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Florida Freshman Carly McNatt Eager For Opportunity At Foot Locker NationalsPublished by
IMG Academy Standout Learning With A 'Long-Term Vision' In Mind By Todd Grasley for DyeStat Foot Locker national finalist Carly McNatt burst onto the scene as a middle school runner at Holy Trinity Academy in Melbourne, Fla. As an eighth-grader, she won the FHSAA 1A cross country finals and qualified for Nike Cross Nationals.
Her freshman year came with a new set of challenges, including a new school at IMG Academy.
“Transferring to IMG was somewhat of an impromptu circumstance,” she said. “My mother found out about the academy and encouraged me to take a visit. I decided to transfer after visiting campus and learning what my future could be like in that type of environment.”
The transition wasn’t as hard as many would expect. McNatt, who also excels at tennis, attended a boarding school in Texas last spring to try her hand at that sport, but ultimately decided her future was on the cross country course and on the track. It was welcome news to Dustin Spanbauer, the distance coach for the Ascenders program.
“Well, the truth of the matter is that everything happened so quickly and unexpectedly with Carly’s arrival that we had to start the season before we could really establish what we wanted out of the whole semester,” Spanbauer explained. “We knew that the FHSAA state series would be out of the question and that one of the national level competitions would be the main priority. We also knew that running sub-17 (minutes) would be a strong possibility as well. Initially, though, we focused on learning the process associated with being a high-caliber distance runner.”
The duo knew that that process would be a four-year journey. After all, with a new coach, a new team, and a new regimen to follow, it was important to lay down a strong foundation of knowledge and experience to carry her into the next couple of seasons.
“We knew it was going to be a pretty long season with either Foot Locker or NXN being the end goal,” she said. “I think the meet schedule just happened to work out well with the type of training we wanted to carry out and when we wanted to peak for higher level competition. I never felt over-raced or under-trained at any point in the season.”
McNatt points to her consistent training as a crucial advantage going into the national-level competition and a major piece of the plan for the year. She didn’t take long to transition right into her 2018 form. The goal was simple: Take the pressure off competing constantly, avoid chasing rankings and focus on learning the basics of distance training.
“The schedule this year was set up with much more of a long-term vision in mind, but I suspect we will see a much different cross country schedule going into next year,” Spanbauer added.
She won all five of her meets in Florida and finished fifth at the Foot Locker South Regional in a 5-kilometer personal-best 17:06. Her goal heading into Charlotte was simple, place in the top 10 and qualify for nationals.
“We wanted to practice using smart race tactics, and not letting other individuals dictate how I run. It was the only opportunity to get a practice run for nationals, so that’s the way we wanted to approach the competition,” she explained. “I was happy to run a personal best ... but I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say that it was difficult to come so close to breaking 17 and not quite accomplishing that secondary goal.”
McNatt is still hungry for improvement. She reminds herself that she is still just a freshman with time to develop. This weekend, she is eager to prove she belongs in San Diego.
“I hope to really learn a lot from this opportunity when it comes to racing at a high level,” she said. “I also want to meet other like-minded individuals, and I intend to put myself in a position to finish in the top half of the race. I know that this is a great experience, and I hope to find the positives in the whole scenario. I tend to be very critical of myself, so I hope to end the season with a humble and open mindset going into the new year.”
Q&A With Coach Dustin Spanbauer
What stands out the most to you about Carly?
I think the pieces that stood out to me the most with Carly were her personality and intellect. These parts of her mind can certainly be observed in her running. The talent was obvious, but it was the intangibles that really impressed me the most because of how they impacted her training and attitude toward competition.
What have you noticed about her aerobic capabilities?
She can accomplish longer threshold work at paces that collegiate athletes would be enviable of, and she makes it look very easy. I did notice initially that we needed to work on sprint technique and overall running form with Carly, but I am impressed with how quickly she adapted to new challenges. Overall, I knew we had something special on our hands with her capabilities.
Were there any workouts during the season that helped you both establish the season's goals?
I think one of the most impressive interval sessions she has accomplished this year was 3x1600m on the track with 5-minute rest. Carly split 5:11, 5:07, 5:00 and she was a little frustrated that she didn’t break 5:00 at the end of the session. That mentality paired with her ability showed me that we are on the verge of a big breakthrough either this cross country season or on the track next semester. It will be exciting to see how the next few weeks and months play out for Carly.
How did you feel about her performance at Foot Locker South?
It was a pretty good performance. I know she was hoping to run sub-17, but the main goal was to qualify for nationals intelligently. I’m particularly happy with how Carly executed the race plan. Championship-style racing can be tricky to navigate, but I think she accomplished some good preparation work for the national level meet.
That was one of the other goals of this competition is to simulate the national competition from a mentality approach and to have done this while walking away with a lifetime best performance that allowed a young freshman to qualify for nationals is about as much as we could have hoped to accomplish.
As a coach, what are your goals for her heading into Foot Locker Nationals?
The main goal of this competition is to really take in the experience overall. It’s hard to get this many high caliber high school athletes together in one location, so to have that opportunity to be around an environment like Foot Locker Nationals is a truly great experience for a young athlete.
The main performance goal will be to run a well-executed race and attempt to finish in the top 20 individuals. I think Carly is capable of many different outcomes in this race, but we are just trying to keep everything simple for this scenario.
Lastly, with such a young talent, how do you keep running fun and keep her injury-free?
This might be my favorite question to address. I could probably talk about this subject for hours, but I will try to keep the answer as brief as possible. I think having fun is a very important part of the equation. The distance group at IMG Academy is a pretty close group from a social perspective, so they are always laughing and joking around at practice. We are serious when it’s time for business, but in general, our training environment is fairly relaxed most of the time.
Likewise, we work on skills and tactics as much as we work on biological training, which is super important for young athletes when it comes to long term development and overall peace of mind.
When it comes to injury prevention, most of our underclassmen distance runners only run five or six days a week on average. I think Carly has averaged five days of running a week for the past month or two, which allows us to spend more time focusing on the other intricacies of being a young student-athlete that is competing at the national level. We try to keep things fun by adding in new routines every so often, and playing games from time to time. Overall, having an open social environment that is conducive to learning and progressing physical performances will always lead to fun and success. More news |
