Scouting report interview with Thomas S. Wootton head cross country coach Kellie Redmond. The Thomas Wootton girls caught a lot of teams by surprise at the end of the 2016 cross country season when they finished runner-up both in the Montgomery County Championships and 4A state race behind only Walter Johnson and ahead of many lauded challengers. With six runners returning from their top seven in 2016, Wootton girls will not be a team anyone will be sleeping on this fall.
Meanwhile, their boys were very formidable two years ago as one of Montgomery County's best, but several key graduation losses had them slip back just little last fall. However, led by one of the state's top rising juniors in John Riker (15:37), the Wootton boys expect to finish much higher than their 9th place finish in last year's 4A state cross country race at Hereford.
Top 7 Boys Returnees (Full Team Scores Rankings)
| 3 | Thomas S. Wootton High School (MD) | 385 | ||
| 1) John Riker | 15:37.00 | 3 | ||
| 2) Mitchell Fanger | 16:33.00 | 32 | ||
| 3) Joseph Pohoryles | 16:59.00 | 86 | ||
| 4) Timothy Jiang | 17:10.00 | 113 | ||
| 5) Jacob Smith | 17:23.00 | 151 | ||
| Average Time: 16:44.40 Total Time: 1:23:42.00 1-5 Split: 1:46.00 | ||||
| 6) Benjamin Fritz | 17:26.00 | 163 | ||
| 7) Amir Van Gieson | 17:29.00 | 178 | ||
Top 7 Girls Returnees (Full Team Scores Rankings)
| 3 | Thomas S. Wootton High School (MD) | 243 | ||
| 1) Jessica Trzeciak | 19:24.02 | 21 | ||
| 2) Adna Trakic | 19:35.00 | 28 | ||
| 3) Erin Chelf | 19:57.00 | 46 | ||
| 4) Alyssa D'Arpa | 20:05.89 | 56 | ||
| 5) Madeline Grainger | 20:29.16 | 92 | ||
| Average Time: 19:54.21 Total Time: 1:39:31.07 1-5 Split: 1:05.14 | ||||
| 6) Dimagi Kottage | 20:37.01 | 107 | ||
| 7) Anna Baldwin | 20:39.93 | 112 | ||
Q&A Interview with Coach Redmond (Thomas Wootton)
1. How many years have you been coaching high school cross country (and at your current school)?
I have been coaching XC at Wootton 12 years (1 year in Michigan prior to coming to Maryland)
2. What do you attribute as the main reasons for the success of your program?
There is a standard and an expectation - this is a program and not just a team year to year. Kids are expected to train and be prepared for the season. I provide training plans to all kids for all levels for the entire summer. Captains hold practices mon-sat all summer. The kids/captains take it serious and there is a trickle down effect
3. What would be the best way to describe your style and philosophy of coaching and working with high school runners?
I want kids to come out for our team, find passion in the sport, and have fun while doing it. But there is a strong expectation that we set - this is not a fitness group, if you are here and on the team you will take it serious and work hard. If nothing else I want the kids to see the value in putting your heart into something.
4. What are your core beliefs in your training plan and workouts for your cross country squads?
I believe in progression... kids start with our program and gradually grow over the years.. just because we have a stud freshman does not mean he/she will be running all the workouts or the volume with the seniors. My goal is always to have them at their best as a senior. We are not high mileage and what we do is about quality. I also am not a believer in over racing and we race a little less than the average high school team. Our goal is always late Oct and early Nov
5. How many runners do you return from your top 7 from a year ago?
six on the girls team
four on the boys team
6. Who is your projected top 7 heading into the cross country season?
It's too early to predict that. We have so many kids on the boys and the girls side vying for a varsity spot, as coaches we are keeping an open mind and will see how things unfold. I think one of our strengths will be those kids fighting for the 5,6,7 positions.
7. Who are your team captains or leaders and what stands out about them as examples for the rest of their teammates?
We have captains and senior advisors on our team... the captains lead the team in may ways and the senior advisors are just assigned to the incoming freshman. We have a huge team so these positions are very important. We have detailed way of choosing them. First, any interested candidate has to fill out a application for the position they want, then they have to interview with the coaches. After that the entire team votes, and finally the current leadership gives input as to who they believe would lead the team the best for the following year. Then we as coaches work through all the info and make the best decision for the team. It is then announced at the end of season banquet. The positions are held by seniors and are not always the fastest runners, but they are the ones we feel will set the best tone for the season.
We have captains and senior advisors on our team... the captains lead the team in may ways and the senior advisors are just assigned to the incoming freshman. We have a huge team so these positions are very important. We have detailed way of choosing them. First, any interested candidate has to fill out a application for the position they want, then they have to interview with the coaches. After that the entire team votes, and finally the current leadership gives input as to who they believe would lead the team the best for the following year. Then we as coaches work through all the info and make the best decision for the team. It is then announced at the end of season banquet. The positions are held by seniors and are not always the fastest runners, but they are the ones we feel will set the best tone for the season.
Boys Captains: Amir Van Gieson, Mitchell Fanger, Matthew Klein, Avery Tarwater
Girls Captains: Hannah Boyd and Emma Henderson
Boys Senior Advisors: Conner White and Nick Chistovich
Girls Senior Advisors: Emma Baldwin and Ava Castelli
8. Who have you been most impressed or surprised with their improvement and/or fitness from their summer training?
I am actually quite impressed with a lot of our kids, they worked hard this summer. I will say after the our first 2-mile scrimmage I was very impressed with Emma Henderson who took 2 minutes off her time from the same course as last year and finished 3rd on our girls team and Matthew Klein who finished 5th and took 1:15 off his time and Richard Qiao who finished 6th and took off almost 1:30 off his time.
9. Any impactful freshmen or transfers to join the team this season?
We have two freshman that made the top 10 after our first time trial which was impressive on such a strong team. Emma Helgeson and Jeffrey Riker (John Riker's little brother)
10. What are the top invitational meets that your team will be attending this season?
Track and Trail, DCXC, and the Wolverine run
11. What will be the biggest obstacle or challenge facing your team this season?
What I always worry about the most is keeping everyone healthy. Outside of that I want to see our team having a smaller spread this year than last, that will be a big focus in practice.
12. What will be the biggest reason why your team is successful this season?
If we stay focused on those things we can control and work on progressing each week. I don't want to get ahead of ourselves but stay in the moment working on what we need at that time
13. What is a favorite annual or common pre-season workout or run for your team?
Threshold workout on Frost Hill.. This tells the coaches a lot about what the kids did over the summer, regardless of what they wrote on their info sheet
14. What is a favorite annual or common mid-season workout for your team?
Dundee 1k repeats... Just hearing the word Dundee and the kids cringe
15. What is a favorite annual or common championship season or end-of-season workout for your team?
Red vs Blue. Post season 2-mile inter squad scrimmage with those heading to the regional meet. Co-ed teams, scored like a xc meet on the track. Kids feel fast, they have a lot of spirit for their assign color for the day and a lot of kids from the team come out and watch... Sometimes we even have a gold team which consists of those kids not qualified for the post season but want to be a part of it. The Winning team gets to chose from super cool, coach chosen gifts, from the dollar store :)
16. What are your top 3 goals for this year's squad?
Controlling the controllables, staying mentally tough, and having our best races in November