<p style="text-align: center;">
MileSplit Maryland's preseason coverage, previews, rankings, stats, interviews, and content building up to the start of the 2015 cross country season.</p>
The Good Counsel boys and girls cross country teams enter the 2015 cross country season with two of their better squads in recent history which has included some very strong squads. That might be because neither lost a single varsity runner due to graduation from 2014! The Good Counsel boys are the defending WCAC champions, while the Good Counsel girls were close WCAC runners-up to Bishop O'Connell of Virginia last fall in cross country. Not only is the goal for both teams to win WCAC this fall, but also compete for the Maryland/DC private schools championship title and do well in the postseason at NXN Southeast.
Jack Weavering and Kevin McGivern lead the Good Counsel boys as one of the few 1-2 duos in the area who both possess 5K PR's under 16 minutes. Weavering and McGivern have three more teammates in Jimmy Vazzana, Matt Lopez, and George Drewyer who also joined the sub 17 minute 5K club last fall back.
One of the top junior aged triathletes in the nation in Claudia Wendt will once again be the team's #1 runner, a role she assumed instantly as a freshmen last fall and finished out last cross country season with a 18:42 5K PR and as the WCAC cross country individual champion. Senior captain Megan Crilly leads a remaining top 5 pack of girls who all ran in the 20 minute range last year and hope to move up together this season into the 19's.
Having coached at Good Counsel for 3 decades, Tom Arnold has produced a long list of champion caliber teams and individuals. His 2015 cross country crew will look to keep that tradition going strong as we interviewed Coach Arnold below this month to share insight on his team's season ahead.
Top 7 XC Boys Returning
Top 7 XC Girls Returning
Interview with Good Counsel XC head coach Tom Arnold
How many years have you been coaching high school cross country (and at your current school)?
I have been coaching cross country for 32 years, the last 28 at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School.
What do you attribute as the main reasons for the success of your program?
Dedicated, committed, unselfish and tenacious student/athletes are the primary reason for the success of the Good Counsel program.
What would be the best way to describe your style and philosophy of coaching and working with high school runners?
Straightforward, no BS, uncompromising and no matter how fast or slow you are, we will take you as seriously as a runner as we do our #1 runners, might describe my coaching style. Rookie runners, unless they are seniors, are more or less just along for the ride and I try not to set grand expectations for them. Also, one of my coaching inspirations, Quince Orchard High School’s Jerry Link, taught me this mantra, “If it is to be, it is up to me.” I try hard to indoctrinate my runners to take responsibility for their team’s success. No matter how fast or slow they are, each runner can make multiple positive impacts on the life of the team.
What are your core beliefs in your training plan and workouts for your cross country squads?
My core beliefs might be summarized as follows:
- It takes 6 months of gradually increasing volume and intensity to fully and properly prepare to race 5k at the best of one’s ability.
- The VO2max you enter the start of mandatory practices having acquired over the summer determines the VO2max, and ultimately the fastest 5k time, that can be achieved by season’s end. Make sure you are ready when the season begins.
- Tempo runs, hill repeats and appropriately designed Interval and Repetition workouts are the meat and potatoes of our training regimen. We very closely model our training plan after that dictated by Jack Daniels in Daniels’ Running Formula. Sunday is overdistance day, Monday is moderate distance plus strength training, Tuesday is Tempo run day, Wednesday is Interval or Repetition or Hill training day, Thursday repeats Monday with moderate paced distance training plus strength, Friday is 30 to 45 minutes of conversational paced running followed by 3 to 6 X 400 at goal 5k pace followed by team meetings, Saturday is race day.
How many runners do you return from your top 7 from a year ago?
We return all our top 7 from both boys’ and girls’ teams.
Who are your team captains or leaders and what stands out about them as examples for the rest of their teammates?
Megan Crilly is our girls’ team captain. She’s a senior, year round runner, straight A student, fearless competitor, as dedicated as it is humanly possible to be and one of the most unassuming and modest young people I have ever known. Megan sets the standard and tone and makes her coach’s job ridiculously easy. During her junior XC season, Megan overcame thyroid cancer and has emerged stronger than ever. She stands as a real inspiration to me personally and to all her teammates.Jack Wavering is our boys’ team captain. He’s a senior, year round runner and straight A student, polite, ridiculously modest, ferociously tenacious and possesses a stronger work ethic than any kid I have ever coached. To give you an idea, Jack ran 9:39 for a true two mile distance at a MCRRC all-comers track meet last Friday night. That’s a lifetime PR from a pretty good track racer off of summer endurance and strength work without having done any speed or race specific training. As with Megan, Jack sets the standard and tone, the rest follow and I sit back and look like I know what I am doing. There are other strong leaders on both our boys’ and girls’ teams but Jack and Megan have been selected as team captains.
Who have you been most impressed or surprised with their improvement and/or fitness from their summer training?
I have been impressed most by nearly our entire girls’ squad and our boys’ top 10 this summer. The gals have been showing up and hammering like no group I have ever coached. Except for Jack Wavering and Kevin McGivern, most of our boys’ top 10 from the 2014 season trained far less and far less intensely than needed for our team to achieve its potential. This summer, unless they were away on vacation, nearly all the top 10 guys have been at summer runs every day and they have been working very hard indeed. We find out on August 15 exactly where each of our runners’ fitness levels lies. I will say that I cannot remember ever being as excited about the start of a cross country season as I am this year.
Any impactful freshmen or transfers to join the team this season?
On the girls’ side frosh runner Emily Shorb, even though we have seen far too little of her this summer, is able to jump into any summer workout and hammer with our big dogs. A junior, rookie cross country runner Erin Pocratsky, ran a 12:42 two mile a few days ago and has been working hard this summer. I think both these rookie young women will make an immediate impact.
On the boys’ side, I have not yet seen a frosh or rookie runner who looks able to impact our varsity squad. That may be because we return our top 7 and these guys are good.
.jpg)
What are the top invitational meets that your team will be attending this season?
Top invitational meets include:
Oatlands Invitational on September 19
Carlisle Invitational on September 26
Glory Days Invitational on October 10
What will be the biggest obstacle or challenge facing your team this season?
Our biggest obstacle or challenge will be beating teams better than ours.
What will be the biggest reason why your team is successful this season?
The biggest reason for any success we might achieve is the hard-working, dedicated, unselfish and tireless athletes that grace our team.
What is a favorite annual or common pre-season workout or run for your team?
A favorite pre-season workout is hill see-saws at Lake Needwood. It’s probably not a favorite of our runners but it is a favorite of mine as I get to see early on who has guts.
What is a favorite annual or common mid-season workout for your team?
Favorite mid-season workout would be something like 4 to 5 X 800 m cut downs at faster than Interval pace with each repetition faster than the previous and the last one AFAP (as fast as possible).
What is a favorite annual or common championship season or end-of-season workout for your team?
Favorite championship season workout might be sets of whistle fartlek involving 30 seconds on/30 seconds off, 1:00 on/1:00 off, 2:00 on/2:00 off. We try to hammer each interval AFAP without falling off the original pace. The tricky part is that the kids usually don’t know precisely how many sets they will do. It’s a war of attrition. And, you need days of recovery after this workout.
What are your top 3 goals for this year's squad?
Goals for this year’s squad. These are not necessarily in order of priority.
A. Win the WCAC Championship
B. Win the DC/Maryland Private Schools Championship (our state meet)
C. Qualify for Nike Cross Nationals
The goals above are to be pursued while competing as Christian gentlepersons, with humility, with zeal, acting as exemplary ambassadors for our school and with respect for all opponents.
.jpg)
