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| Colorado state championships. Two first place finishes at the NXN Southwest Regional. Successive seventh place showings at NXN Finals. Division I recruits. For the past two years, the "Lambkins" of Fort Collins High School CO have embodied success at the highest level. Over the next nine weeks, assistant coach Phil Latter will be tracking the ups and downs, triumphs and challenges of the Fort Collins girls’ cross country team.
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the lambkin way | part 4
10.27.09
by Phil Latter, Special to DyeStat
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“Latter’s Lappers”
Monday, October 19th – 3:45 P.M.
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| Erin Hooker and Gretchen Carow icing after practice.
Photo submitted by Phil Latter
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“I’d rather do Lappers any day.”
“Heck, no. At least in Death Quest you get to stop.”
“Nah, Lappers are more fun. You get to sprint.”
“Either one is better than hills.”
The athletes are finishing up their activation exercises and getting ready to do some drills and strides after their two-and-a-half mile trot here to Edora Park. I see I have walked into the middle of a fiery discussion on which cross country workout is superior.
“This workout always kills me.”
“Latter, I love your Lappers.”
“I don’t think I can do five.”
When I first pitched the workout back in August, head coach Chris Suppes was excited about adding more workout ammunition to his already well-stocked armory. And though he quickly dubbed the workout “Latter’s Lappers,” I could hardly take credit for the torturous workout that blended pace work, all-out sprints, tempo pace and easy recovery – all in one lap. My college coach, Dean Duncan, had sprung this on us when I was a sophomore and he was in his first year coaching. At first we had looked at his course like he was crazy, wondering how we would complete ten endless pretzels that kept alternating between extreme sprinting, tempo running and slow recovery. Never mind that we were running up the main hill to our college campus, our supreme strength or pathetic weakness about to be exposed to all we hoped to impress. Dean had even gone so far as to pull out the walkie-talkies and put various coaches, injured runners, and well meaning locals in specific places, asking for frequent updates of our progress along the kilometer course and encouraging them to scream at us to keep the energy high.
A year later I had gone from a virtual walk-on to All-Conference at a Division I school and was no longer questioning the method to the madness. Lappers became a mainstay of both my college running and coaching career.
Just as my college teammates had questioned our coach’s sanity, so too did the Lambkins look at me like I was insane when I first introduced the workout. I kept throwing out the truism I hoped would keep them at bay – “It’s a college workout” – and watched the first time as they devoured the course just as Suppes and I asked.
Today is no different. Rachel Viger has found that Lappers are best run with the boys, and she takes off just behind the varsity pack, running side by side with Rick Schulte, the team’s sixth man. Kirsten Follett and Denise Chilson start just behind the freshmen and Marci Witczak, each group tackling the workout in their own way. Beginning on a flat and paved trail, the course sends the runners up a 400m grassy hill. The pace is the same as they’d hope to run in a 5K. Once they reach the top of the hill, they loop down slowly, catching their breaths before turning and running up the steepest part of the grassy hill at an all-out pace (cheerfully reminded to them by me yelling, “MOOOOOOOVE!” in my strongest baritone voice). From there the course cuts to the other direction and offers the runners a chance to catch their breath before they hit the starting line once again. There is no true rest in Lappers, and the varsity shows their strength in running all five at close to the same splits.
Rachel sticks with the boys for the entire workout, kicking it up a notch on the last one and leaving a few of the more tired guys behind. Workouts of this nature allow her to showcase her incredible stamina, something that even a race as long as five kilometers simply doesn’t offer. The freshmen and Marci look no less impressive. Marci feels so strong, in fact, that when the younger girls stop at four, she is permitted to carry on. This is a far cry from even a few weeks ago when an act as simple as running was out of the question due to troubling knee pain. Freshman Erin Hooker, meanwhile, has absolutely run away from everybody today, perhaps taking to heart Suppes’s challenge to step it up a notch at the big races.
If there’s one thing Lappers teaches, it is to not be afraid, because nothing can be as ridiculous or demanding as this. It is a lesson each lady Lambkin is learning in her own way.
The Guest Speaker
Tuesday, October 20th – 3:20 P.M.
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| Author Matt McCue speaks to the Fort Collins HS team about his recently-published book.
Photo submitted by Phil Latter
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Having appeared in Sports Illustrated and written for ESPN and DyeStat, Matt McCue is about as big of a celebrity as will find his way into a physical education classroom at Fort Collins High School on a random Tuesday in October. He has contacted our program in the hopes of speaking to the team about his new book, An Honorable Run, a book that details his time running under two coaching legends: Iowa high school mentor Bob Brown and the University of Colorado’s Mark Wetmore. More than selling books, McCue is interested in reaching out to high school programs that he says “really get it,” and having a self-published paperback to his name gives him the forum to speak to these teams about the lessons he learned as both a high school and college runner.
From the get-go, the majority of the kids are fully vested in his story. Starting off as a no-name junior high runner who’s too slow for the sprints and finds himself thrust into the mile instead, a young Matt finds himself the talk of the town as he devotes himself to pursuing the dream of becoming a champion by running all over town at 5:30 A.M. Soon he grows to become a legitimate high school champion, but his dreams of success and wanderlust know that this is only the beginning. If he is truly to excel, he must leave Iowa. And there’s no place he’d rather be than Colorado, particularly as a member of Wetmore’s Buffaloes. He calls Wetmore and leaves a message. Then another. A letter in the mail brings no reply. Same, too, the e-mail he fires off after careful consideration. Finally he makes it all the way out to CU for a visit, only to be stopped by the Balch Fieldhouse secretary.
“Do you know where Coach Wetmore is?” McCue asks, finding his office door shut.
“He’s out of town,” the secretary replies. “He’s at the Regional Cross Country meet. He won’t be back in until Tuesday.”
“He can’t be out of town. I came all the way from Iowa, 800 miles, just for the chance to speak with Coach Wetmore.”
At this point McCue is distraught. His family is leaving on Monday. Surely he is beyond agony at missing his one chance to finally speak with the vaunted Coach Wetmore, right?
“No no no, I didn’t think that,” he tells the Lambkins in attendance, about fifty of them sprawled out on desks and along the windows. “I came prepared for something just like this. When that secretary wasn’t looking, I pulled a little note out of my back pocket. A little letter that I had written. And when she wasn’t looking, I slipped it underneath a crack between the bottom of the door and the carpet and slid it right into Coach Wetmore’s office. Just so the first thing he would find and slip over when he got back would be my note.”
The team laughs at this characterization of the desperate high school athlete. McCue jokes then that they have a word for these types of behaviors – it’s called “stalking.”
 Perhaps the strongest part of his speech is a discussion about running with his high school idols, Jorge and Ed Torres of Illinois and Dathan Ritzenhein of Michigan, for the first time as a member of the Colorado Buffaloes. McCue had been told by the Colorado coaches that since he didn’t have the prerequisite times, he would need to show something special, some chutzpah, to be included on that year’s team. Showing up for a summer workout was the first step. But while he had envisioned thirty or forty lithe athletes stretching and running off the track when he showed up two minutes late to that first informal summer meeting, only three people were there – the three idols mentioned above, the crème de la crème of Colorado running.
“I knew two things right away,” McCue tells the Lambkins. “One, there was no turning back. I had committed. I could not go back to my car, turn around, and just disappear into the thin air. And I also knew this. And this is probably the surest thing I knew about everything I was chasing: I was in way, way over my head. And no matter how the run ended that day, it would probably end very, very badly for me.
“Sure enough, that’s what happened later.”
Although a good high school runner in his own right (4:23 1600m/9:30 3200m), the runners he ran with that day played the game on a different level. Jorge Torres and Dathan Ritzenhein have both made Olympics Games, and Ritzenhein recently set the American Record over 5000m. To say the run became a little rough for McCue, running up at altitude for the first time, would be a slight understatement, particularly when he doubled his intended mileage in the rugged Flatiron Mountains. He hung tough throughout the run, though, even when an unexpected ten minutes was added on at the end. He was living his dream but suffering through the agony. The true reward came only when he reached the track.
“As we walk up to that chain link fence, I’m watching my own two feet to make sure I don’t stumble over them, and I hear this voice. It sounds like the voice of God.” The runners snicker in unison. “And he says, ‘You must be Matt McCue.’ And I looked up and there he was, the legend in the flesh himself, Mark Wetmore.”
McCue goes on to describe running with legends, training under one, and the experience of performing for a team of that stature (the Buffaloes won a national title in cross country while McCue attended). Of all the things he learned in high school and college, though, he tells the sixty high school runners in attendance that this is the most important one a young athlete can have: Listen to your coach.
The athletes give him two rounds of applause, ask a few questions, and then get in groups to get in their easy distance run. McCue sells some books to interested athletes and coaches and then prepares to get back on the road, this time heading out to speak in Greeley, Colorado, at, of all places, a pizza parlor. The life of an author on his book tour is not nearly as glamorous as it sounds.
As we walk back to the minivan he has borrowed from a friend, I thank him again for speaking to the team and helping inspire them in the weeks leading up to Regionals and State. He asks me to keep in touch with him, to let him know how my own writing is going. Then he offers the same advice to me that he offered the athletes, the motto that the quest he took, the borrowed minivan and sacks of self-published books are all emblematic of.
“Chase your dreams.”
Hills in a Long Run
Wednesday, October 21st – 4:10 P.M.
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| The varsity girls hit the track for the first time this season to run some quick 150's
Photo submitted by Phil Latter
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One can easily tell how close the end of the year is by the proportion of meetings that pop up. Today’s surprise Wednesday meeting shows the big time races are less than two days away. It is a strategy session, one that discusses each Lambkin’s best chance for success on the various courses that are upcoming. Suppes is nothing if not thorough.
Now we are out on the prowl for runners, riding in Suppes’s brand new Toyota pick-up truck. Certain recovering runners such as Marci are still mixing and matching running days with cross training, so we have gone to the midway point of the run where the athletes will be tackling four hills, the better to simulate the start of the race and get a mini-workout in the process.
To better replicate the race conditions, the girls all start at the same time. Rachel leads the way on each, pulling her teammates up with each stride. The fatigue of the previous week that showed so clearly on Kirsten and Denise seems to be evaporating at just the right time. While they might be able to run through Regionals tired, winning State is no guarantee, particularly if the Lambkins are at less than 100 percent. Blending fitness gains and recovery right now is paramount.
When Marci completes her hills she joins us in the pickup truck. Her season has done a complete 180 in the past three weeks. Tempting as it has been to let her return to her full mileage, Suppes remains committed to easing her back in and lowering the chance for reinjury. It is a commendable goal given the pressures to succeed he feels.
“A Big San Luis, Some Accels, the Rest of Your Mileage – then go home!”
Thursday, October 22nd – 3:45 P.M.
One day to go to get everyone’s tickets stamped to the State meet. Suppes has just gotten the team pumped by explaining to those on the border of earning a varsity letter what it will take. For the vast majority, having a great race on Friday will seal the deal.
On Tuesday the varsity runners did something they haven’t done all season – they touched the track to run some accelerations. Every single workout this season has been done either in parks or on the tempo run path, leaving the track generally locked up and forgotten. Today they will once again be permitted to run some 150s, this time running as a team and again perfecting the art of getting out fast from the gun and finding Suppes’s much discussed “energy of the race.”
For the speedsters that have suffered anonymously all season, today’s turnover session gives them a chance to show their latent powers. Ashlyn Stults and Aubree Dietrich, currently two of the top three junior varsity girls (and ones counted on to make the leap to varsity next season), absolutely blow away the rest of their teammates on the strides. Focused as he is on the moment, Suppes can’t help wonder aloud about their potential to help his 4 x 800m relay team in the spring.
A short cool down jog follows the speed session and leaves the runners feeling fresh and fast for tomorrow’s race. Suppes waits for all of them to return, even with his youngest daughter pleading to leave for her birthday dinner. He knows that sometimes one last word can make the difference between a quiet, relaxed pre-race night and hours of tossing and turning. Now is not the time to ditch out early.
Regionals
Friday, October 23rd – 3:00 P.M.
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| Rachel Viger had only the lead cyclist for company all race en route to an 18:10
Photo submitted by Phil Latter
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Ranked 5th in the country by DyeStat and possessing seven legitimate Division I prospects, one would think qualifying for State would be all but a formality for the lady Lambkins of Fort Collins High School. But each and every girl knows that if they don’t “do their job,” as Coach Craig Luckasen has reminded each all week, then no future glories await. The long road to brilliance must be reached one step at a time.
When the gun goes off at the Northern Regional Championship, the Lambkins get out hard, using those valuable five to seven seconds of “free energy” the human body provides to its maximum potential. Rachel alone goes out at a more even place, working her way through the field until she finds a comfortable rhythm.
By the time the runners reach the first mile, two things are abundantly clear: 1.) Rachel Viger, barring a catastrophic collapse, is on her way to the Regional crown, having passed everyone but the lead cyclist and 2.) If the rest of the Lambkins don’t step it up, they risk losing to Legacy High School. While Rachel is clear of the field by virtue of her 5:35 opening mile, Legacy has runners in second, third, and sixth place, surrounding Kirsten and Erin. There is a small gap back to Marci, then a larger one to Maddie, Denise, and Taleah. Legacy has a small pack of runners right on their heels, mere inches behind Taleah. The race for the team title is officially on.
As the runners pass the mile they head out for what is perhaps the loneliest stretch of the course. Almost a full mile in length, the runners circumnavigate the perimeter of a large lake. Few people can make it that far out on the course and still see the finish, so most just gaze across the watery expanse. Without binoculars the runners appear as little more than a parade of ants inching their way ever so slowly around the vibrant blue body of water, the snow covered Rockies lingering in the background. Staring hard, one can just see the moves being made and gaps that are forming.
By the time the runners have reached the two mile mark, the world is a very different place. Rachel’s gap has widened from ten to twenty seconds, and the speed of the course has become even more evident. A tremendous kick would be required, but Rachel has a chance to break 18 minutes on this certified five kilometer course. As the chase pack comes into focus, it’s clear that at least up front the battle between Fort Collins and Legacy has not lessened a bit. Erin is in the mix for second place, battling for each step with two runners from Legacy. Kirsten is just behind her, having lost contact but not entirely out of the picture. The team battle is still close at this point, but Marci and Maddie are quickly closing the gap with Taleah and Denise not much further behind.
A few minutes later Rachel has hit the final straight and is running all out. She will come up just short of the sub-18 goal, but will still set a personal best (18:10) and earn a Regional Championship in the process. Erin, meanwhile, is in a full-fledged battle with Legacy’s number one runner, a freshman in her own right, and is trying not to concede any ground. Out of nowhere Loveland’s top runner throws her hat in the ring and a fierce battle is on. Three young ladies, each freshmen but showing the racing savvy of a senior, blitz around the final curve and into the home straight. When Erin senses the Loveland runner on her left, she makes one last desperate plea to her muscles for a kick. They respond, but both Legacy and Loveland are able to pull away. Erin finishes fourth in 18:38.
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| Both state qualifying teams from Fort Collins pose together after the Regional meet.
Photo submitted by Phil Latter
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The good news for Fort Collins starts to stream in immediately after Erin passes the swarm of Fort Collins supporters at the three-mile mark. Kirsten Follett is making up the gap and closes to within two seconds of Erin en route to finishing fifth. Marci and Maddie, meanwhile, have held their ground the entire race. The fourth scorer for the team, Marci finishes just behind Legacy’s number two runner in tenth place, while Maddie repeats her 11th place finish of the previous week in locking out the scoring for the Lambkins. Placing five in the top 11 ensures a low team score, and sure enough Fort Collins’s 31 points ends up besting Legacy by 39. Behind them, Taleah ecstatically crosses the line having broken twenty minutes in the 5K for the second time this season. Denise rounds out the team’s top seven, looking better than she had a week ago. She and Kirsten both know that the coming week of rest will determine just how much they improve their positions in one week’s time on the State Meet course.
Thirty minutes after the girl’s race ends, the boys shock everyone but themselves for the second week in a row by taking both the team and individual title. The girls witness their success on the cool down, screaming and cajoling the boys to ever higher levels of performance. The Lambkins have morphed over the year into a close knit team that crosses gender lines, and today there seems to be a strong mutual appreciation for what each group has accomplished. That camaraderie could not have developed at a better time.
There are eight days to State.
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