Health & Fitness
"We're not just a team, we're a family"
A little about Yorkville XC and what we'll be using this blog for this fall.
An alumna of our team said the words "We're not just a team we're a family" her senior year in the 2007-08. This was Head Coach Chris Muth and my 3rd year coaching cross country (XC) together, and it was wonderful to hear.
How did this happen? What transcended our team beyond the typical high school sports landscape to become something even more? At the time, we had only begun our string of recent success: We had qualified for state one time (in our tenure) in 2007 on the boys side, and again with both teams in 2008—the first ever in school history on the girls side.
We could throw out the typical cliches: Our sport is your sport's punishment. Shared suffering. Maybe we're just a little crazy. These reasons definitely have something to do with it, don't get me wrong.
However, Muth is quick to point out that we are in the people business.
We focus on good people—and good people work hard and make the right choices. It's our most important team rule: "Be a good person."
When the common goal is simply to improve every day through hard work, success is a given in our sport. You will improve. Improvement is success. Success breeds a culture of success.
Another thing that has made our XC team so successful in recent years is the athletes have given up the good to go for the great. Going outside their comfort zone daily has brought our program to a level of success at the state level that still seems surreal.
I all too often hear athletes tell me their goals of being state qualifiers, state medalists, state champions. But few truly understand the full commitment behind these words. Getting young athletes to understand they are capable of a lot more than they give themselves credit for is a constant challenge in today's coaching landscape, regardless of sport. It's a "I want it now" generation, and sustained success takes time and commitment. More athletes need to give up the good and go for the great, and we're seeing this first-hand with our XC athletes.
This blog will chronicle our upcoming 2013 cross country season—not just our varsity (many outlets, especially the Kendall County Record, cover our team very well), but all successes that we as coaches are proud of. I'll recap meets, highlight upcoming important dates, highlight our athletes, and much more.
It should be an exciting year—our boys team placed 3rd last season, and even though we graduated a lot of seniors, we should still be a very competitive team at the state level. Our girls are defending back-to-back state titles this season, and only graduated three of our top seven. For more of our recent success, see the below.
There is a lot of enthusiasm for cross country and track & field in Yorkville. I hope this blog helps spread that enthusiasm to more of the city's population!
-Ben Draper
YorkvilleCrossCountry.com
Our recent success in cross country:
BOYS TEAM:
• Regional Champs—’07, ‘08, ‘09, ‘10, ‘11, ‘12
• Sectional Champs– 12
• State Qualifier—’07, ‘08, ‘09, ‘10, ‘11, ‘12
• State Finishes—8th, 10th, 13th, 8th, 6th, 3rd
• All-Staters—Scott Tanis—’07, Jake Hoffert– ‘12, Luke Hoffert—’12
• Fastest State Time: Jake Hoffert—14:48
GIRLS TEAM:
• Regional Champs—’08, ‘09, ‘10, ‘11, ‘12
• Sectional Champs—‘09, ‘10, ‘11, ‘12
• State Qualifier—’08, ‘09, ‘10, ‘11, ‘12
• State Finishes— 12th, 2nd, 2nd, 1st, 1st
• All-Staters —Krysten Sebby, Ali Hester, Leena Palmer, Casey Kramer, Esther Bell , Skyler Bollinger, Summer Pierson, and Erin Reynolds
• Fastest State Time: Skyler Bollinger 17:11
