Cross Country Prospective Athlete Guide

2024 St. Joseph Cross Country

Table of Contents

Quick Facts

Introduction …………………………………………3-4 School……………………………… St. Joseph Academy

Meet

Equipment Needed……………………………...9-10

2023 Year-in-Review…………………………….11-12

Camp or Travels……………………………………13

Augustine, FL

Nickname ………………………….. Flashes

School Colors …Hunter Green & Vegas Gold

Classification ……………………………. 1A

SJA XC Top-15 Lists……………………………….14 District…………………………………………. 1A District 3

Top Post-Season Finishers…………………….16-21

Region ……………………….. 1A Region 2

Principal …………… Todd DeClemente

Athletic Director.……………………. Sherri Nowatzki

School Phone………………………….. (904) 824-0421

Website……………………………………….. SJAweb.org

Introduction:

What is Cross Country?

• A 5km (3.1 mile) race over a variety of terrain (grass, trails, dirt, golf courses).

• Cross Country (also known as CC or XC) is primarily a team sport. The top 7 run Varsity with the first 5 runners making up the team score, sum of finishing place – lowest score wins. In the event of a tie, the 6th, and sometimes 7th place finisher may be used.

• Throughout the regular season we will compete in some smaller meets (3-5 teams), but mostly race at larger invitational with anywhere from 10-50 other schools.

• Post-season begins at districts and proceeds through regionals and state for those who qualify.

• It is possible to qualify to the regional and state meets both as a team (placing top-6 at districts and regionals) or individually by placing being top-4 individually amongst non-qualifying teams.

• Cross country is a great way to stay in shape for other sports and learn valuable life skills.

Straight-away at the FHSAA State Championship Courses can be muddy at times like Golf courses like Cecil field / New World at the Katie Caples invitational Golf have good footing and fast times.

Every point can count in the team scoring. You can qualify both as a team and individually Running takes you places you never thought to regionals and state. you would see.

Introduction Continued:

Daily Practice:

Practices are mandatory and daily (with on-your-own runs on Wednesday and possibly some Friday’s off). We may start with a dynamic warm-up and form drills before going into our run or workout. We sometimes follow the run up with additional work including core strength, hurdle walk-overs, weights, hill sprints, strideouts, or stadiums. Following this, we may stretch and ice/foam roll as injury prevention and improve recovery.

Schedule:

This upcoming year we have a very competitive schedule We generally compete at some of the invitationals offered in Northeast Florida and the state as a whole. This allows us to race against some of the top schools in Florida, as well as our direct competitors within our district, region, and state classification

Practice:

Our unofficial conditioning begins over the summer in early-June. During that time, we will meet 4-5 days a week and each athlete will be provided with a summer training plan to prepare them for the upcoming season. Official team practices date will be end of July or early August as permitted by the FHSAA and takes place on Monday through Saturday. Most Saturday’s are meet days, but on non-meet Saturdays we will be having our long run and are mandatory practice days.

“A runner's success is often in direct proportion with the consistency of the weekly long run.Enduranceisthefoundation for fast training & racing.”

- Greg Mcmillan (elite running coach)

Starting straight away at the FHSAA XC State Championship. The result of months of consistent miles, workouts, and long runs.

Meet The Coaches

Justin Taylor (6th Season) – justin.taylor@sjaweb.org

St. Joseph Academy ‘05

University of Florida ‘10

Graduate of St. Joseph Academy in 2005 and the University of Florida in 2010. 6-time Florida high school state champion (5 track & field, 1 cross country). First Florida HS athlete in 30 years to complete the distance triple at state winning the 800, 1600, and 3200 on the same night. Scholarship athlete for the University of Florida and competed in both cross country and track & field. Member of Florida’s 2010 SEC Championship and National Championship teams – the first in school history. UF’s most valuable distance runner in 2010 and ranks top-10 all-time in UF history in the 1500 meters, one mile, 5k, and 5 mile.

Boys head Cross Country & Track at St. Joseph Academy (2014-17) and returned to coach XC in 23, volunteer assistant at Flagler college (2018), private coach, and founder of FreeRunningPlans.com that was started during Covid and active for 3 years with over 15,000 free running plans downloaded.

Ashlyn Taylor (6th Season) – ashlyn.taylor@sjaweb.org

Naples High School ‘07

University of Florida ’11

Graduate of Naples High School in 2007 and University of Florida in 2011. School record holder at Naples High School in the 5k (18:38) and member of their school record 4x800m relay team (9:28). Finished 3rd place at state in the 2 mile in 2006. Was a 4-time cross country and 8-time track & field allstate athlete in high school. Ashlyn signed and competed on scholarship for the University of Florida. She is currently working to complete all the marathon majors, has run the Chicago marathon, and qualified for the Boston Marathon.

Girls head Cross Country & Track at St. Joseph Academy (2014-17), leading the girls to their first state appearance since 1976 with back-to-back top-10 finishes in 2016 and 2017. Returned to coach XC in 2023. Girls assistant coach at St. Augustine High School (2019) and private coach

2024 Schedule (TBD – work in progress)

Summer Conditioning Schedule (begins June 3rd)

School Practice Schedule (begins August 12th)

Summer Conditioning

The summer is when an athlete puts in the work to set them up for a strong cross-country season. It is the base phase that generally consists of easier runs along with stride-outs and hill sprints to maintain turnover. It is an opportunity for current athletes to set themselves up for a big season or newer athletes to build their mileage up slowly. Think of a training cycle like building a house: the base training in the summer can be compared to building the houses foundation. It sets the groundwork, upon which you can later add further, more specific layers (strength, speedwork, tapering). Summer base training is the most important part of the training cycle and from which will generate the biggest improvement year to year. The bigger the base, the higher the peak.

Mileage Club:

Athletes will log their mileage on our private Strava page (https://www.strava.com/clubs/sjaxc_2024). You will need to register a free account and then input your mileage each day or at the end of each week. If you have a GPS watch, you can automatically sync it to your Strava account. This will then create a mileage leaderboard and track everyone’s summer mileage.

Our official summer mileage will track for 10 weeks: June 3rd – August 11th . At the end of the summer, athletes will be awarded t-shirts based on their total mileage completed during the summer. The tiers for this year are 100, 200, 300, and 500 miles. Fun note: The distance from St. Joseph Academy to the State meet course in Tallahassee is 200 miles.

Summer Schedule Example – 30 schedule

We will be handing out training plans for athletes this summer. These will be in the form of beginner schedule (low mileage varies by athlete/experience), intermediate (20-30 miles per week), advanced (35-50mpw), and elite (55-60mpw+). This way we can safely build up an athletes’ mileage, regardless of level, and reduce the risk of injury.

Hill sprints after run.

Strides following run. Begin with 4, build up to 8

Workout Days: Begin each with drills then 10-15 min WU. Follow with 10-15 min CD.

TRAIN LIKE A VARSITY ATHLETE

Combine the mileage above with good nutrition, hydration, and rest and you will be set up for a strong season. Easy runs should be at a comfortable pace in which you can hold a conversation.

Improving as a runner requires PATIENCE and DETERMINATION. To be a great runner you need to put in the time and miles.

Do The Right Things

Soft Surface - Attempt to run some of your mileage on dirt roads, trails, beach, etc.

Hill Sprints - 15-20 seconds at mile pace. Walk/stand recovery. Start with 3-5 uphill, 1 down.

Strides - Start with 4 10-15 second strides following your easier runs. Build up to 6-8.

Injury Prevention - Maintain a stretching routine post-run, as well as foam rolling and icing.

Water - Drink plenty of water before, during, and after runs to remain hydrated.

General Strength - Complete the GS training routine 2-3 times per week.

Cross-Training - If experiencing aches of pains, you can replace an occasional run with cross-training

Equipment Needed

St. Joseph Academy will provide the uniform for athletes to compete in. There are also some items that you are required to purchase for competition/practice as well as some optional items. We will have some additional mandatory items listed on our Baker Store.

Required Items:

Running Shoes:

A Daily trainer for running. These can be purchased online at retailers RoadRunnerSports.com, RunningWarehouse.com, etc, or check out running stores like 1st Place Sports in Jacksonville. Running shoes should be replaced every 300-500 miles.

Cross Country Spikes:

Footwear for competing in races. Like shoes, can be purchased online or in-store.

Note: If you plan on also competing in Track, I would recommend getting distance track spikes so they can be used for both seasons. A current favorite is the Nike Dragonfly.

Running Watch:

Not everyone needs to go out and spend $250+ on a GPS watch. However, it is required that you have a RUNNING watch for practice. You can purchase a Timex Ironman for $40. Personally, mine lasted 5 years and only died because the battery died.

Running Shorts/Spandex:

Rather than give you running shorts worn by others or potentially the wrong size, we figured a better option is to have you purchase your own from the Baker Stores. Boys will wear Adidas running shorts and girls will have the option of their Adidas running shorts, or Adidas spandex shorts. Only the ones listed on the Baker website will be acceptable.

Baker Stores

There may be some additional required items that will be posted in our teams Baker Store. Link will be provided and must be purchased prior to the deadline.

Forms Needed

In order to practice and compete as an athlete at St. Joseph Academy you will be required to complete and turn in the following forms to the front office. Once you have this done, you are good for the entire school year.

- Student-athlete participation application

- EL2: Pre-Participation Physical Evaluation

- EL3: Consent and Release of Liability

Please have these completed and turned in AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Do not drag your feet on this. You will not be able to attend summer conditioning, practice, or meets until they are turned in. These forms can be found in full at the following link: https://www.sjaweb.org/athletics/forms

Boys 2023 Year-in-Review

Highlights:

- 7th straight season qualifying for the FHSAA XC State Championship.

- Every athlete PR’d during the season (average improvement of 3.15%)

- Ashton improves his to #5 ranking on the SJA XC boys all-time top-15 5k list (16:56).

- Logan moves up to #12 on the SJA XC boys all-time top-15 5k list (17:58).

- Joshua moves up to #14 on the SJA XC boys all-time top-15 5k list (18:11).

- Boys win the small schools division at Embry Riddle XC Invitational.

- Ashton earns all-district honors (5th)

- Ashton earns all-region honors (7th)

- Boys team qualifies for State, finishing 20th .

- Team time at Bartram Bale-n-Trail is the fastest team average (18:11) by an SJA XC team since 2018.

- Ashton commits to the Flagler College XC / TF team.

- Joshua commits to the Flagler College XC / TF team.

Girls 2023 Year-in-Review

Highlights:

- Kira moves up to #4 on the girls SJA XC all-time top-15 5k list (20:25)

- Paige and Kira earn all-district honors (7th and 8th)

- Paige and Kira earn all-region honors (8th and 12th)

- Paige and Kira quality for State as individuals

- Paige won the Varsity girls race at New World Fall Spectacular by 40 seconds.

- Kira commits to the Stetson University XC / TF team.

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Prospective Camp or Travels:

In the past, we have had summer camps, overnight trips, or day trips. This year is still TBD and will be determined on numbers and interest. This could be anything from a long weekend camp in Micanopy, trip to a theme park, day trip for a long run followed by floating down the Springs or kayaking. Here are some examples of things in the past and we can talk more to determine what makes sense for the team this year.

2024 5k Top-15 List

Team Post-Season Finishes

Girls Top Individual Post-Season Finishes

Boys Top Individual Post-Season Finishes

*Prior to the 2002 season, 3 mile was the standard distance for cross country

Individual

Athletes who competed in college

Athlete: SJA Class of College

Justin Taylor 2005 University of Florida

Marc Akbar 2009 Florida State University

Sean Snyder 2017 University of North Florida

Morgan Sharp 2017 Florida Atlantic University

Montana Arnold 2018 Catawba College

Victor Farfan 2021 Jacksonville University

Ashton Akam 2024 Flagler College

Joshua Nelson 2024 Flagler College

Kira Casane 2024 Stetson University