Big weekend where your boys won Woodbridge Invite and your girls were 4th, tell us about the weekend race.
Woodbridge is unique because it is a big meet and it is also very early in the season. Do you taper and really get ready to peak at this meet?
You were originally in Missouri, how did you end in Colorado?
What was the program like before you got there?
Tell us about Mountain Vista as a school
You took over in 2007, how long was the turn-around before you started having success?
That is a quick turn around in a state like Colorado. What did you do to get the culture changed so quickly?
With a large team of different commitment levels, how do you deal with keeping everyone on the same page and not having resentment?
What is your philosophy for training there and maybe include some talk of mileage?
Give us a sample structure for a 6-day week.
What is the focus this year? State? NXN?
Do you notice any difference between the girls and boys when getting them ready for a big meet like state?
You had a very young team at Woodbridge on the girls side with a sophomore and three freshmen. Is that the team you expect at NXN this year?
Do you have a staple workout or a favorite workout?
How do you prep for when you need to come down to sea level?
Matt Lincoln is the cross country and track distance coach at chandler high school and has completely turned around the program. First Matt lets talk about your running. Can you tell is about your career as a mid-distance runner at Penn State.
What did he learn at Penn state that he has taken into his coaching career.
After he graduated, what was his running career like.
He took over the Chandler High Program in 2014, a year after they did not make state and lead the girls team to 10th at state. What were some of the big challenges taking over a program that had not been dominant in a while?
How did he get buying from the athletes?
For a large school the team was not that big, what did you do as far as recruiting and growing the numbers.
In 2015, your second year, there was not a lot of talk about Chandler pre season. We train together so I saw what was happening, and a few coaches were starting to recognize your success. But in your second year you ended up winning the team title. Jeff Messer had coached 6 state championships in a row. How did you get your athletes to believe they could knock off Desert Vista or Xavier and win?
What was the training like leading into the Championship season?
If you could go back and share a few words of advice with that rookie coach in 2014, what would you tell him?
All the talk has been about the girls team, what about the boys, how are they looking?
This summer at Portland Track Festival, one of your athletes Morgan Foster broke the state record with a 2:07 in the 800. The amazing thing about that is Morgan is a Freshman. How do you deal with an athlete like that who obviously has a bright future?
Team culture, anything outside of workouts/meets you guys are doing socially?
CBA training in depth, pressure of taking over a solid program.
Let’s start out with getting to know you a little bit. You were a successful runner at Princeton, can you tell us about your high school years and what you learned from those years that you are using now?
Coach Tom Heath was the long-time legendary coach who won 26 state titles, an NXN title and 343 dual meets in a row. He has announced his retirement and the program is now under your helm. You had a successful coaching career yourself before joining CBA a couple of years ago, so what is going to be the biggest challenge in carrying on this tradition?
What will you change and keep from tradition
Dual meets are interesting because while they are going away, it is a great way to learn how to race for younger kids without as much experience.
Run the same 1.5 mile loop every day for your distance runs?
A lot of the preseason writeup have you as one of the favorites in the NE this year. How did you train this summer to get ready for those expectations? - Great conversation about his training philosophy.
Your daily runs have a fairly good amount of quality to them, and if you are asking your kids to run that hard on the daily runs are your ‘workout’ days less intense or what does that look like for a program that goes pretty hard every day?
Can you walk us through this time of year when you may have a weekly meet what your week looks like?
Have you found that this type of training is better preparing them for college running?
You guys seem to be fit all year round with your training. Does it make it easier to always be ready for a big meet like a national meet and postseason over those who vary their training more?
How big of a school and how big of a xc team do you have? - Their freshman story and when they start is really interesting.
You have over 10% turnout, what unique are you doing that may help build the team?
Do you still do your big 2-mile time trial and how does that work?
If that went so well, what are the goals for this year?
To be successful year around you need to stay healthy, so what are you doing for core, strength work?
Host Bern Rosario and Dean Ouellette
Coach Joe Newton decided he was going to make this his last year, how did you hear about the news? - Coach Kern talks about how this is not the first time Newton has talked retirement.
How has the news been received among the York community?
Are there any big farewell events planned at upcoming meets so Newton gets the Jeter/David Ortiz treatment?
The Chicago metro area has to be one of if not the most competitive metropolitan area in the country. With that landscape how hard is it for you guys to going to go out on top?
It is getting harder and harder to win in Illinois. You will be taking over a legendary program. What changes may be coming or what is your vision for the future of the long green line? - Coach Kern focuses on rest, course workload and some of the training will change because his training philosophy is a little different.
You mention rest. Some of these high school kids are not getting enough rest and are getting sick. What do you do to encourage them to get the rest they need? - Coach Kern does a great job in talking about how legacy plays into this. You can have fun doing the things you do for the next 70 years of your life. This is going to be your one time to achieve whatever you achieve this year. So let’s sell out and work on that now.
By creating this culture and legacy you have affected all those around you. Talk about how good things are right now in central Illinois. - Any one of the top 4 from our conference could win the state championship.
Do you think the reason that things are flourishing there right now is because the notoriety that York has achieved?
You mentioned your son who is one of the great runners in that area. A lot of coaches end up coaching their own kids what advice do you have for coaches who end up coaching their own kids?
With him being into running and you obviously being into running how do you step away from it at times with your son?
The college recruitment process will start soon with him. Do you see him staying around home or going away to school?
For your runners who are not your son, what advice do you give them about heading off to college with academic vs. athletic considerations?
Part of the success has been because you have a large team. With that are challenges. So can you tell us what a week may look like at York under Coach Kern. - He uses groups to organize 168 kids on the team right now. Each group has their own coach. He also talks about some of the changes he is making after Newton.
You talk about the importance of the long run. What is a long run for York.
Was there a time in the 70’s-80’s when York was doing 100 miles a week like the rumors have it?
How did the 1000 mile club really work at York over the summer?
A big part of what we do is injury prevention, so what is your strength/core/plyo routine like?
One of the reasons kids can’t handle the mileage they used to and one of reasons need more strength and core work is because kids don’t play as much. Do you agree or what do you think?
Are you going to continue the nicknames?
It seems almost like a family atmosphere, is there anything you plan on doing to keep that culture at York.