All the answers and secrets to how to qualify a team for the Nike Cross Nationals can be found below in our latest XC Team Scouting Report interview with Severna Park boys head cross country coach Josh Alcombright. Well its not that easy as reading an 16 question & answer interview to figure out and execute to get a team to earn a trip to Portland, Oregon for NXN, but its an informative start!
The Severna Park boys graduated 3 of their top 7 runners and on paper appear to be the second best team in 4A behind Dulaney, but certainly have built a tradition of success over recent years that they expect to continue on. The 3-time defending 4A state champions in cross country as well as NXN qualifiers out of the Southeast Regional for two years in a row, Andrew Forsyth will be leading this year's crew like his big brother Ryan did two years ago. Forsyth ran 15:17 for 5K on the track this past spring.
Coach Alcombright and his Severna Park XC coaching staff of assistants.
The Severna Park boys had at least 5 runners go sub 16 for 5K each of the past two cross country seasons. Only Forsyth and teammate Joshua Tucker return who have those credentials, while Spencer Davis at 16:40 is the #3 returnee. Its up to Coach Alcombright now to see if he can take a new group of varsity runners to drop down from running 17's to 5K to challenging sub 16 by season's end in Cary, North Carolina at NXN Southeast.
Another state champion squad and possible another NXN squad is certainly within reach and in the realm of possibility with one of the best cross country coaches in the state in Josh Alcombright at the helm. Keep in mind, Severna Park had graduated 5 of their top 7 runners from their 2013 NXN and state champion squad and look at last year's results. So graduating 3 of his top 7 from a year ago? No problem for Coach Alcombright!
Top 7 XC Returnees for Severna Park Boys
| 1) Andrew Forsyth | 15:45.50 | 3 | ||
| 2) Joshua Tucker | 15:51.60 | 4 | ||
| 3) Spencer Davis | 16:40.50 | 30 | ||
| 4) Matt Cambon | 17:03.00 | 64 | ||
| 5) Dominic Crino | 17:22.00 | 105 | ||
| Average Time: 16:32.52 Total Time: 1:22:42.60 1-5 Split: 1:36.50 | ||||
| 6) Kasey Gelfand | 17:29.18 | 122 | ||
| 7) Eric Fritz | 17:32.67 | 133 | ||
Interview with Severna Park HS XC boys head coach Josh Alcombright
1. How many years have you been coaching high school cross country (and at your current school)?
This will be my 17th season overall and my 10th season as the boys coach at Severna Park.
2. What do you attribute as the main reasons for the success of your program?
Having the numbers that we traditionally have (70-90 boys) certainly helps with building a successful program but the biggest reason for our success is the work the athletes put in over the summer. Within the past several years the boys have bought into the idea that "Championship aren't won in November" they are earned during the months of June, July and August by building a solid foundation on which we, the coaches, can do the things that we feel we need to do to get the best out of every single one of runners.
3. What would be the best way to describe your style and philosophy of coaching and working with high school runners?
Our main philosophy is that of looking at each athlete and their individual growth as a process, one that shouldn't be rushed. For example, no matter how fast a freshman or new runner coming into the program is, they have a training age of 0 (for the most part) and they will follow the same plan that all first year runners follow in our program. Then, of course, they build from their each year. We have been fortunate in that our system has produced some great talent over the years and because of it's structure tends to produce several "unknown" surprises that rise through the ranks and fill in the missing holes due to graduation year after year.
The original NXN bound squad from Severna Park in 2013
4. What are your core beliefs in your training plan and workouts for your cross country squads?
Strength! Building a strong aerobic base and creating an "efficient" runner (in terms of clearing lactate) is what we aim to do. Our program is built around the long run and tempo work. When we do any type of intervals, repeats or what not we do them with limited rest (sometimes VERY limited amounts, I am sure the boys would say) and keep the sessions fairly pressure packed. Our coaching staff does an excellent job of motivating the boys and constantly keeping them on their toes so they are ready come race day.
5. How many runners do you return from your top 7 from a year ago?
We return 4.
6. Who is your projected top 7 heading into the cross country season?
Andrew Forsyth, Josh Tucker, Spencer Davis and Matt Cambon are the returning Varsity runners from last season and we would expect them to be in that position again with several guys battling for the next 3 spots. The front runners to make the leap to the 'A' squad this year look to be sophomore Christian Isham and Junior Ryan Schult. After that there are countless individuals who, depending on their level of commitment over the summer, are ready to be the Next man up.
7. Who are your team captains or leaders and what stands out about them as examples for the rest of their teammates?
Team captains for the upcoming season will be determined within the first week of the season but Sr. Kevin Cooley has been a tremendous leader or us in the past and will be complimented by the likes of Davis and Forsyth. With such a large team we really like to have our leadership reflect and support every talent level of the team so the captains that are selected will reflect that.
Being hard working, committed and displaying the characteristics we believe in as a program is what we look for in our leaders.
8. Who have you been most impressed or surprised with their improvement and/or fitness from their summer training?
That is a little hard to say because we really don't believe in racing over the summer and, of course, with being limited in what contact we can and can not have with our public school athletes over the summer really leaves us somewhat "in the dark" in terms of how the guys are looking. Yet, once Wednesday comes around and the first few practices (and planned time trial) are concluded we will have a good idea of what we need to work on.
With that being said though from what we saw at the end of last year and what we have heard through the grapevine we expect Isham and Schult to make big leaps this year and others like Kasey Gelfand, Hugh O'Connor, TJ Demeroto, Kyle Reed and slew of others to step it up.
9. Any impactful freshmen or transfers to join the team this season?
Not that I am aware of. I can say that it would be fairly tough for any freshman to have an immediate impact because of the strength of our program but I'm always up for being proved wrong!
10. What are the top invitational meets that your team will be attending this season?
We will start the year most likely splitting the squad between the Seahawk Invite and the Varsity will travel down to the Chancellor Invitational in VA (if sanctioning allows).
Then we will go to the White Clay Creek Classic in DE, Oatlands (for the first time), Bull Run and Glory Days Invite in VA to close out the regular season.
11. What will be the biggest obstacle or challenge facing your team this season?
All the talented coaches and teams in MD looking to dethrone Severna Park each time we toe the line, but we embrace that challenge and love being pushed. I think MD has really stepped up it's game over the past few years and that is only going to make us a stronger state.
12. What will be the biggest reason why your team is successful this season?
The boys ability to just focus on OUR race and game plan and just "ignoring the noise" of others expectations, race plans, etc. We can only control what we do out on the course. We can't control other teams and how well or poorly they perform.
If the boys can do that then they have done what we have asked them to do and success (whatever that happens to be this year) will follow.
13. What is a favorite annual or common pre-season workout or run for your team?
We are big on historical data (my assistants do a great job with that) so our annual 2 mile time trial and scrimmage with River Hill are great starting points and barometers of how things could turn out for us down the line.
14. What is a favorite annual or common mid-season workout for your team?
We love to do lots of workouts that involve hills and there are a few that we like to hit midseason at Kinder Park or AACC.
15. What is a favorite annual or common championship season or end-of-season workout for your team?
The boys know it's time to run fast when I start wearing the beanie at meets and we start doing 400's on a 2:15 cycle on our grass loop at Kinder Park.
We also do what I call a "time trial workout" (3200 trial, 8-10 minute break, 1600 trial), which is one of the few times we step on a track during Cross season, usually about 2 weeks out from the start of Championship season.
16. What are your top 3 goals for this year's squad?
We pride ourselves on building as the season goes along, so we will once again focus on getting better every day, every meet.
In the past few years we have been very fortunate to be able to compete at the highest level and we strive to continue on that trajectory.