Fall is cross country season. Since it has always been my favorite sport, I tend to write more about it and try to cover more stories during the next few months.
The Vikings in Lewes are working hard with more than 40 boys and just over 10 girls putting in the miles on the local trails to get ready for the season. Look for Ethan Edery and Olivia Brozefsky to rise to the top early in the season. Edery got the taste of some big meets at the end of track season, running in the 4:30 range for the mile and making it to the New Balance Nationals. Time and training will tell how good Edery can and will be. Brozefsky spent the summer on the beach as a lifeguard; she looks to be in good shape and ready to roll.
Sussex Academy has a new leader, as former Smyrna runner Jay Diaz takes over as head coach of both boys’ and girls’ teams this season. Emily Trout should pick up where she left off last season, while Nate Sneller leads the boys early on.
Indian River lands a new coach in Rick Hundley, assisted by runner Andy White. Look for the Indians to open a few eyes this season.
Sussex Tech is working hard in Georgetown led by Shayla Collins and runner Martin Rodriguez. Tech is led early on by Caleb Bradley and Hannah Murphy.
Most teams will open Saturday, Sept. 7, at the Lake Forest Invitational at Killens Pond, which is home to this year’s Henlopen Conference and state championships.
Best cross country courses in America
I was fortunate enough to travel to many cross country courses during my racing days at Delaware State University in the mid-1980s. For the past 29 years, I have been taking Seashore Striders kids to some of the best and most historic courses in the country. Many times you may rate a course as the best based on the level of difficulty, while other times you may think a course is the best because of the hills, wide trails, wide start, wooden bridges, spectator-friendliness, or other features. Here are some thoughts from a great piece I found written by Beth Maiman for NCAA.com. Beth reached out to former runners, media members, experts and fans of the sport to get their takes on which courses reign supreme. They looked at what courses the average runner might enjoy as opposed to what makes the best cross country course for a race.
Here are the eight best courses the experts came up with:
Rim Rock Farm Cross Country Course in Lawrence, Kan. This historic course was home to the men’s championship in ‘65, ‘66 and ‘98. It has also hosted Big 12 Championship races in ‘06 and '14. The location was donated to Kansas by coach Bob “Timmie’ Timmons and the course features six ponds and two covered bridges, with black-painted steel silhouettes of athletes such as Jim Ryun, Billy Mills, Johnny Lawson, Wes Santee, Herb Semper and Al Frame. The scenery is something to take in with redbud trees, evergreens and bluebird boxes. Runners encounter steep hills and various plateaus.
Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course in Kenosha, Wis. This course has held various collegiate cross country meets at various levels. The land has been set aside for the sole purpose of cross country running and skiing. The terrain is flat while also having some rolling hills and areas for coaches and spectators to watch, since runners will pass the starting line during the race.
Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Fla. This course, which will host the FSU Invitational this weekend, is recognized as one of the premier cross country courses in the nation. It will host the Division I championship in 2021. Flat, fast, fun. Spectator friendly, shaded, with wide start and nice warmup area.
Lavern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind. This course has been home to the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships 12 times since 2002. The course and town has been nicknamed “XC Town, USA," following similar suit to Eugene, Ore., which is known as TrackTown USA. The site sits on a reclaimed coal mine and features a mix of uphill and downhill sections, while being nestled amongst trees. The late Indiana State cross country coach John McNichols created the vision for the course, which was specifically created for cross country races. The course also has a press box and many areas for spectators to watch the race.
Van Cortlandt Park Cross Country Course in the Bronx, N.Y. Known for its notorious Cemetery Hill, it is a course that many runners have grown to love. To complete that course, especially in the cold weather and mud, made you feel like you could conquer anything. A lot of people hate the course because it’s so tight in the woods. The course, because of that, forces you to fight for position. Dating back more than 100 years, Van Cortlandt is known among the running community as the mecca of cross country running. If you have a conversation with most runners on the high school, college or professional level, they probably have a story about how Cemetery Hill probably killed their legs. It takes that much out of your legs and that's why some of the course records are so respected.
Oklahoma State Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Okla. The course is home to one of the oldest cross country races in the country, the Cowboy Jamboree, which began back in 1937. The course is grass, with wood chips and rolling hills. One interesting aspect of this course is that there are steps in three places, each set with three steps, which is similar to a typical European cross country course.
Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course in Madison, Wis. The course features an exterior loop of about 2,500 meters and an interior loop of 1,000 meters. Both loops cover the area's rolling hills and valleys. The outside loop also runs through a section of dense woods, which are aflame with color in the fall. The course opened in 2009, and used the course at Indiana State as inspiration.
Goodman Campus Cross Country Course in Bethlehem, Pa. The course is recognized for its signature cornfields and beautiful surroundings. The course at Lehigh has hosted many NCAA events over the years.
As a cross country coach and someone who has been around the sport for more than 40 years, my top three courses are as follows:
1. Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia; 2. Van Cortlandt Park in New York; and 3. Brandywine Creek in Wilmington.
As a Sussex Fields board member, I am working with Joe Schell and our team to bring the new venue to reality. I come into the picture with the cross country course design and layout. We have taken many parts of other top courses and tried to instill the ideas into Sussex Fields. We hope to be able to make this course one of the premier courses on the East Coast with hope that we can host many top meets on the county, conference, state and regional levels for youth, middle school, high school and college runners. We want Sussex Fields to become your favorite course. It will soon be mine!
