Scouting Report: Pine View Girls

1. How many years have you been coaching high school cross country (and at your current school)?

Our current coaching staff has around 25+ years coaching experience at PV. I've been around the longest; Travis Roberts has been an integral part of the staff for around 10 years; and in the past few years we have added alum Josh Decker to the staff.

2. What do you attribute as the main reasons for the success of your program?

The biggest reason for our success is continued passion for the sport by the coaching staff and the athletes.  Our whole program works together very well to build and continue the legacy that has been built.

3. What would be the best way to describe your style and philosophy of coaching and working with high school runners?

Two ideas for this question:

1) Everything we do at PVXC ties back to our team mission statement: To live and run greatly.  We have very high standards for our athletes on and off the run.  Setting high standards allows all of us to grow and become better people. 

2) Over the years, one of the most important things we have done is to bring (or at least attempt to) more knowledge to our runners about why they are doing what we ask of them.  We think this really allows our runners to buy into what they are doing.

4. What are your core beliefs in your training plan and workouts for your cross country squads?

As far as training, at Pine View we are constantly researching the best training methods for our team.  Books, articles, and coaching conferences all have provided great ideas that we implement for our athletes.  Our biggest influences are Lydiard and Tinman - long runs, controlled paces, and strong efforts at the proper time.

5. How many runners do you return from your top 7 from a year ago?

We lost 3 valuable runners from our State Championship team of last year.  But we have 5 girls returning who have won a State Title in the last 2 years.  The biggest challenge (as always) is to gel them all - the returners and our younger, less experienced runners - together throughout the season.

6. Who is your projected top 7 heading into the cross country season?

- Jessica Hill (a Junior) is our top returner from last season - she took 5th at State last season while setting a new school record for us and she placed 13th at NXR, our top finisher ever.

- Rylee Holt (a Senior) has been one of our top XC runners throughout her HS career.  She's a multiple time All-Stater and our former school record holder.

- Alli Baker (a Sophomore) worked her way onto our Varsity squad last season, but really started to break through in track with times of 2:12, 5:06, and 11:07 (all school records)

Many others have had great summers as well and are looking to compete for spots: Jada Chepkuwuiri (Jr.), Gracie Clements (So.), Addi Baker (Sr.), Jenessa Finch (Jr.), Sarah Snow (So.), Sylvia Brown (Sr.), Pyper Holt (So.), Jenna Boyer (So.), Allison Brown (So.) 

7. Who are your team captains or leaders and what stands out about them as examples for the rest of their teammates? 

Each of the girls brings something important to the team - their attitudes have been great throughout the summer, they encourage and push each other, and they support one another... even though they know that ultimately only 7 of them will be able to actually race for a title, they genuinely understand that what they all do together is what provides them the opportunity to accomplish anything that they might accomplish.  Having said that... Our two girls' captains, Addi and Rylee, are doing an exceptional job at team building and setting an example for the team.  

8. Who have you been most impressed or surprised with their improvement and/or fitness from their summer training? 

It has been refreshing to see Jessica start to get her groove back after a track season that she might label somewhat disappointing.  We are also very excited to see our Sophomores take a big jump this season.  And we have a few Freshman hiding in the wings doing great things too, that we are excited about.

9. Any impactful freshmen or transfers to join the team this season?

The biggest impact "new runners" we'll have will be the growth of our JV runners from last season as they push to become Varsity this season.

10. What are the top invitational meets that your team will be attending this season?

 We hit pretty much the same meets each year... SUU is a nice early season meet that gets us a good look at our region competition.  We like the Murray Invite and Bob Firman for early/mid season challenges. And of course, one of the most important is trying to preserve our winning streak and keep the cross-stitched bear from the Desert Relays against our biggest rival! 

11. What will be the biggest obstacle or challenge facing your team this season? 

 Not trying to be cliche, but our biggest obstacles will be those we place on ourselves.  The teams in 4A (and all of Utah) are extremely tough, and we can't worry about beating them - because we can't control anything about them.  We will just try our best to overcome our own doubts and barriers that inevitably arise throughout a season.

12. What will be the biggest reason why your team is successful this season? 

Our biggest reason for success will be our ability to address those obstacles with trust and friendship and being willing to do great things for those that we care so much about.

13. What is a favorite annual or common pre-season workout or run for your team?

Over the past couple summers we have been working on a hill type of workout (Thanks Timo!) and this year, we've finally brought it together.  The Sand Hill is a trail in the desert north of town that goes up a nearly 1 mile sand dune.  We have started timing the run up and down and trying to hit individual and team time and spread goals.  It is an extremely tough workout and we feel it provides up with a great physical and mental benefit.

14. What is a favorite annual or common mid-season workout for your team?

Mid-season, we turn to a lot of CV pace stuff.  These are controlled pace workouts that we do at a park on the gras to develop physical and aerobic strength.

15. What is a favorite annual or common championship season or end-of-season workout for your team?

 Probably the most notable thing about this phase of running is that we don't go too crazy with anything.  In fact, that is probably one our biggest changes as coaches in the past 10 years... In the past, we've had some amazing teams that peaked way too early because of poor coaching.  Now we hopefully avoid overtraining and burnout and are ready to race well when it matters most.

16. What are your top 3 goals for this year's squad?

You'd have to ask the team.  They set their goals and targets at an athlete only meeting a few weeks ago and set their commitments based upon them.  But I would bet a pretty good guess would be to have some fun while winning a few important races.