Cedar Cliff head coach
A few anxious moments about getting here?
There were a few anxious moments. But as strong as our region is, I thought three teams might go. But we could have just as easily dropped to 4th, as well as held up to 2nd. It was a roller-coaster. When we first found out we didn't have an automatic, all that did was make our workouts a little tougher. The whole week we trained as if we were sure we were going to go. But being unsure put us in a kind of somber mood, but it was also a wake-up call.
Was it difficult keeping everyone motivated and focused since the state meet 11/6?
We fought tooth and nail. I had told them, win states, and we'll enjoy working, because I thought we had to win states. But I didn't think they'd take me literally. But they did. We had five goals and a dream, and NTN was the dream. And they said, 'yeah coach, it's a dream. You work toward goals and achieve them, but a dream, you just go and enjoy it. The dream was to just make it.' They had to realize we weren't going to Portland on vacation, we're going to go out and run. Yeah, there was rebellion.
Did you learn something about coaching this year?
I learned you can set the goals, but I took them beyond that. I had to convince them that they didn't want to go out like this, and that they had worked hard for years to get to this point and were better than this. When they lined up these past weeks, the workouts were great. They did everything we asked them to do. But they're back on track. There was so much pressure for them this year, they just thought they were going to shut down and enjoy this, and not prepare for this. But as distance runners, you can't take three or four weeks easy, and then line up and expect to run well. Now they realize that and they didn't go through all that work for nothing. When they finally heard they were going, the mood changed. Even staying at 8th in the national rankings gave them a better attitude.
Is this better than a state title?
For a lot of these schools here, a state title probably doesn't mean that much. That puts them in a different place than we are. For us, a state title is still important at our school because we've only had two in school history, and they're both in cross country. That's a huge thing for us. This is special for Pennsylvania. I want them to understand that New Jersey has more history, and New York, and Illinois with York, and there's Woodlands, Mountain View, and we're like the new kid on the block. I remember when we were trying to win the county meet eight years ago, and we thought that was huge when we won that. For me it has opened up a new world. Conferences was big, then districts was big... and now, this will make States not quite as big - even though we're not a team that wins year after year - this will broaden our horizon. It will make my world bigger, so that when I am talking with the kids, I've always talked about the national level, and now that Nike has this, we can actually say that Cedar Cliff is at the national level. These kids are going to go back and tell stories, and other runners and kids in 9th grade are going to see this, and I think this will have an impact on our team in the next couple of years.
Pat Caulfield
Cedar Cliff
What has it been like waiting for a bid and staying sharp weeks after your state meet?
It was tough to refocus, because, one, we didn't know if we were coming here, and secondly, because the state meet was supposed to be our last meet and Oregon was the dream. But I think we're going to be fine. It's not going to be a high pressure situation. We never set an really lofty goals for this meet. We're just going to run like we know we can. Just have fun.
Have you guys run your best race this year? No, I don't think so. We're the kind of team that can run our best race anytime because we're really consistent. We weren't even on at the state meet, so we could have our best race at this meet. We'll see what happens.
What does this mean for cross country?
This is epic for cross country. High school doesn't get the spotlight, and now Nike is putting the spotlight right on high school cross country. And you have to love that. This puts us on a new level.
How about for PA?
It's an honor to be the Pennsylvania team. Other teams have boosted us, and this is our chance to give back to them. Not only our state team from 2001, but also other teams that were competitive with us like Council Rock and Coatesville; all those kinds of teams have helped us. Everybody has helped us, so we want to help them, and give them a chance to come out too.
What about your individual shot at a Foot Locker qualifier?
(the top two boys from the Northeast teams qualify for the 12/11 Foot Locker finals)
We'll see what happens. Why not?