Indiana XC Scouting Reports - Avon Boys

With the best team in school history in 2014, there is no doubt the boys Avon program is headed in the right direction. Despite losing key members from the 11th place squad, Avon returns a solid crew and that will aim to finish even better than last year.

Top Returnees from 2014 XC Season (5K Times)

1) Matt Everling 15:49.50
2) Alec Scheerer 16:02.20
3) Rhys Grealish 16:16.10
4) Andy Greathouse 16:58.40
5) Jacob Woodrow 16:59.20
Average Time: 16:25.08 Total Time: 1:22:05.40 1-5 Split: 1:09.70
6) Madison King 17:00.00
7) Eli Goddard 17:02.40


Top Returning 3200m Times from 2015 Outdoor Season

1) Matt Everling 9:50.43
2) Jacob Woodrow 10:04.02
3) Rhys Grealish 10:13.70
4) Eli Goddard 10:25.10
5) Alec Scheerer 10:27.07



Top Returning 3200m Times from 2015 Outdoor Season
1) Matt Everling 4:28.94
2) Rhys Grealish 4:33.34
3) Jacob Woodrow 4:41.90
4) Andy Greathouse 4:44.60
5) Ben Harmon 4:49.39


Q&A With Coach Toothman


What are the goals for the team this season?

We had our best season in our program’s history last year, and we feel like we have a great group coming back that can be just as good; so our broad goal as a team is to exceed what we did last year. We’d like to defend our IHSAA Regional title and get the Sectional title back in the process. The HCC should be as tough as it’s ever been this year, but we want to be in the mix for a chance to win it. The ultimate goal though, is to get back to the IHSAA State meet and finish higher than last year (11 th).

What meets will your team be focusing on this season outside of the state meet?

Our training is geared towards competing well in October, but the meets leading up to the tournament serve as great opportunities to work on racing strategy and to build confidence. I’d say the FlashRock meet is big for us simply because it’s the toughest meet we have in terms of competition outside of the Semi-State and State meets. Everything else prior to the HCC meet serves as training opportunities, and while we want to race well, we really won’t back off for any meet before then.

What does summer training look like for the Avon squad?

We start up the Monday after the State track meet, as the majority of our team is already back running after taking a couple weeks off after their track season (we had a few guys that competed in the State track meet, so they started a couple weeks after the rest). We met five days a week in the mornings prior to school starting up, with Saturday being their long run on their own so that they can travel to other places to run and to be away from the coaches. Our basic summer schedule typically consists of hill repeats once a week after a maintenance run; one threshold workout each week (e.g., lactate threshold run, progressive run, mile or 2k repeats at threshold effort), one interval-type workout (usually different variations of a fartlek run to go more off effort rather than set distances), and a long run each week, which ranges from 8-13 miles for our guys, depending on their “running age” and experience. We also do Fly 80’s once every two weeks to tap into some raw speed, which I think is overlooked a lot by distance programs. It’s not much, and it doesn’t take much to get what you need out of it, but it’s helped us a lot. Our guys who hit over 50 miles/week will do 1-2 doubles on their own to hit mileage. The highest any of our guys go in terms of miles per week is 60-65. By the time we start school at the end of July, our guys have hit their peak volume and will hold it until October. We alternate between two sets of core four days / week, and do two different circuit routines each week as well. The focus is for the guys to be strong by the time school starts.

With a good core of your 11 th place team from last year graduating, who do you see stepping up this season?

We’ve had a lot of guys make big jumps from last fall, especially during track this past spring. Matt Everling is leading our group right now, but he’s got fellow seniors Alec Scheerer, Ben Harmon, Sean Hughes, and Andy Greathouse as well as juniors Jacob Woodrow and Rhys Grealish right on his heels. Our veterans are definitely leading our team this year, and know what it takes to be successful in this part of the state. They’ve learned a lot from our graduates, and are picking up right where they left off last year.

What do you think your top returner, Matt Everling, is capable of this year? Obviously he was 76 th a year ago, where do you see him in the state this year?

I think Matt has the potential and ability to be an All-State (top 25) cross country runner this year. He’s always been very talented aerobically, but he developed some great turnover this spring. His workouts are already ahead of where they were last year, but he’s still being patient in what we’re doing. He’s very observant on what he’s doing in and out of practice, and I think the time he’s putting towards his training will allow him to turn some heads this fall.

Practice just started and I see that you had the most boys ever turn out for practice. First off, congratulations. What do you attribute the high turn out to?

Thanks! As a coach, I think big numbers on your roster is just as flattering as the success your team has because it means that more kids want to be a part of the program. First off, we have a great group of guys that are a lot of fun. We get a lot of kids who don’t come out until after their freshman year because they get talked into track in the spring, and then see how much fun the group is, and they want to stay in the program year-round. We also have two great middle school programs at Avon MS North and Avon MS South that are led by great people who teach the sport the right way. Prior to middle school, we have the Avon Junior Runners program led by parents of kids who are now high schoolers who do a fantastic job of teaching younger kids about the sport and getting them involved. We’ve also done a XC youth camp each summer for the last five years, and we’re starting to see those campers now becoming high schoolers and being excited about cross country. The community of Avon is a pretty active one, and that’s a huge blessing for our program.

In the past four years you have gone from zero state qualifiers in 2011 and 2012 to one qualifier in 2013 to a full team in 2014. What has been the key to building the program to be a serious contender?

Attitude and consistency. From my first day at Avon, I knew the team had what it takes to be good - good support from the parents, school administration, and community; good feeder programs; and training areas / facilities. The change was really convincing the team that Avon could be one of Indiana’s best and watching more and more kids buy in to what we were doing. It definitely wasn’t something that happened overnight, but we’ve been better each year, and so we’ve seen success little by little each season that has allowed the next group to believe more and more. Those involved have to commit and really believe that you can be better than the prior year. Consistency in training and focusing on the little things (drills, core, sleep, nutrition, etc.) has been better each year as well, and now all those things we ask to do outside of practice are seen as expectations, not just suggestions like it may have been perceived five years ago.

It might be a bit early to tell, but do you foresee having any impact freshman on your squad?

We’ve got a good freshman group of kids who are coming along nicely. Ethan Goddard has stuck out quite a bit simply because he’s got a no-nonsense attitude about training. Many times new kids will be a bit shy and timid, but Ethan has really been training well and trying to take cues from the older guys because he really wants to be good. Because of our depth, it allows us to focus a lot on development with our freshman and look at their training as a four-year process, so we don’t have to throw them in to more than what they are capable of. I think that’s also a big reason for our success - our training is long-term, not a quick fix. We can bring our freshmen in and develop them appropriately rather than put them through the ringer right off the bat and risk long-term burnout or injury.