Coaches will run different strategies at meet

Cross country coaches Mark Hahn of Central and Bill Davis of Notre Dame agree about one thing on their approach to Saturday's state cross country meet: The race really doesn't begin until the first mile is in the books.

While Hahn will be checking the watch to see what kind of pace his girls are running in the Class 4 race, Davis will be more concerned with where his boys stand in relation to the rest of the Class 3 pack.

Both would like to come home with a state trophy -- just like last year.

Central's girls, the top team in the SEMO Conference for the last 10 seasons, finished fourth in the state meet to claim a team trophy for the first time last year. The Tigers head to Jefferson City's Oak Hills Golf Center having won tight district and sectional meets the last two weeks.

The Notre Dame boys, winners of state trophies the last five seasons, have finished third the last two years since making the jump to Class 3. But after beating defending state champion Potosi in last week's district meet, the Bulldogs hope to jump to a higher spot on the podium Saturday.

In addition to again battling Potosi, which has two of the state's top individuals, perennial power West Plains comes in as the Class 3 favorite.

"It's hard to prepare for somebody you can't control," Davis said. "West Plains is going to try to pack up. If they break that, that's where we feel we can take advantage."

While cross country is an individual sport with runners testing themselves against a course, there are team aspects. And Davis will tell his runners, "Anytime you see a West Plains guy or a Helias guy, you've got to take 'em."

Such passes can make a two-point swing in the team standings, where every point counts. Notre Dame won its district title by five points over Potosi, while the Central girls won by two over Washington in last week's sectional.

Hahn said that result felt good against a program that has denied Central trips to state in the past, but he doesn't spend much time talking about specific teams during race week.

"It gets us out of our game, I've learned the hard way over the years," he said. "My philosophy is that we just do our thing and not worry about the other teams.

"We do preach you fight and scratch and claw for points when it's our time to race."

For both teams, that comes after the first mile, especially at the state meet where adrenaline sometimes gets runners out of their game plan.

"We are always pacers," Hahn said. "That's what we do. We teach that every week of the season, and we don't start racing until after the mile. Be patient to the mile and race after that.

"The vast majority of high school athletes are not like world-class athletes who run even split or even negative-split races," he added, talking about runners who post better times as the race goes along. "At the high school level, that is a rare thing to see. If you can stay anywhere close to even-splitting -- we've collected data on this for many years -- you pass a ton of people by doing it that way."

Davis wouldn't mind just tossing out the stopwatches this weekend. At last week's district meet, his team had a goal of placing its five scoring runners in the top 15. He will have similar barometers Saturday. He wants his first five runners occupying places in the first 115 runners at the miles and then, he hopes, they begin to move up every half mile to finish in the top 50.

"I've gotten to where I don't even list times," he said. "It's all about position. It's a numbers game. The half and the mile are two key places you might want to holler a time to let kids know if they've gone out too fast, but after that, then it's just moving up visually and trying to see the front."

Davis and Hahn give off different vibes that might be reflected in their teams and training philosophies.

Davis, 56, is an admitted yeller who tries to pump up his runners, a trait both coaches said may work better with boys.

He is a Southeast Missouri State graduate who ran track for Marvin Rosengarten.

"I'm kind of a little bit like Marvin," Davis said. "I'm a yelling guy who will run across the infield [of a track]. That's the way Marvin was, and I admired that. He was old school. He demanded excellence."

Davis is an advocate of the sport who, like Hahn, appreciates the success of rival programs.

"He is," Hahn said of Davis, "a distance-running fanatic, and you've got to respect him for that. He is just eat up with distance running. Last year, at conference, I said, 'You are a distance-running idiot, and that's awesome. I'll always be a fan of yours for that reason.'"

Hahn, 45, who studied biology at Northeast Missouri State and teaches science, utilizes cross training in his system. The Central team spends time in the wrestling room working on strength and conditioning exercises, and it spends every Wednesday practice for the first three-quarters of the season in the pool.

"I've really become a big believer," Hahn said of the no-impact Wednesdays, which include running-specific aerobic workouts done in the pool.

"We believe strongly that when we get to this three-week stretch [leading to state], that money is in the bank and it's time to make withdrawals on it," Hahn said. "We focus on more improvement and starting to get the most on what we've got."

While Davis may be a bundle of energy on race day, putting his rah-rah personality to use, Hahn is more reserved.

"As far as the motivational part, we really don't do that much on race day," Hahn said. "We have a business-like strategy in a race and we teach that from Day 1 of their freshman year and even in junior high.

"I don't say a lot on race day. We try to cover that ahead of time. During the race, I get a little excited, but I try to keep it in a positive way."

His Central girls are led by seniors Veronica Schabbing and Brittany Moreland and sophomore Mary Dohogne. Junior Victoria Schabbing has been in the team's top five the last two weeks as well.

Central also will bring a pair of sophomore boys -- Roy Leighton and Eric Schott -- to state as the program begins to load up for a shot at Notre Dame in the near future. Central won the junior high division at the SEMO Conference, led by youth standout Billy Leighton.

"The future would look like that, that we're going to have some competitive years," Hahn said.

"I look forward and relish that opportunity," said Davis, whose team this year is led by seniors Logan Davis and Dillon Klaffer, but also features junior Wynn McClellan, junior Ryan Johnson and sophomore Ethan Holcomb, the SEMO JV winner.

"It's going to be a nice, nice experience and I look forward to that," Davis said of the looming boys battles with Central.

"Our rivalry is when they strap it on and compete, and it's healthy. It's always been that way."