kellie Redmond T.S. Wootton John Asuma Gonzaga Kevin Hughes Georgetown Visitation Gaby Grebski Sidwell Friends Scott Silverstein Winston Churchill Steve Hays Walt Whitman

Virginia Virginia Maryland D.C. D.C. D.C. Maryland Maryland

KIERNAN KELLER

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014 | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | RUNWASHINGTON | 17

RYAN MCGORTY

18 | RUNWASHINGTON | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014

unaware of what she could do, she didn’t even know what she was missing. When she started running consistently as a sophomore, her excellent performances were a bonus on top of the joy of running pain-free. She wound up seventh at the state meet, two places behind Keller. Keller and Murphy will work to defend their state title from Bethesda-Chevy Chase, both teams losing one of their top fives to graduation. McUmber added outdoor state titles in the 1600 and 2400. She may, at some point, be rejoined by Caroline Beakes, a 2013 Maryland outdoor 3200 champion who spent essentially all of the last school year sidelined by stress fractures. McUmber said losing Beakes threw her off her game, because she had earlier relied on her for pacing in workouts and races. “I had never worn a watch before,” she admitted.” I spent a lot of time adjusting to not having her with me. I had to start racing on my own, with my own strategy.” She found training partners on the Barons’ boys team, but wasn’t crazy about their tendency to kick at the end of every interval. “I guess that’s how boys run,” she said. “My dad always tells me to focus on what I can do myself, my time, not place, and work from there.” The Barons finished just four points behind Walter Johnson at the state meet, so if anything is a certainty this season, it’s a competitive team race. Northwest’s Diego Zarate and Whitman’s Evan Woods finished close to each other at big races, with Woods edging Zarate at the cross country state meet for fourth place, but Zarate gaining the edge in the outdoor 1600 in 4:15.95. He also won the indoor state meet in 4:21.83, and was third in the outdoor 3200 in 9:36.44. Woods likes a fast race with a stacked field, a situation that gives him a chance to hang on and get in a good position toward the end. “I think I have a pretty good kick, so as long as I have a shot at winning, I’ve run a pretty good race,” he said. That kick comes from his focus on the mile — he only ran the two mile once this spring — a distance he likes because it’s short enough to really race hard but long enough to work in some strategy. He was the outdoor state runner up in 4:16.47. His father ran for North Carolina, and his guidance prompted Woods to switch from soccer before he started his freshman year at Whitman. Woods’ teammate Amir Khaghani relishes the chance to go places when he runs. “I like starting in Bethesda and running the trails down to Georgetown,” he said. “I get some food then take the metro home.” Though his cross country 5k times hovered around 17 minutes last fall, his 3200 improvement in the spring has him aiming for a drop. He finished fifth at the state meet in 9:49.76. For a guy who was running 21 minutes for a 5k as a freshman, it’s quite a drop.

AMANDA SWAAK

SELECT CROSS COUNTRY MEETS

Sept. 6 Sept. 6 Sept. 13 Sept. 20 Sept. 27 Oct. 4 Oct. 11 Oct. 18 Oct. 18 Oct. 25 Oct. 30 Oct. 30 Nov. 1 Nov. 5 Nov. 8 Nov. 8 Nov. 14-15 Nov. 29 Nov. 29 Dec. 6 Dec. 13

Monroe-Parker Invitational Burke Lake Great Meadow Invitational The Plains Braddock Relays Lake Braddock Oatlands Invitational Oatlands Plantation DCXC Invitational Kenilworth Park Octoberfest Invitational The Plains Glory Days Invitational Bull Run Park Montgomery County Championships Gaithersburg Georgetown Prep Classic Bethesda WCAC Championships Lake Fairfax Virginia conference meets various Maryland regional championships Clarksburg D.C. State Meet Fort Dupont Park Virginia Northern Region Championships Burke Lake Maryland State Meet Hereford High School Maryland/DC Private Schools State Meet Derwood, Md. Virginia State Meet The Plains Footlocker regionals New York/Charlotte Nike Cross Southeast Cary, N.C Nike Cross Nationals Portland, Ore. Footlocker finals San Diego, Calif.

TEAMS TO WATCH (alphabetical) Girls Boys Bethesda-Chevy Chase Bishop Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connell Chantilly Georgetown Visitation School James Madison Lake Braddock Oakton Walter Johnson Washington-Lee West Springfield

Maryland Chantilly Viginia Georgetown Day School Viginia Gonzaga D.C. Good Council Viginia Lake Braddock Viginia T.S. Wootton Viginia W.T. Woodson Maryland Walt Whitman Viginia Washington-Lee Viginia West Springfield

Viginia D.C. D.C. Maryland Viginia Maryland Viginia Maryland Viginia Viginia

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014 | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | RUNWASHINGTON | 19

BY KATIE BOLTON

JULIE RAKAS, JUNIOR, WOODROW WILSON HIGH SCHOOL On summer training: It’s been great. It’s been challenging. I feel like we’re getting ready for the cross country season. The weight training has been different. Besides that, though, we’ve been going on longer runs. It’s different from track because we’re focusing on the longer distance as opposed to the shorter distances. So we’re training a lot for endurance and running in different types of weather and different terrains and that sort of thing. Hopes for the season: The obvious one would be I’d hope to improve my time. And also just become a better runner in general and have a good relationship with my team. A lot of running is the mentality for it, just being strong mentally, and that’s one thing [Coach] Dunham has helped us with. He’s prepared us for the mental challenges as well as the physical ones that come with running. So to be a stronger runner would just mean not giving up when things get hard, to go faster when you think that you can’t, and to give it your all. 20 | RUNWASHINGTON | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014

SOPHIE LEE, SOPHOMORE; LENA FELDMAN, SOPHOMORE; LOUIE GOLD, SENIOR; WALT WHITMAN HIGH SCHOOL On summer training: Sophie: Good so far. We have group runs every week with the team. Lena: More mileage. Sophie: We [Lena and I] did running camp. We went to Asheville and there was a Nike running camp there and we had six members of the team go. Louie: Running camp is like, you go to a camp and you train. You run twice a day. You do different things. I went last year. I went to camp in the Poconos and they analyzed our gait. They gave us drills to practice. It was very technical and official. It’s open to everyone. Lena: Hill training. [Camp] made me realize that I hadn’t been running on hills. Hopes for the season: Louie: I hope to break 19:00. I’m pretty close. I recently broke 21:00 in my last season, so I’d say I’m pretty close and with some training and extra work, I can do it. Lena: A new PR would be nice. It’s like 22:49 or so. Sophie: Hopes and dreams. Improve.

VINCENT GUEVARA, SENIOR, J.E.B STUART HIGH SCHOOL On summer training: We’ve had conditioning practices at Mason District Park. It runs Monday through Friday at 8 am. We start with a long run on Monday, easy runs on Tuesday and Thursday, and hard runs on Wednesday and Friday. Early summer is just about building your base up and late August is when we usually run high mileage then come back down to prepare for the season. Hopes for the season: For the team to make it to the state meet. It’s a long shot but we have a really good group of seniors.

JUBILEE MARSHALL, SENIOR, GEORGETOWN VISITATION PREPARATORY SCHOOL On summer training: It’s going pretty well. I have been doing mostly long runs and some threshold runs on the track. I usually do the same summer training program every summer. Hopes for the season: I would like to be the captain of my team, if you wanna just drop a hint to my coach. And I would like to break 20:00 but we’ll see if that happens. I’m at 20:49. So we’ll see.

In July of each year, cross country runners from high schools across the region converge on the Crystal City Twilighter 5k for the New Balance High School Competition. In the midst of their summer training, the race gives them a chance to test their training against their rivals before enjoying the post-race festivities alongside them. RunWashington spoke to a few of the over 200 cross country runners present to ask about their summer training and their goals for this season. From new training techniques to new bests for themselves and their teams, these young runners are motivated, ambitious, and ready for their season to begin. Here’s what they had to say: J.E.B Stuart senior VINCENT GUEVARA, and Thomas Edison juniors JACK MCMANUS and BRENNAN GOLDSTEIN before the Crystal City Twilighter 5k New Balance High School Competition. RUNWASHINGTON PHOTO BY MEAGHAN GAY SWIM BIKE RUN PHOTOGRAPHY

VERONICA PANZARDI, SENIOR, GEORGETOWN VISITATION PREPARATORY SCHOOL On summer training: My summer training is going really well. [Jubilee: Don’t tell lies.] No, I actually have been! I have the Nike training app and I train for stuff. I literally am training for a 5k. I’m not done yet but it’s happening. This is a practice run. Is [my summer training] different? Yes, it’s different considering it’s happening. Hopes for the season: That I will PR. [Laughing] I don’t think I’m the best person to interview. I think it’s 25:00 [currently]. We’ll go with a nice, solid 25:00.

JOSHUA ROUTH, JUNIOR, THOMAS EDISON HIGH SCHOOL On summer training: My summer training is coming along very well. We have been running on this plan called Final Surge where we can log in our times. All the coach does is send out our times and we log in, we click in our times for each day that we run. She gives us a certain time. I usually run 45 minutes a day, which hurts but it’s for the better because when I get into this [5k] I’m going to rock! Hopes for the season: To get into the habit of running distance. Distance runs like miles and just to have fun and come out here. This is to help me for indoor track season and outdoor track season, so when I get to indoor and outdoor track season, it’ll be a breeze for me to go through the workouts because I’ll have enough stamina built up in order to run through everything. And try to get me to states! Woo, states!

ANGELICA GAUGHRAN, SOPHOMORE; EVELYN ARENAS, SENIOR; THOMAS EDISON HIGH SCHOOL On summer training: Angelica: I’ve done conditioning with the team since the beginning of July, and we do it for a couple of weeks just to get conditioning in. During August, we actually start doing real practices. We used to [train in summer] with just the captains last year to get to know each other better, but now we’re doing it with the coaches so now we know what specifically we’re supposed to do and all the stretches and just to get the freshmen introduced to it. Evelyn: Specifically, it’s been a lot of individual training. Sometimes we go on vacation and even look for time to run during the vacations so it’s pretty exciting. We try not to get off our schedule. The team has been more individual and they’ve really learned how to push themselves through the limits, so it’s good. Hopes for the season: Angelica: Last year, I didn’t really have any because I was just starting out, but now I know what to expect and I’m hoping to get under 19:30 for the three-mile. I’m getting there. I’m at 20:00 right now. I would like [our team] to get to states. We went to regionals last year but we didn’t get to states. I would like to get our girls really pumped up for it and just try and get better and better as a team. Evelyn: It would be nice if I could get like a 22:00. I’m not as fast as Geli here but I’m gonna try to go to her level. Geli has the most team spirit. She really gets all the girls together. SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014 | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | RUNWASHINGTON | 21

May 17, 2015 Fredericksburg, Virginia Lowest registration fee available starting Oct 25

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Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon & 6K

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SUNDAY, AUG. 17 MARYLAND TRAIL RUNNING FESTIVAL GERMANTOWN, MD. LEESBURG 20K/5K LEESBURG, VA.

TUESDAY, AUG. 19 NOVA RUNNING CLUB 5K ARLINGTON, VA. PAUL THURSTON 4.5 M

DAMASCUS FREEDOM 5K

HYDROCEPHALUS 5K

DAMASCUS, MD.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

PEDRO’S RUN TO RECOVERY

METRIC RUNNING FESTIVAL

ARLINGTON, VA.

COLUMBIA, MD.

FINISH 2B FIT 20K/10K

SUPER H 5K

TRIANGLE, VA.

MCLEAN, VA.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 12

ROCK ‘N’ STROLLER 5K

DIVAS 5K LEESBURG, VA.

FAIRFAX STATION, VA.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 13

FRIDAY, AUG. 22

DIVAS HALF MARATHON

LOST DOG 5K ARLINGTON, VA.

LEESBURG, VA. ABEBE BIKILA DAY INTERNATIONAL PEACE

ALEXANDRIA, VA.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 25 FAIRLAND FALL 5K/10K/10 MILE TRAIL RACE BURTONSVILLE, MD. CROSS COUNTY TRAIL MARATHON ANNANDALE, VA.

MARATHON AND HALF

FRIDAY, SEPT. 26

WASHINGTON, D.C.

C&O CANAL TOWPATH MARATHON

RUN FOR HOPE 5K

BULLDOG-EAGLE 5K CROSS COUNTRY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

ARLINGTON, VA.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

EASTERN COUNTY 8K

TWILIGHT RUN N RUN 5K

SATURDAY, SEPT. 27

SILVER SPRING, MD.

LORTON, VA.

SUNDAY, AUG. 24

RACE FOR EVERY CHILD

SATURDAY, AUG. 23

RUN! GEEK! RUN! 5K FAIRFAX, VA. SOUTH LAKES 10K RESTON , VA.

THURSDAY, AUG. 28 ROOSEVELT RUN 5K ARLINGTON, VA.

SUNDAY, AUG. 31

WASHINGTON, D.C. RUN 4 SHELTER HALF MARATHON/10K/5K STEVENSVILLE, MD. NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION 5K VIENNA, VA.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 14

OKTOBERFEST 5K POTOMAC, MD. CLARENDON DAY 10K/5K ARLINGTON, VA. JAN’S TUTOR TROT 5K WASHINGTON, D.C. DASH INTO THE ‘80S 5K CLIFTON, VA. FALL IN LOVE 5K

RUN FOR THE SCHOOLS 5K

WASHINGTON, D.C.

FALLS CHUCH, VA.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 28

PARKS HALF MARATHON

ELLEN’S RUN 5K

THE FALLS 5K

ROCKVILLE, MD.

MCLEAN, VA.

PVI RUNFEST 5K

GREAT AMERICAN 5K

FAIRFAX, VA.

NAVY-AIR FORCE HALF MARATHON/5 MILER

LARRY NOEL 15K

WASHINGTON, D.C.

GREENBELT, MD.

HOME RUN 10K/5K

SATURDAY, SEPT. 6

ROCKVILLE, MD.

COPS AND ROBBERS RUN

SATURDAY, SEPT. 20

WASHINGTON, D.C.

LAKE NEEDWOOD CROSS COUNTRY

FALLS CHUCH, VA.

9/11 MEMORIAL 5K

DERWOOD, MD.

PERFECT 10 10 MILE/10K

ARLINGTON, VA.

FOOTBALL FANFARE 5K/10K

RESTON , VA.

BEAT THE DEADLINE 5K

FORT MEADE, MD.

WASHINGTON D.C.

SUSCO 8K

SATURDAY, OCT. 4

RECTIFY: THE RACE 5K

RESTON, VA.

COLLEGE PARK, MD.

DULLES DAY 5K/10K

WOMEN OF NOBLE CHARACTER 5K

DULLES AIRPORT, VA.

ALEXANDRIA, VA.

WOUNDED WARRIOR CAREGIVERS 5K

EX2 OFF-ROAD HALF MARATHON/10K

ALEXANDRIA, VA.

TRIANGLE, VA.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 7 EYE RUN 5K BETHESDA, MD.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 21

CHEVY CHASE, MD. NATIONAL CAPITAL 20 MILE/5 MILE CARDEROCK, MD. BREAKING GROUND 5K ARLINGTON, VA. OPERATION WALK VIRGINIA 5K ALEXANDRIA, VA. TEDDY BEAR 5K

CITY VS CITY RUN: BALTIMORE VS WASHINGTON, DC WASHINGTON, D.C. DIRTY DAMSEL WOMEN’S TRAIL RACE ROSARYVILLE, MD. “SURVIVE THE 5” 5K ALEXANDRIA, VA.

PREVENT CANCER 5K

TO THE MOON 5K

WASHINGON, D.C.

RESTON, VA. MCLEAN 5K MCLEAN , VA.

24 | RUNWASHINGTON | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014

SUNDAY, OCT. 5

SUNDAY, OCT. 25

BOO! RUN FOR LIFE 10K

SPOOKTACULAR 5K

WASHINGTON , D.C.

ASHBURN, VA.

BB&T 5K

REV3 FALL FOLIAGE TRAIL RUN

FAIRFAX

ASHBURN, VA.

SAVAGE 7K

RUN FROM KILLER ZOMBIES 5K &1K

SAVAGE, MD.

LORTON, VA.

TUESDAY, NOV. 11

WOODROW WILSON BRIDGE HALF

SUNDAY, OCT. 26

RUN ELEVEN 11K/ 5K

MARATHON/6K ALEXANDRIA, VA. MASON MILE ARLINGTON, VA. SUPERHERO 5K TAKOMA, MD. PURPLESTRIDE MARYLAND 5K CATONSVILLE, MD.

SATURDAY, OCT. 11

MCM10K

VETERAN’S DAY 5K FAIRFAX, VA. ROUND ROBINSON 5K FAIRFAX, VA. LOUDOUN TRAIL 10K MIDDLEBURG, VA.

FAIRFAX STATION, VA.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

SUNDAY, NOV. 16

GOBLIN GALLOP 5K

.US ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS 12K

FAIRFAX, VA.

ALEXANDRIA, VA.

SPROUT 5K

KING OF THE ROAD 5K

ASHBURN , VA.

ROCKVILLE, MD.

DANGER! ZOMBIES! RUN! 5K

POTOMAC RIVER RUN MARATHON

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.

CARDEROCK, MD.

BACKYARD BURN TRAIL RACE

MAKING A DIFFERENCE 5K

LAW ENFORCEMENT RUN TO REMEMBER 5K FAIRFAX STATION, VA.

ASHBURN, VA.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

MONSTER MASH DASH 5K

VIVA VETS 5K

US ELITE FALL 5K

MCLEAN, VA.

FAIRFAX, VA.

LANDOVER, MD.

TUESDAY, OCT. 28

BACKYARD BURN TRAIL RACE

BEST OF THE BEST 5K SILVER SPRING, MD.

GHOST, GHOULS & GOBLINS 5K

CLIFTON, VA.

FORT MEADE, MD.

SATURDAY NOV. 22

ALEXANDRIA, VA.

SATURDAY, NOV. 1

POTOMAC RIVER RUN MARATHON

TREAURE YOUR HEART 5K

PAWS2CARE 5K

ALEXANDRIA, VA.

ARLINGTON, VA.

GLORY DAYS CROSS COUNTRY

SUNDAY, NOV. 2

ROCK & STROLL TO END HOMELESSNESS 10K

CENTREVILLE, VA.

CARDEROCK, MD. FORT MEADE TURKEY TROT 5K FORT MEADE, MD. RUN FOR SHELTER

THE PARKS 10K

ALEXANDRIA, VA.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

HERNDON TURKEY TROT 5K

ROCKVILLE 10K/5K

HERNDON, VA.

ROCKVILLE, MD.

SPEND YOURSELF 5K

SOMERSET 8K

BACKYARD BURN TRAIL RACE

FALLS CHUCH, VA.

CHEVY CHASE, MD.

ANNANDALE, VA.

TURKEY TROT 10K/MILE

JACKSON 5K

FRIDAY, NOV. 7

QUANTICO, VA.

SCHAEFFER SCRAMBLE 5K/10K/10 MILE

SUNDAY, NOV. 23

TRAIL RACE

BACKYARD BURN TRAIL RACE

GERMANTOWN, MD.

TRIANGLE, VA.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY NOV. 7-9

THURSDAY, NOV. 27

OBX MARATHON AND HALF MARATHON

SOME TROT FOR HUNGER 5K

OUTER BANKS, N.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

ARLINGTON, VA.

SATURDAY, NOV. 8

TURKEY CHASE 10K

RACE FOR A CAUSE 8K

DC HALF AND HALF MARATHON

ARLINGTON, VA.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

SUNDAY, OCT. 19

SALUTE FOR SERVICE 5K

RUN LIKE THE WIND 5K WARRENTON, VA.

SUNDAY, OCT. 12

FAIRFAX, VA. ARMY TEN-MILER WASHINGTON, D.C.

SATURDAY, OCT. 18 FORT HUNT 5K ALEXANDRIA, VA. RACE FOR D.C. KIDS 5K

BACKYARD BURN TRAIL RACE RESTON, VA.

ASHBURN, VA. THE NEARLY NAKED MILE

BETHESDA, MD. VIRGINIA RUN TURKEY TROT 5K CENTREVILLE, VA. ARLINGTON TURKEY TROT 5K ARLINGTON, VA.

RESTON, VA.

FRIDAY, NOV. 28

LEESBURG, VA.

SUNDAY, NOV. 9

GINGERBREAD MAN MILE

RUN FOR IT! 5K

VETERAN’S DAY 10K

ARLINGTON, VA.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

TRICK OR TREAT TROT 5K

RESTON,VA.

Upcoming races is not a comprehensive listing of road races, but are chosen for their proximity to the Washington, D.C. area. Listings are based largely on information provided by race directors on the free online race calendar at www.runwashington.com. It Is wise to confirm event details with organizers before registering for an event. Date and times are subject to change.

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014 | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | RUNWASHINGTON | 25

September 27, 2014 CLARENDON, ARLINGTON What better way to celebrate Clarendon than a run down it’s most storied boulevard? Join us for the Clarendon Day 10K/5K & Kids Dash, the official kick off to the popular Clarendon Day Festival presented by the Clarendon Alliance. Easily one of the area’s fastest courses, this course takes runners along a foot tour of the eclectic neighborhoods along the orange line. Top off the race with a post-race party at Clarendon’s hometown watering hole, Whitlow’s on Wilson, and other great restaurants, pubs, and vendors.

6/18/14 12:15 PM

PHOTOS BY SWIM BIKE RUN PHOTOGRAPHY

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014 | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | RUNWASHINGTON | 27

By D ic kson Mercer Dan Reeks believes in running. He knows what running did for him, and knows what running can do for others. He started coaching in Montgomery County 43 years ago, during his early 20s. Back then he was a volunteer assistant for Paint Branch High School, and not necessarily volunteering by choice, either. Reeks, then a national-class runner, said he was concerned about an Amateur Athletic Union rule limiting how much money one could earn through coaching. This was 1971. A year later, Frank Shorter would win gold in Munich, igniting the first running boom. Reeks — now heading into his 13th season with Sherwood High School — has not missed a Montgomery County cross country season since. During his first decade of coaching, Reeks not only led Northwood High School’s girls cross country team to three state championships, but launched girls running in the county with the help of fellow coaches Kerry Ward and Greg Dunston. Ward had coached Reeks while he was a senior at American University, and coached in the county for decades, leading BethesdaChevy Chase and Walt Whitman high schools to numerous state championships. Ward, while at BCC, also hosted the county’s first official girls cross country meet. Dunston started coaching in the county in 1971, as well. The Georgetown Prep Coach, who previously coached at Walter Johnson, described their support for girls cross country thusly: “It was more a matter of thinking that you want equal rights for everyone.” 28 | RUNWASHINGTON | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014

Sherwood High School Coach Dan Reeks at the 2012 Bull Run Invitational with Sherwood runners Maddie Peloff, left, and Grace McDonald. Photo by Debbie Harman

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014 | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | RUNWASHINGTON | 29

Dunston and Reeks got in the habit of bashing out Sunday long runs together. These days, they go for bike rides instead. The point is, these two have spent countless hours — many decades, even — talking shop, and finetuning a common approach to coaching. “We want [our athletes] to have fun,” Dunston said, “and realize this is a sport you can do for a long time after high school.” An interviewer described Reeks’ coaching streak as “amazing.” “But it’s not,” Reeks said, “because, one thing, it’s fun. … I look forward to going to practice. I just like being around the kids.” He added: “It’s great to see them mature.” At the end of each season, the Sherwood coach asks his juniors and seniors for feedback on his coaching. “And while it might be a benevolent dictatorship,” Reeks said, “the dictator does listen.”

Making the Team Heading into his junior year, Reeks transferred to Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in Los Angeles County, where he quickly made friends with members of the track team. Reeks tried out for the team, and was cut. Senior year, he tried to change that. “I trained and trained,” he said. A few days a week, he said, he would run from his house up a big hill to the main road and meet up with a friend for training runs, an experience that taught him the value of group training. Reeks made varsity cross country, “and that was it.” He knew what his passion was. At Los Angeles Harbor Community College, Reeks started running twice a day to improve, following the lead of a teammate who had won Los Angeles’ city championship. “He’d run, golly, I think he’d run in the high 9:30s [for two miles], and he got me to train with the coach who had coached him … and that got me down to 9:20 and 4:20 [for the mile],” Reeks said. Those performances helped Reeks earn a scholarship to American University. And as Reeks immersed himself in the sport, he quickly developed an interest in coaching. “In college I liked supporting my teammates, and watching them, and just trying to figure out [what they were doing],” he said. During his junior year at AU, Reeks mostly coached himself. “I just followed the workouts I did the year before,” he said, “because I kept a training diary.” Then, as a senior, he met and

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was coached by Ward, who, like his first high school coach and others, had a big influence on Reeks’ coaching philosophy. “I still use a few of those workouts,” he said. “I don’t make my athletes run 10 miles on the track, though.”

Years of Coaching Reeks and his wife, Barbara, have been married for 40 years, and have two children, David and Emily. His second coaching job, after Northwood, was at Eastern Middle School. From 1983 to 1998, he coached at Montgomery College — or “the MC,” as he calls it — where he started the indoor track program and each year qualified athletes for NJCAA championships. He coached 17 junior college All-Americans. Los Angeles Harbor Community College had enabled Reeks, who had only been running for one year at that point, to develop in athletics and academics and earn a scholarship to AU. At Montgomery College, he saw his job as helping others do the same: to balance work, training and school. He takes pride in knowing that many of his athletes transitioned successfully to four-year colleges. From the fall of 1999 through Spring 2002, Reeks coached at Winston Churchill. In his last cross country season there, the boys and girls teams both finished third in the state meet. The decision to leave Winston Churchill was difficult. Reeks cried while breaking the news to the team. But he also taught social studies in the county for 39 years — mostly at Wheaton — and wanted to close out his career coaching and teaching at the same school to reduce his commute. He was able to do that at Sherwood, where, at that time, the boys hadn’t won a dual meet in outdoor track in more than five years and the girls cross country team was at a low point. This was the fall of the sniper shootings. John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo shot at people indiscriminately, causing widespread fear. Training was missed; many meets were canceled. Still, that fall, two girls and two boys represented Sherwood at the state meet. That spring, the boys track team broke its losing streak. Since then, in cross country, both teams have qualified for the state meet almost every year. In 2003, the Sherwood boys cross country team was second in the county, first in the regional meet, and won a state championship. Reeks “always puts together competitive

cross country teams,” said Kevin Milsted, the founder of MoCo Running, which chronicles the county’s high school running scene. “He has the technical knowledge to develop runners of all body types, and he has the personality and dry humor to engage athletes of all backgrounds.” It has worked for junior Gary Confrey. As his mother Jackie put it, his motivation was lacking in areas where he did not already show skill. That changed after one talk with Reeks. “He told him that if you want to do well, you have to put in the work,” she said. “It was simple but it flicked a switch. Now he doesn’t want to miss school if he’s sick because it means he can’t go to practice.” The first day of the school year, she said, “kids line up to see him and give him a hug.” Reeks understands his athletes have a lot on their plate. They are focused not only on excelling at running and academics, but perfecting SAT scores and college applications. “You have to get as much as you can out of them during practice,” he said, “and remind them that life is short.” (Dunston said almost the exact same thing.) Reeks puts team captains in charge of summer training, assigning mileage goals for each class. To that end, early in the summer, the captains choose a location for team members to meet up each morning for runs, said senior captain Courtney Nakamura. “He just cares a lot about the team and each individual person. It makes us all want to work harder,” Nakamura said. Early in the season, they start with general workouts before gradually branching off into different training groups. A computer program called Running Trax, packed with performance charts, helps Reeks individualize workouts. “I have always written [out the workouts], printed them, and given them to the kids,” he said A staple workout for Sherwood is a tempo followed by 12 200-meter intervals. To prepare for the state championship at the punishing Hereford course, the team goes to Lake Needwood and practices in an area known as “the dip.” “His biggest priority,” said Ariel Mahlman, who graduated from Sherwood in 2013, “is definitely to provide his athletes with an understanding and passion for the sport ... He is very easy to talk to and always offers great advice whenever you ask a question.” Reeks’ athletes describe him as “silly,” as a “character,” as someone who makes them laugh with “cheesy puns.” When athletes ask him how they can

improve, though, Reeks gets down to business. “You got to work,” he said. “Distance running, I always tell the kids, and I have for years, is the Puritan work ethic. You get better because you train.”

The MoCo Scene One day in the late 2000s, Reeks was at his desk, grading papers, when, as he remembered it, “this exceptionally goodlooking couple is at my doorway with a security guy who says, ‘This guy wants to come to Sherwood and run.’” This guy was Solomon Haile, who in 2009 would win the Foot Locker Cross Country Championship. Haile had been training in his native Ethiopia, and had come to the United States for two reasons: to run and go to school. “He was always centered, he had a goal, and he was smart,” Reeks said. Asked to recollect highlights from 43 years of coaching, Reeks mentioned Haile setting the national record in the 5,000. He mentioned Northwood winning its first state cross country title in 1975. He mentioned, in 2003, the Sherwood principal running up to him on the Hereford hill and exclaiming, “We’ve won!” But Reeks is well known and respected by Montgomery County coaches and runners for others reasons. “I always thought it was really cool how supportive he was of me, even though I ran at a rival school,” said Sean O’Leary, who ran for Walter Johnson. O’Leary got to know Reeks through the Concord Retreat Cross Country Camp, which Reeks has run for 30 years. “Bottom line,” O’Leary said, “it doesn’t matter if you’re Solomon Haile gunning for the Footlocker National Championship or a freshman wearing basketball shoes running for a different team — Coach Reeks wants you to be successful.” When Kyle Gaffney, a committed runner at Blake High School, needed coaching and training partners, Reeks - thinking of his own experiences running at AU - provided it. Reeks is matter-of-fact about it. “You just do that,” he said, “because you want to see the sport grow and you want to see kids run and do well.” All the while, Coach Reeks’ legend in Montgomery County — whether he realizes it or not — grows with it. “I have never seen anyone yell louder than him at meets,” said Owen Miller, Sherwood’s boys cross country captain. “He is incredibly enthusiastic.”

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By David Pittman Don’t try to get Alisa Byers to share her team’s secret to success. The Oakton High School cross country coach isn’t spilling the beans. But whatever the 35-year-old is doing at the Vienna school, it’s working. In four years at the helm, she’s taken the school’s girls squad from qualifying one runner to the state meet, to placing fourth in 2011, to being runner up two years ago and winning last year. What’s even more exciting for the Lady Cougars is they return all but one runner from the team that ran away with the state crown last November. Byers and the Lady Cougars have been preparing since late spring to defend their state championship in the 6A division, which includes schools with the largest enrollment. They may have their eye on a bigger honor, as well: a national ranking at the end of the season. So really, what’s Byers’ secret? “I’m not going to tell you,” she said with an aw-shucks sort of laugh. “You’ll print my secret.” Fair enough, but Oakton, which Byers has coached since 2010, is poised to continue being one of the best girls cross country teams in Virginia. “Oakton on paper is as close to a slam dunk as you can be this year,” said Chris Pellegrini, head coach of the West Springfield squad that finished fifth in the state last year. “There isn’t anybody in the state that matches up.” Meanwhile, Byers reminds her talented team they still have to put in the work to stay on top. “I’ve just been very fortunate to get the right kids out who want to work hard and keep improving and who are responsive,” she said. “It’s the kids.” And there certainly are talented kids returning this fall. Senior Allie Klimkiewicz comes back after a fourth place individual finish at the state meet in 2013. She finished an agonizing two places away from making a return trip to the Footlocker Cross Country Championships last year, and she may not even be the best runner on the team, Pellegrini said. Sophomore Casey Kendall, 14th overall at the state meet, was running better than Klimkiewicz toward the end of the spring track season. Sophomore Leya Salis hopes to improve upon her first year of high school competition. The two freshman helped Oakton dominate last year. Senior Kara Kendall also returns after a top-30 finish at the state last year and scoring for the Lady Cougars. Behind them, a couple of seniors — Maryn McCarty and Margaret Stack — are working to round out the five scoring runners. Byers also hopes incoming freshman will help spur competition, as well. The loss of Hailey Dougherty to graduation, though, will be tough. 32 | RUNWASHINGTON | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014

Dougherty was eighth overall at the state meet last year. The senior was not only a top runner for the Lady Cougars but provided key leadership as the only senior and only runner who qualified for the state meet four years ago when Byers first became head coach. Dougherty, who will run cross country for the University of Pennsylvania Quakers this fall, was also consistent and led many workouts. “It will be a big loss on a lot of different levels,” Byers said. The maturation of sophomores Salis and Casey Kendall will be key. “Even though we’re losing Hailey, I think that they’re ready to step into her shoes and do even bigger things,” Byers said. The only mileage they had in their legs last year, she added, was from soccer and basketball, so they spent the better part of last year’s cross country season building a mileage base. With such high praise heading into the upcoming season, it’s easy to picture a scenario where the Oakton girls can let the past success get to their head and expect to walk through this year’s competition. The team’s leading runner, Klimkiewicz, said that won’t happen. The girls don’t pay attention to the local running blogs or rankings, but approach the season like underdogs. “It hasn’t really crossed my mind,” Klimkiewicz said of the praise and expectations for this fall. “Nobody really talks about it.” Their coach supports that mindset. “Nothing is guaranteed,” Byers said. “You have to look at each race as an individual. Cherish each workout that we have. Learn from everything. This is not the time to get settled just because you’re coming off a winning season. As long as they absorb that, we can have a big year.” The only teams at the 6A level who can challenge Oakton might be Ocean Lakes in Virginia Beach and Lake Braddock in Burke, Pellegrini said. The two finished fourth and third, respectively, last year. But each will be carried by talent found last year in track and field and who have never run cross country before, Pellegrini said. Both squads lost several seniors. Additionally, six or seven teams, including Washington-Lee in Arlington, could challenge Oakton if they find one freshman who can contribute in a big way this season. Oakton had that luck last year with Kendall and Salis. With Oakton pegged as clear-cut favorites, it makes that they would draw attention on the national scene. But Nolan Jez, who covers Virginia track and cross country for MileStat.com, said that talk may be a bit premature. Oakton made it to 26th last year in national rankings but may not even be the best team in the state this year. Blacksburg High School, who competes at the smaller 3A level, may be even better than Oakton this year. “It looks like Blacksburg

would beat them by having much more quality consistency through five runners,” he said. The National High School Coaches Association doesn’t even list Oakton in their top 50 in their preseason national rankings. But there is no sense in looking at rankings, Byers said, opting instead to start the season with a team objective and work toward that. “It’d be great to be number one in the country, but also I enjoy saying ‘you know what? Look at how far we’ve come?’” Byers said. “We went from having one person in the state meet to going fourth to second to winning.” Byers walked on to the cross country team at Xavier University of Louisiana and ran all four years while at the small NAIA school. Even with that history, Byers says she’s running personal bests in her mid-30s and describes herself as a “pretty bad” runner. “I’m not a runner, I create runners from applying knowledge from successful coaches and of course what I’ve learned not to do from my former coaches,” she said. Byers came to Oakton in 2007 and began working under Phil Tiller, who served as head coach of both the boys and girls cross country squads but had greater success with the boys team, taking them to two state titles. The girls team was state runner-up in 2005 and 2007 under Tiller, but couldn’t quite break through. Now, Byers has reversed that trend and is having more success with the girls, having taken over both squads since Tiller moved to England in 2009 to be with his parents. “I think a lot of times they seek someone they can relate to, female to female,” Byers said of her success with the girls team. She still helped cultivate a state-champion runner in Jack Stoney, who paced the Oakton boys team to a sixth-place finish last year. “I think they’re really willing to work hard for her and trust her training,” Pellegrini said of her success as a coach. Klimkiewicz described Byers as motivating and said she creates an individualized plan for each runner. Byers also tries to rely on tradition, reminding runners they are not only out there for themselves but their teammates, community and the Oakton legacy. “One of the more touching moments was, at the state meet, there were parents who came out whose athletes had graduated from before I even started coaching,” Byers said. “You just had so many people who are still a part of the Oakton community who want to see the kids do well.” She gave her runners summer workouts and started practice in August. It’s then that she starts pounding at messaging and motivation for the long – and hopefully successful – season ahead. “I try to keep everything grounded and say we’re doing okay,” Byers said. “As long as we keep improving, that’s a good thing.”

Photo by Ed Lull

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By Jamie Core y When Anthony Belber was brought on as an assistant track coach at the Georgetown Day School 17 years ago, the GDS Hoppers could hardly fill a school bus. “The first year I coached, we only had four girls and 10 to 12 boys in cross country,” he recalled. But fast forward 17 years later, and the team can now fill multiple school buses as well as trophy boxes. In addition to winning numerous state and conference championships, the team has also won the D.C./Maryland Private School Championships. Belber attributes most of their success over the years to the team’s participation numbers — which has risen to 80 athletes in cross-country and more than 90 in track in a school that has only 450 in its total student body. “The biggest change over the years has been our numbers.” Belber said. “It’s always been about getting kids to participate — that’s the key. Even though we’re very much enjoying the success at the top, it’s still about everybody wanting to be part of the program. Not only do I enjoy coaching everybody, but I think when everybody is working hard at every level, you get better results at the conference championships.” Belber noted that he personally experienced programs that were welcoming to athletes of all levels and abilities and saw the value of coaching

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the complete child and not treating the athletes as “one-dimensional runners.” “I liked that it had a struggling athletic program,” Belber says. “I admit I dreamed that someday I could turn it into a running powerhouse like St. Albans or Haverford. The goal then and now, though, is to expose kids to the joys of running and help them recognize the lessons they learn in the sport carry over to every other facet of their lives.” Though the team has seen a tremendous amount of success throughout the years, Belber said funding for the program hasn’t increased much and the team is still without a track. “We do most of our training on the streets of D.C.,” Belber says. “We find some trails to run in Rock Creek Park and things like that. But we have to rent the American University track a few times a week so we’re limited to the days that their team isn’t using it.” But that hasn’t stopped the team from top performances in track, either. The boys’ track team has taken home four conference championship titles. Belber said his assistant track coaches played a large part in their success. Sprinting coach William Miezan competed in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta as a sprinter on the 4x100m relay team for Cote D’Ivoire. “Without a doubt, our team would not be where it is today were it not for the coaching our sprinters, jumpers, and hurdlers have been receiving from him for the past 13 years,”

Belber said. GDS also added another assistant track coach, Brian Bobo, who has been with the program for a dozen years and is the reason they’ve sent two triple jumpers to Division I programs despite having no jumping facility of their own. Belber also attributes the team’s success to backing off in mileage and workouts. “If anything in the last four years, we’ve backed off the number of workouts we do instead of trying to squeeze two hard workouts in a week in addition to a meet,” Belber said. “Year-round, we do one hard workout a week and one meet a week. I think that recovery time is a huge part of our success. Even our top boys are probably doing mid-30 (miles per week) throughout the season. And our girls do a little less.” Although Belber attributes all the teams’ success to his assistant coaches, cutting mileage and rising participation numbers, his former athletes say that’s just part of it. Ben Stern, a GDS alumnus who was a junior when Belber first started coaching, said most of the success should be credited toward Belber. “As soon as Belber came on as coach, I saw dramatic improvements,” Stern said. When Stern went off to Princeton and later Oregon, his little brother Alex followed him through GDS. He was worried that Belber might base his expectations based on his brother’s

career,said the complete opposite happened. “His tireless dedication to the program and individualized attention to every athlete is why the team has seen such dramatic improvements,” Alex said. “He never treated me as ‘Ben’s little brother.’ He treated me as Alex.” Alex added that Belber’s coaching style and techniques have stayed with him since high school — particularly keeping a cool and calm approach to everything in life. In addition to the numerous championship titles Belber can be credited for, he was also a finalist in the 2014 Brooks Running Inspiring Coach of the Year. It’s no wonder 10 different alumni have come back as assistants, which Belber said was also key the team’s success over the last decade. The alumni have kept an active Facebook page, and according to Belber, “are more tightly bonded than any other alumni faction within the school community.” Belber saw firsthand how bonded the community has become after a former runner passed away. “The way these runners and alumni came together… it meant a lot to me as a coach,” Belber said. “I love the fact that a lot of our running alumni stay involved. When we go to big meets, the local alumni will cheer and so even though we feel like the rest of the school may not understand or appreciate what the runners are doing, we still feel a big sense of community.”

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BY DAN DIFONZO When he last set foot on a track, all was right in Jim Vollmer’s world. He was at the Maryland state track and field championships over Memorial Day weekend, working as a race official and silently cheering on his Poolesville High School runners, whom he coached in cross country. He left the meet with genuine excitement and a feeling of satisfaction for the achievement of his runners on this sunny spring day. Senior Chase Weaverling capped a sensational senior year by winning the state title in the boys’ 3200. And the girls’ and boys’ 4x800 meter squads ran spirited efforts to finish third and fourth. “He was so proud of all of his runners that day,” said senior Matt Psaltakis. “He took a lot of pride in knowing that we were there.” Vollmer passed away suddenly at home May 26, setting off a shock wave of emotions for everyone in the Poolesville running community. He left behind a loving wife, Sandy, and two daughters. He was 60. He had been building the cross country program at Poolesville for more than two decades. Over the last 24 years he had worked with hundreds of students and coaches — many of whom had kept in touch with him throughout the years. This was apparent at his funeral service, when scores of runners from the past and present came to pay their last respects to their charismatic coach. For Presad Gerard, it was a beneficial partnership. Gerard, a chemistry teacher at Poolesville, reached out to Vollmer six years ago about joining the team as an assistant. At that time, Poolesville already had an assistant coach, but Gerard convinced Vollmer that he’d be an asset and joined the team as a volunteer coach. “The [existing] assistant coach left after that season and I was elevated into the position of assistant,” Gerard said. “Over time, my role shifted from assistant to more of an equal. Jim and I have been co-coaches ever since.” Vollmer and Gerard’s team-coaching approach has been successful despite two clearly different training philosophies. Vollmer, a former collegiate 400 meter specialist and track athlete has been characterized as the motivational coach. Gerard, an experienced ultra-marathoner and distance runner, is described as the more cerebral, strategic planner of the two. “Because Coach Vollmer knew how to race, 36 | RUNWASHINGTON | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014

and due to his history with the program, he was the primary motivator,” said Poolesville senior co-captain Denise Larson. “Coach Gerard knew a little more about how to train young runners and — while he’s also a great motivator — his strength is in prescribing a pace-based scientific training plan. He’s more of a logistics and numbers guy than Coach Vollmer, who was all about getting the most from runners by motivating them to work their hardest.” Each fall, on the first day of cross country season, Vollmer gave an impassioned speech during which he would point toward the Poolesville water tower that looms large over the school’s track, calling every day at practice “another step up that tower” and “at the top of the water tower is a state championship.” He explained how the goal for each and every runner should be to get to the top of that water tower. “When I was a freshman, I thought we actually got to climb to the top of the water tower,” Larson confessed. “I was so excited to do that, and this past fall we came so close to making it to the top, coming in second in the states. Anyone who has ever run cross country for coach Vollmer will tell you that the goal each year is to get to the top of that water tower.” One of the challenges for any cross country program is finding and recruiting runners. In many schools, some of the best runners are lost to conflicting sports like soccer and football. At Poolesville, the exact opposite has occurred. It’s not unusual to find a handful of skilled soccer players making the shift to cross country. Perhaps this is because Poolesville cross country has a reputation for being tight-knit and inclusive. In fact, if you ask any Poolesville runner what makes cross country so special they will all tell you the same thing, “We’re like a family.” “Coach Vollmer came to my last cross country meet in middle school when I was in eighth grade to talk about Poolesville cross country,” Larson said. “He must have mentioned the idea of ‘family’ at least a half dozen times. He preached the family message and that ‘family’ was the glue. That’s how this team was built. When I think of family, I think of Vollmer.” Vollmer had a way to make the simple, special. Larson recalled one of his special traditions: “It was that same day, Coach Vollmer was the official starter for my final middle school cross country race. He fired the starting gun

JIM VOLLMER reacts to hearing that the Poolesville girls cross country team won the 2013 divisional title. PHOTO BY MELANIE PSALTAKIS

and we took off. I won the race and afterward Coach Vollmer gave me the spent shell from the starting gun. I still have it. It meant so much to me and all of the kids who received this memento from Coach Vollmer. He loved it and this was his way of supporting the future of Poolesville cross country. I knew that day I wanted to run cross country in high school.” Word of mouth has helped grow Poolesville cross country. Larson said that as a ninth-grader she was the only freshman girl on the team. The entire team was 14 people. By talking it up and letting people know about the tight family bond that the team had, they were able to grow the team to 40 members for her sophomore year. Last year, the numbers swelled to near 70 runners—the largest team yet. For Gerard, that sense of family has a lot to do with Vollmer’s style. Described by those who knew him as goofy, fun-loving and slightly eccentric, these qualities allowed Vollmer to connect with the kids and get the most out of them. Larson fondly recalls Vollmer driving his gold pick-up truck alongside runners as they trained — bluegrass music blaring from the windows, a jug of water in the back for the thirsty. “He would be talking in your ear, encouraging you, even yelling at you while you ran,” she said. “He knew how to push you, but he also knew how to have fun with it, too.” So where does Poolesville cross country go from here? Gerard acknowledges that there will be a void moving forward, but is confident they will thrive because of the cohesiveness of the team. “We’ve hired a new assistant coach who has worked with Jim in the past,” Gerard said. “She has a very positive energy that will be good for the team. The students have created their own support group, working together and encouraging each other to progress whether it’s in school or from one race to another.” For Larson, she believes that it’s up to her and her teammates to help create a lasting legacy by perpetuating Vollmer’s ideals and commitment to hard work and family. “That’s what Coach Vollmer was to Poolesville cross country, and there’s no way we want that to end.” In the fall, they will dedicate their season to Coach Vollmer and, with any luck, take that last step to the top of the Poolesville water tower as state champions. SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014 | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | RUNWASHINGTON | 37

BY JAMIE COREY If ever there was a breeding ground for a bitter rivalry, it was at Great Meadows. During the 2013 Virginia State Cross Country Championships, the boys 6A race included four teams at the top, within four points. And even though Chantilly pulled out a narrow lead over Lake Braddock and Robinson, it doesn’t give Lake Braddock senior Alex Corbett any pause when he’s making social plans. This summer, he’s played ultimate Frisbee with the Chargers, volleyball with the Robinson guys and video games with runners from the West Springfield team. No taunting. No mascot theft. No dingdong-ditching. And no dozens of pizzas ordered for the state champs’ party, possibly attended by members of their girls’ teams. This friendly relationship off the course can be beneficial to everyone in the long run. After all, running is a sport where pushing others actually helps bring out faster times in everyone. In fact, this helps elevates the quality of the sport at large. But while they have fun off the course, Corbett knows when to switch gears. “When race time comes, it’s game on,” Corbett said. “We don’t know them anymore.” Kevin Mongue, Lake Braddock senior, agreed. “It’s a totally different mindset on and off the track,” Mongue said. Not too far across the river, Griffin Colaizzi and Alex Armbruster both went after the gold last May in D.C.’s Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference championship 1600 meter final. Colaizzi went out in front of Armbruster in the beginning of the race but with two laps to go, Armbruster made his move and finished ahead of Colaizzi. But instead of giving his long-time rival the cold shoulder, Colaizzi congratulated him. “It’s never a bitter rivalry,” Colaizzi said. “Obviously each of us want to win but it’s always ‘great race’ afterwards. No hard feelings ever. We’re all very close.” Colaizzi, a recent graduate of Georgetown Day School, saw it happen again in the 3200 meter, when he finished in first. As gracious in victory as defeat, he offered his hand to his vanquished foe. It wasn’t always that way, but he said his friendships with runners on other teams in his conference started his junior year. “When we would go to big races with hundreds of teams and we didn’t know anybody, we’d always warm up together,” Colaizzi said. “We’d find each other in the beginning of a race. We warm up, stretch and hang out in the bullpen together. And after the race, we’ll cool down together. It’s really nice to have people you know at the big meets.” In part, it comes from maturity, learning that it isn’t “us versus the world.” The confidence that comes with knowing the landscape and getting to know peers over the course of a few seasons helps. Or there are jump starts. Some friendships 38 | RUNWASHINGTON | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014

start at offseason camps. Abigail Levine, a junior at Bethesda-Chevy Chase, met Kiernan Keller from Walter Johnson when they roomed together at the Concord Retreat Cross Country camp in West Virginia where Montgomery County teams train together for a week. Though at competitive different levels, Levine said she’s followed Keller closely and watched her compete in numerous races since they met each other. “I really like to see her do well,” she added. Levine also has a friendly rivalry with Erin O’Connor, a junior at Walt Whitman. They went to elementary school together, and they’ve stayed friends since. Competing in the same events, Levine said there’s never any tension between the two. “We’re really competitive with each other on the course but we manage to still be friends,” Levine said. “It’s funny, Erin and I are very similar in speed and we’re usually near each other in races, but it’s never awkward. On the field, it’s ‘I want to beat her.’ But off the field, we shake hands and congratulate one another.”

From the Top Neighbors and sometimes running partners, Brian Taylor and David Panush, Saint Anselm’s Abbey and Edmund Burke’s coaches, respectively, have a long-standing relationship. Taylor even spoke at Panush’s wedding. “His teams are always out there duking it out with my guys,” Taylor said. “But we’re good friends.” Taylor doesn’t deny there have been a few competitive tensions, though. Especially when things get to be “really close.” “One meet, in the 4x400 meter relay, one of our rival team’s violated rules, yet their score was still allowed to stand,” Taylor recalled. “It turned out we ended up tying for the championship. I feel like we were cheated a little bit. If their score wasn’t allowed to stand … we would have ended up winning the championship.” It would have been easy to let his emotions get the best of him. But Taylor said he didn’t let his “ego get wrapped up in everything.” “I just stepped off the track and said ‘alright these are children, they don’t need to see two grown men arguing about rules.’ And then next time I saw that rival coach, it was ‘hey how’s running…how was your vacation?’ I think we really set the tones as coaches.” Jim Ehrenhaft of St. Albans and Anthony Belber of Georgetown Day School have had a friendly relationship for years now. Both graduating from Haverford College, Belber was once Ehrenhaft’s assistant coach at St. Albans. The two teams now train together during the summer. “On any given summer evening, we’ll have 20 to 30 runners out there,” Ehrenhaft said. “So we get to know each other’s runners. It’s kind of like having an uncle or something.”

West Springfield’s CAROLINE ALCORTA offers water to Lake Braddock’s HANNAH CHRISTEN after a race. The two will live together as freshmen at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this fall. PHOTO BY ED LULL

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DESMOND DUNHAM (center) advises his athletes before the Crystal City Twilighter 5k. RUNWASHINGTON PHOTO BY MEAGHAN GAY SWIM BIKE RUN PHOTOGRAPHY

BY JACQUELINE KLIMAS While many coaches are worried about their team bringing home championships, Desmond Dunham his eye on a bigger prize. The cross country coach at Wilson High School in Washington D.C., who has been coaching for 17 years, said he measures his accomplishments by the success his athletes have later in life, once they’ve put their running shoes away. “The true measuring stick for me is what has my program done for the kids over time: when they go to college, they go in their careers, they have their family,” he said. Dunham, who coaches the girls cross country team as well as the co-ed track team, takes a holistic approach to coaching, focusing as much on their emotional wellbeing and academic performance as their achievements on the track. One of his favorite parts of coaching is to see how his athletes are able to carry the lessons learned in running over to other parts of their life. “You have to learn to give your best even when you don’t feel your best. My athletes often hear me say you have to be willing to give 100 percent even when you don’t feel 100 percent,” he said. “I try to get them to realize that applies to everything you do in life.” Marika Walker, a second-year PhD student in kinesiology at the University of Georgia, said the discipline she learned on Dunham’s cross country and track teams from 2004 through 2007 has gone on to help her in other aspects of her life. “Running with him was difficult, and we 40 | RUNWASHINGTON | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014

achieved lot of stuff I wouldn’t have imagined before I started,” she said. “Now looking at other things, I can do a lot more than I think I can. I put more effort into all the other things that I do.” Walker also gained some more concrete benefits from her running career on Dunham’s team: a scholarship to North Carolina State for her undergraduate education. “Track got me through college, basically to where I am today,” she said. “I don’t know where I would’ve gone to school if I hadn’t have run for coach Dunham.” While Walker no longer runs competitively, she continues to workout and maintain an active lifestyle. Other athletes have benefited from Dunham’s holistic training more immediately. Despite being the new kid at school in August 2013, Julie Rakas, now a junior at Wilson, said being a member of the team made her feel right at home. “I joined cross country when I first came here and he really made me feel included,” she said. “He really makes the whole team feel like a family almost.” She said Dunham makes sure athletes are doing well academically, giving time off from practice to get caught up on work or visit teachers and getting permission before taking kids out of class for a competition. She also said he’s there emotionally for his athletes. “He’s always there to talk to us. I’ve come to him with a lot of personal problems and he offers really good insight,” she said. “I feel really comfortable with him and I completely trust him.” Dunham has overcome some of his own hurdles as well. He grew up in Gary, Ind.,

which he calls the “murder capital” of the country at the time. It was his own cross country coach who made sure Dunham and the other athletes learned the value of hard work and discipline – a coaching style he tries to emulate today. “He was a father to many of us, the guys on the team,” he said. “We were able to just overcome a lot of adversities that we were facing in Gary, from the educational system to the violence, and he made running our outlet. He held us accountable no matter what the circumstances were, no matter what our backgrounds were.” When Dunham moved to D.C. to attend Howard University, he volunteered with a local running program before getting a gig coaching for St. Gabriel’s Catholic School while working on his master’s. He coached at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt and the University of Maryland, in addition to coaching a junior olympic running team, before taking a job at Woodrow Wilson High School in 2012. “The ability for me to be able to put a smile on a child’s face through the sport of cross country and track and field, it was the most rewarding experience that I had as a person,” he said. “I’ve always felt like after my first year of coaching that it was not only my passion but I also had a purpose in it as well.” Dunham was so devoted to his athletes that he and his wife dipped into their own bank account to ensure all athletes on his junior olympics team, regardless of their economic background, could participate and travel with the team. “We used to give all of our money to

making sure kids could travel and have the same experience as everyone else,” he said. “There was a time when our utilities were being cut off so we could make sure we gave every single kid in our program the same experiences.” In addition to coaching, running all three seasons and working full-time as a physical education teacher at Wilson, Dunham also coaches his own two kids in a variety of sports from baseball to basketball to tennis. He also is a board member at Capital City Little League. “Somehow we manage everything,” he said, noting that he couldn’t do it without his “awesome wife.” “We try to keep a balance where we make sure if we do have busy weeks, we try to culminate the week making sure there’s a focus on our kids to make sure we’re still in tune with them.” On top of everything, Dunham is involved with the D.C. Cross Country Project, an initiative with Pacers to increase participation across the city, improve programs at schools and increase awareness of the sport. He said he is excited to be part of an organization that lets him help even more young athletes succeed. “I could do great things within my program to help a good amount of kids, but if I can be involved with something on a much larger scale, it’s definitely way more fulfilling to be able to help the masses to be able to have the experiences I once had,” he said. Dunham still manages to find time to log about 30 to 40 miles a week, as much for the physical benefit as the emotional release. “After finishing a run,” he said, “I feel like I shed so many pounds of stress.” SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014 | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | RUNWASHINGTON | 41

Lugging relay batons larger than their arms, three-year-olds careened around a set of cones in the high jump area at Chantilly High School’s track, their balance akimbo. Some hopped over baby hurdles, with one tiny girl dragging one along as she ran away, like a car that caught a branch underneath. After “playing track” for a while at the Chantilly Youth Association track club, the expectation is that kids will learn the variety of events and develop some skills. But that’s as far as the expectations go. Some will likely grow into track stars, like Jack Stoney, who won the 2013 6A cross country state title while a senior at Oakton. But more important to the program, director Ed Lull says, is that kids gain a lifelong love of the sport. And, even more helpful to him, they -- like Stoney -- come back to help out. “I look at my photos (of Northern Virginia cross country and track meets) and I’ll see a face I recognize from years ago,” he said. “That’s really rewarding, to know they got their start and are sticking with it. That’s why it’s important that we stress learning and enjoying the sport rather than competing.” That doesn’t mean achievement is dismissed. The program regularly brings in track and field celebrities, such as American one mile record holder and Reston native Alan Webb, to meet the kids and hand out trophies for the trophy mile-- the program’s culminating event. “We tell kids they don’t get a trophy for just showing up, they have to run the mile and earn it,” Lull said. “We usually can’t do much else after the race because they won’t let go of their trophies.” Lull, who contributes high school track and cross country photos to RunWashington, has been at the helm since 2001. He built the ship, too. Having run track at Lake Braddock and William and Mary, he was thrilled to see a track option when he was signing his oldest daughter up for the recreational sports league. He checked that box. The next day he got a call from the association. “They said they didn’t actually have a track team, but if I wanted to start one up, they could offer $1,000 for gear and a

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trailer to store equipment,” he said. “I figured, ‘why not.’” He got roughly 115 kids out that year and found some help in the community. The first family to sign up included Kevin and Vicky McGorty, both collegiate track standouts, but that was news to Lull. “A family from church offered to come coach some jumpers,” he said. “I was happy to have the help, but I when I realized how well Kevin had things down, I found out he was an Olympic Trials qualifier in the decathlon. It all made sense to me then.” For 13 years, Sunday afternoons in the spring have meant laps of the infield as Lull rounds up hundreds of children on all ages. He’s ready to hand off his microphone to someone else as his oldest daughter nears the end of high school. More than 400 come out for the team, with younger kids signing up once their parents see how much their older siblings enjoy it. They’re ministered to by a collection of local high school coaches and their team members, who do most of the heavy lifting, mentoring the kids. Nathan Revor, a junior at Paul VI, helps coach the 10- and 11-year-old “distance” runners. At that age, they top out at 800 meters. He was joined one day in April by students from Chantilly, including the McGortys’ son Ryan, Oakton, West Springfield, Lake Braddock, Centreville, Westfield and Paul VI. “It’s fun to help grow the sport and teach younger kids what we know and what we love about it,” he said. “The main goal is to have fun. You can’t worry too much about teaching technique or get too serious about performing, so we try to make it as enjoyable as it can be so everyone finds something to love about it.” During three practice weeks, before the meets begin, coaches shuffle their charges among different events -- a half hour doing the jumps, a half hour with the shot put, sprinting and short distance races. “The kids are pretty high energy, so that’s about as much time as we can expect them to focus on one thing before it’s time to move on,” Revor said.

BY CHARLIE BAN

PHOTO BY ED LULL

His Paul VI classmate Matt Kocis tried to impart race strategies. “Some of them want to jog 700 meters and then sprint at the finish, so I try to let them know there are other ways to run,” he said. “All the kids have a good attitude, they don’t get focused on winning, but we want to make sure they learn something and improve.” Their coach, Jeff Fanale, pitched the CYA program as a way to meet their community service requirements. “It’s a way for them to contribute what they know and enjoy about track and running and hopefully interest these kids in it,” he said. “There are lots of ways to get those service hours, but it would be a waste for the high schoolers to not use what they have to offer.” The CYA program, like others in the region, fills a cultural gap in kids’ lives. As successful as Northern Virginia high cross country and track teams are, they have to compete for athletes with other sports as students enter high school. Track’s identity persists as less established in popular culture than little league baseball, travel soccer teams and AAU basketball. The sport has a massive audience every four years during the summer Olympics, but is less visible, and emulatable, the other three years. “I didn’t know about youth leagues like this, so I got ready for cross country by playing a lot of video games,” Fanale joked. “I think getting track on kids’ radar early will make a big difference in getting them to come out for the team.” As such, youth track leagues, when successful developing potential high school athletes, could be a gold mine for eager coaches, but at least at CYA, they volunteer their time in a collaborative way, rather than competitive. The association associates the closest with Chantilly, Westfield and Oakton high schools, but is open to anyone. “It doesn’t surprise me that it centers on the Chantilly area and the Chantilly boys have won the last two state titles in cross country,” Lull said. “But (Chantilly coach) Matt Gilchrest doesn’t even come to these practices, he’s coordinating the ManassasCulpeper program.”

Contributing to an effort that could oppose his own team’s fortunes, Lake Braddock coach Mike Mangan adds a seventh day to his weekly track schedule after attending to his high school team’s needs. On a mid-April Sunday with temperatures hitting the mid-80s, he followed up a twoday stretch at his own high school invitational making sure kids he will likely never see in his own program know how to race in a sportsmanlike manner. The difference is, these afternoons he gets to see his children, Abby and Joey, participate. Mangan, whose physique lends itself pole vault attempts for comic relief, runs the 400 meter with five-year-old Joey. Robinson coach Kim Coffield brings her children to CYA, and she is watching her sevenyear-old, Catherine, harness her boundless energy into a more forward direction. “She can run around all day, we just have to keep her on task,” she said. Catherine’s strategy for the 400 meter is to “go from the gun” and run until she’s had enough. Kim and Rick Westrich of Herndon are both avid runners, and their five-year-old son Freddy is a budding harrier. He finished his second year in the program this spring. When CYA is over for the year, he participates in Youth in Motion, with the Reston Runners, and the Potomac River Running track program. “Two of Freddy’s friends had signed up (for CYA) and I saw their parents’ posts on Facebook and got interested,” she said. “We had him signed by week two.” Once there, he bonded immediately with Lull’s daughter Sammy, then a senior at Chantilly. “She took Freddy under her wing and taught him about running,” she said. “He looked forward to seeing her every week.” This year’s program took some adjustment for Freddy, with Sammy off at William and Mary, but she came back after school let out. “He’s young enough that he loves just running, and the fact that he’s one of the slower runners doesn’t bother him,” she said. “He has a lot of fun, and we hope that’s still important to him when he gets more aware of the competitive aspect of the sport.”

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014 | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | RUNWASHINGTON | 43

By Natalie DiBlasio It’s not unusual for Carolyn Ruth Carlson, of Chantilly, to be found grinding away on her stationary bike with science textbooks open or while looking at a PowerPoint presentation. Choosing between a degree in biology and the triathlon team at James Madison University simply wasn’t an option. “Sometimes I get distracted by the intervals, but usually I can get some studying done,” Carlson said. Carlson is one of a number of local high school runners who leave the area without plans to continue representing their schools as varsity-level athletes. An estimated 92 percent of the nation’s high school runners fall in this category, but many are finding ways to continue pursing running outside of their colleges’ athletic departments. The stakes aren’t as high as a Division I team, but the commitment is serious. “I am a biology major and being on the tri team is a huge time commitment, but I love it,” she said. “These are the people I would want to hang out with, anyway. It’s exactly where I would want to be.” Not all college-bound athletes find their fit as easily. When Zach Weinstein was a junior at Winston Churchill high school in Maryland, everything was in place for a perfect final season that would land him on a college track team. He was focused, logged the miles and was in touch with a number of schools and coaches about running on their teams. Then his training took a turn for the worst. “The summer is an important time to get ready for cross country and I was hoping to do big things in the fall. I trained hard, too hard,” Weinstein said. “I overdid it and I got hurt.” His college plan needed some revisiting. “I wanted to do really well my senior fall because that’s a key time to seal the deal with coaches,” he said. “If I’d had a better cross country season I probably could have been able to run on a varsity team somewhere.” Now a junior at Stanford, Weinstein had to blaze his own trail to find a place to fit his competitive-but-not-quite-varsity running style. The Stanford Running Club wasn’t quite what he was looking for. “I was disappointed,” he said. “It was casual — show up a couple days a week if you feel like it. Which is great for a lot of reasons — and for a lot of runners — but not for me. I wanted to have a more serious structure, like in high school. I wanted to be competitive.” Weinstein teamed up with other club 44 | RUNWASHINGTON | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014

members to form a more serious team. With the help of a few runners and a coach, the competitive branch of the Stanford Running Club now has two mandatory intense workouts a week, long runs and meets. Looking back, Weinstein said he couldn’t imagine the time commitment it would take to run on Stanford’s track and cross country teams. “I am amazed at what they can do,” he said. “I can’t imagine being a varsity athlete and traveling every weekend and taking serious classes alongside that.” When it comes down to it, Weinstein said no varsity opportunity could have swayed him from his college decision. “I think I really would have enjoyed being on a varsity team but I just couldn’t pass up Stanford,” Weinstein said. “If I went to another school and ran on varsity but the school didn’t have as good academics or social energy, I’d regret it if I got hurt.” Erin Horil, another Chantilly alumna, was also plagued with injury from running in high school. “In high school I ran all four years but I battled with a lot of different injuries,” Horil said. “I even broke my hip senior year.” Although running was her passion, Horil said she knew she couldn’t run competitively in college without risking serious injuries. Like Carlson, Horil found the JMU triathlon team. “I love it. I couldn’t be happier, honestly,” Horil said. “It was a bummer in high school not to be able to run as much as I wanted to.” Now, because of the triathlon’s diverse training program, she is swimming, biking and running injury-free. The combination, she said, is perfect for her. Leaving a rigid high school schedule and a familiar home environment means big changes for any college-bound senior. Especially without the help of athletic department staff, a foreign place with new friends, a sleep schedule turned upside-down, and unlimited amounts of less-than-ideal food can be barriers to focused training. More than a million high school students run on track and cross country teams every year but only 8 percent continue on to run in college, and only part of them on varsity teams. What about the other 92 percent? The Collegiate Running Association is working to get them back in their running shoes. The non-profit group partners with wellestablished races and offers prize money for college runners: casual runners, club teams, elite runners, anyone with a passion for running. “We want the 95 percent of high school runners that do not compete in the NCAA to

Zach Weinstein competing for the Stanford Running Club. Photo courtesy of Weinstein

stay in the sport and excel,” co-founders Steve Taylor and Jon Molz write in the organization’s welcome letter. The only requirement for those interested in competing in a Collegiate Running Association race is that the participant be enrolled in at least one college course. “We’ve seen athletes coming out of high school who want to compete in a sport but they are only going to college for one reason — to get their education,” Taylor said. “Maybe they don’t have time to dedicate to a full-blown Division I or II or III program with traveling on top of that. It just won’t work for them. We want to be very inclusive. The whole point is to provide running opportunities to any college student here in the United States.” There are roughly 450 NCAA athletic programs that do not sponsor year-round running programs, the Collegiate Running Association reports. The group also wants to provide an opportunity for runners at schools that only have offer either cross country or track and field. “As I got into coaching I realized that we coach some very strong, very good athletes, young men and women who were very capable of being competitive in their careers,” said Taylor, who is also a NCAA Division I cross country and track and field coach at the University of Richmond. “But there were not a lot of opportunities for them. So I thought ‘what can we do in our country to help people stay in the sport?’ There are more and more limits and less and less opportunities for high school athletes that want to compete in college.” In March, more than 3,600 college students went to Richmond to compete in the ﬁrst Collegiate Running Association National Championship, a 10k run as part of the Monument Avenue 10k. The mountain running championship was held July 6 in New Hampshire. “The NCAA doesn’t cover road racing, mountain and trail running,” Taylor said. “We wanted to create a competitive opportunity for that, too.” The opportunities to run in college on a club level are appealing to many runners not ready or able to make the varsity commitment. The benefits extend beyond fitness. Horil’s club team provides the flexibility she needs for a well-rounded college experience as a kinesiology major. “Training can take up so much time,” she said. “Sometimes I need to stop and think: ‘Do I really do another training session today or should I be spending time with my friends. Do I want to stay out late with my friends or go to bed early so I can wake up early and feel good for my workout?’ You have to balance it.” SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014 | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | RUNWASHINGTON | 45

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Robinson sophomore LIA HANUS leads a pack through a water crossing during 2013 dual meet. PHOTO BY ED LULL

48 | RUNWASHINGTON | RUNWASHINGTON.COM | SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014

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