ND cross country enters special year for coach, son

Notre Dame cross country coach Bill Davis said one of the best moments he shared with his son, senior Logan Davis, while coaching him the past three years came when the Bulldogs won the Class 2 state meet in 2005. Logan, just a freshman at the time, was the squad's third-best runner.

The coach still remembers the excitement he felt when he collected the place cards of his five runners and seeing they had finished fourth, eighth, 15th, 22nd, and 47th.

"I'm seeing four, eight, 15, and I said, 'We've won this,'" Bill recalled.

When the father and son helped Notre Dame win the state title that fall, both had been involved in cross country for just a brief time.

Bill never ran cross country growing up. He became involved in distance running in 1995 -- after 19 years serving as a high school track and field coach. That year he decided to start a cross country program at Kelly, where he was coaching, because the track team was struggling yearly in the distance events at state meets.

Logan's first taste of the sport didn't come until he was a freshman.

The Davises have experienced success together, and they hope it continues in their final year together as a coach-and-son duo.

Logan said he and his father have been looking forward to this one last year together in a sport that has strengthened their relationship.

"We spend a little too much time together," Logan said. "We argue a lot and stuff, but once we start talking about running, it becomes close again. And we talk about races and things like Olympic running. We get really into that and it kind of brings us together."

Late start for Bill

Bill Davis not only had a late start in cross country, but he did not become interested in track and field until the summer before his freshman year at Southeast Missouri State.

Davis went to high school at Scott City and knew Southeast All-American shot put thrower Rick Wadlington, also of Scott City.

Wadlington, who still owns the second-best throw in Southeast history, was entering his senior year when Davis entered the university. Wadlington persuaded Davis to join track and field.

"He would tell me, 'Hey, you need to run track,'" Bill recalled. "For whatever reason, that summer prior to me starting college, I thought, 'OK, I'm going to pick up the javelin.' I liked it."

Davis liked it enough that he decided to walk on to the Southeast track and field team as a freshman. His passion for the sport grew as he watched Southeast coach Marvin Rosengarten work with athletes who were not recruited by Division I schools, turning them into Division II All-Americans.

Davis, who graduated from Southeast in 1974, became an assistant track coach at Doniphan in 1976. He said he continued to learn as much about the sport as possible, and after two years at Doniphan, he accepted a position at Kelly. He started the track program at Kelly, where he coached both the varsity and junior high.

"Cross country had not even entered my mind yet," he said.

It would not enter Bill's mind until the 1990s, when he he saw his teams struggle in the distance events at the state meets. When he spoke with other coaches and athletes who were winning distance events, they suggested the best way to improve in the area would be to start a cross country team.

Davis met with the Kelly school board, urging members to approve the program, which they did. He volunteered to coach cross country without pay and approached other coaches to help him figure out the types of workouts to assign at practices. He read more about the sport and attended coaching clinics.

He said in the program's first year, 1995, the team earned a trip to the state meet. It won the state title the following year.

"We were just having success, and I grew to really like the distance end of things," Davis said. "And I talked to a lot of coaches, and it just became a love and a passion."

Davis has received help from Joe Newton, a successful coach at York Community High School in Elmhurst, Ill., since starting the cross country program at Notre Dame, where Davis also coaches track and field.

Through his involvement in cross country at Kelly, he began running and enjoys an occasional 5-kilometer race.

"As I got more involved in it, I wanted to personally become a little more involved," he said. "Another thing, it is something that the kids like to see you doing also."

Late start for Logan

Logan Davis entered a 1-mile race in the third grade, but lost interest in running quickly -- about halfway through the race.

"[My cousin] always came home with medals and things, and I thought, 'Hey, it would be fun to get a medal or something.'" Logan said. "So I ran a mile race, and I went out real fast and I ended up crying halfway through it and finishing dead last. I vowed to never run again to my parents."

Logan said his father never pushed him to run. If he ever did run or attend a road race, it was strictly for fun.

Logan reconsidered distance running as an eighth-grader. He wanted to be involved in athletics, but said he wasn't too good at other sports. Because his father coached at Notre Dame and some other friends were interested in running for the Bulldogs, he decided again to try it.

The second time was a charm. Logan has talent.

"He came to our team camp up here, and he asked me if he could run," Bill said. "He was actually good enough to make the varsity as an eighth-grader."

Logan also attended a few meets in eighth grade, and his interest in the sport increased.

He finished with a time of 17 minutes, 36.03 seconds in the state meet as a freshman.

Two years later as a junior, he became an all-state runner, covering the same course in 16:47.

"He's always out there running really hard," senior Matt Reinagel said. "He never gives up. You can always expect him to do good no matter what."

Logan said he wants to run in college and said he might someday become involved in marathons.

Father-and-son duo

Senior Dillon Klaffer has been on the Notre Dame varsity since his freshman year, and he has gotten a good look at how the father and son work together.

"[Logan] smarts off to him [Bill] all the time, but in a good way," Klaffer said. "It kind of adds a comic relief to practice."

Logan said he and his father do not always agree and try not to talk about the team much outside of practice and meets. He said he and his father have different personalities. While he said his father is sometimes anxious about upcoming meets, he does not stress over the matters.

"I'm real careful with my son because we live together, so it can't be 24/7," Bill said. "Sometimes it's been 24/7 and he says, 'Dad, we need to rest a while.' And I have to wake up and realize that there's more to life than just running. I have to bite my tongue a lot."

Ryan Johnson said that it feels like Logan is just another runner on the team.

"Sometimes they bicker, but they get along pretty good," Johnson said. "He treats Logan just like everybody else on the team. He doesn't really play favorites or anything."

This season

Despite some diffences between father and son, both are competitive.

"We hate to lose," Bill said. "I say it's gracious to be a good loser and you have to accept defeat, but both of us are very competitive."

Notre Dame moved up to Class 3 after its 2005 state title. It has finished third at the state meet the past two seasons, behind behind Potosi and West Plains.

Notre Dame returns its top three runners: Logan Davis, Klaffer and Wynn McClellan. Both Davis and Klaffer earned all-state honors last year, while McClellan has come in with the top times so far this season.

Team members held workouts throughout the summer. McClellan came to the school every morning and evening, compiling the most miles, which he said was near 650 miles.

Johnson and Reinagel have run the fifth and sixth best times, respectively, on the team.

Their coach has set a goal to finish in the top four in Class 3.

"We've been here for fours years, and we've kind of [developed] a bond just between us and everything." Logan said. "We're looking forward to ending with a good showing."