Winter Training: A Bridge Between Cross Country and Track

After the dismissal bell rings, students at Silver Creek spill out into the icy January air, sometimes with the wind whipping through their clothes. Around three in the afternoon, a small group of athletes can be seen huddled under the shed at the far end of the Silver Creek track.

This small handful of athletes is a part of Winter Training, a running program that Coach Shane Miller and Coach Jacy Riel orchestrate over the time period between the fall cross country season and the spring track season.

Jacy Riel, the head track and field coach, assistant cross country coach, and science teacher at Silver Creek, encourages all distance, sprinter, jumper, and thrower athletes to participate in Winter Training.

“The athletes that do [Winter Training] are less likely to get injured, and they actually progress way quicker than the athletes that just start when the season starts,” Riel said.

Despite these positive results, Riel does recognize that there are two different groups within the team when the track season finally rolls around. Since the cross country athletes run all year round together, many feel more connected.

“The sprinters, jumpers, throwers, they’re all from different sports,” Riel said. “They do different things. [Track] is just a bigger diverse group than the distance runners.”

Noah Zweers, a senior distance track athlete and cross country runner, agrees with Riel. They both think the differences between the two communities aren’t necessarily negative; the two groups are just different.

“I’d say our group’s a little smaller, but the community is pretty similar,” Zweers said. “People are still pretty close-knit and happy to run with each other.”

Not only is Zweers confident in the Silver Creek runner community, but he would strongly recommend that any new athletes participate in Winter Training, partly because he has noticed improvement in his past track seasons. Even though Winter Training is a little less structured, many of the athletes and coaches agree that it is important for track performance.

“It’s good to maintain fitness in between cross country and track season,” Zweers said.

For the distance athletes like Zweers, coach Shane Miller has been the main remodel present at Winter Training practices. Miller is a new Raptor Tech teacher at Silver Creek and jumped at the opportunity to coach.

“I chose running because it’s a sport that’s very mentally challenging as well as physically demanding,” Miller said. “I thought, no better way to spend my time than to also coach.”

After running in high school as a cross country and track athlete, Miller has continued to run throughout his life. He sees the high school athletes through an athlete’s eyes and really enjoys it.

“It shows the dedication of those runners that are out there in the Winter Training, even in the cold and less desirable environment,” Miller said. “Training in the winter shows that a runner is really motivated to achieve their goals in the track season.”

Miller has also enjoyed getting to see athletes progress, and looks forward to seeing more of that as the track season advances.

“[I] see some of those kids get inspired by running as well and build a desire to run for the rest of their lives,” Miller said. “I just love seeing people go through a challenge and then come out the other side with a different mindset.”

From shivering in the cold before practice to tearing it up during competitions in the spring, the winter season brings runners from both Cross Country and Track to run as one.

“It just keeps the spirit of the team together,” Miller said.

Practice times are at 3pm after school every Tuesday and Thursday for sprinters and Monday through Friday for distance kids. Email Riel at [email protected] or Miller at [email protected] for more information.