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<strong>A closer look at the people behind the magic...</strong></p>
Before Jonathan Dalby coached Mountain Vista to a state championship, he was groomed to win state championships back home in Missouri. Contributed photos.
For the last two years, Mountain Vista has dominated the 5A boys competition here in Colorado. That right there makes for a fairly compelling story line for the head coach of the program. But, I had heard a few fragments of Jonathan Dalby's story going back to his high school days in Missouri, so it became more or less automatic that I would tap him to share some more details of his story and become the next coach in line in the Profiles of Colorado Coaches series.
Jonathan, you had a more interesting high school running experience than most of us can look back on. Tell us something about the highlights of your high school experience and your teammates.
Our 1997 State Championship team was the most memorable. On the bus ride to state the day before we were talking about maybe being able to trophy [finish in the top 4 teams] if we all ran really well. Jefferson City was ranked around #15 in the nation by Harrier magazine that year and we didn't think we had any chance to beat them. With about 200 meters to go I fell and ended up being our #5 that day. I was pretty devastated after the race because I figured I blew it for the guys.
Thinking we placed out of the top four teams I went off to sulk by myself on the side of a hill for awhile. Fortunately, the other six guys ran really well that day. [Matt] Tegenkamp placed sixth as a sophomore and Fitz [Ryan Fitzgerald, later an All-Big 12 10K runner for Mizzou] was seventh. When Tegenkamp found me on the hill he ran up and tackled me screaming, "We won!" I thought he was lying, and I almost punched him.... not kidding!
We were fortunate to run for Dave Denny at Lee's Summit High School. Coach Denny is an incredible coach and guided the early careers of some of American's best distance runners including Joe Falcon, Matt Tegenkamp [a two-time Olympian, 2 mile U.S. record holder in 8:07, and Missouri HS 3200 state record holder], and Amy Wiseman [ one of the first Missouri females to qualify for Foot Locker, in 1995 and 1996]. After winning six NCAA individual titles at Arkansas, Falcon won the 1990 Oslo Dream Mile in 3:49.31 and won the U.S. Championship at 1500 meters under Coach Denny's guidance.
Some of the best memories I have from high school are when Falcon would come over to Coach Denny's house and the team would come over as well to meet him. Knowing your coach worked with a guy like Falcon made him legendary to us.
I still talk to Coach Denny about once a month seeking out his advice. Outside of my family, Coach Denny has been the most influential person in my life.
You went on to run at Central Missouri State in college. What events did you spend most of your time with? What were a couple of the highlights of your college career?
My main focus was the 1500/mile. I was a pretty average college runner, but really enjoyed my experience as a Mule. I placed at the MIAA indoor and outdoor meets a few times in the 1500 and mile with PRs around 4:00/4:15. Kirk Pederson was my college coach. Kirk is a great coach and most of my middle distance training philosophy is reflected in what I learned from him has an athlete at Central.
Trace the path for us that took you from being a Central Missouri State Mule to being a Mountain Vista Golden Eagle.
When I was a pretty young kid I knew I wanted to run and coach. My grandpa ran track for the University of Missouri in the 1930s and was also a career educator/coach, something that had a profound influence on me. My grandpa (Woodrow "Ironman" Hatfield, but we used to call him Buddy) was inducted into the University of Missouri Hall of fame in 2000 as a three-sport athlete.
During my sophomore track season in high school, I started talking with Coach Denny about wanting to teach and coach after college. He put the seed in my head that I should come back to Lee's Summit after college and coach with him.
In 2003 Coach Denny helped open Lee's Summit West High School. I started that same year as a middle school teacher in the district and as an assistant to Coach Denny (Amy Wiseman was also an assistant at West). We had a lot of success very early at LSW. I was able to watch first hand what it looked like building a program.
After three seasons, though, I decided that I wanted to move on, and Colorado was calling. I found my current job as an eighth grade social studies teacher at Mountain Ridge Middle School in the April of 2007. A few days after accepting the job, one of the head XC positions opened up across the parking lot at Mountain Vista. Eric Selle was already on staff at Vista. As he will tell you, I probably e-mailed him and the AD 10 or 15 times asking about the job until I finally pestered them into an interview.
During a phone interview, Selle told me that the team at Vista wasn't very good yet and that it was going to take a lot of work to build a program. I didn't really care. Talking with Selle about the school had me pretty fired up. I could tell that he was someone who cared about kids and would be fun to work with. A few days later, the AD called me and offered me the coaching position.
Although it takes a while to build a legitimate 5A power in this state, you started seeing some success at Mountain Vista fairly early in your tenure. What were a couple of the highlights and key moments of those early years?
The first cross country season was rough. We didn't have an off-season program, and there was buy-in from only a few kids. At the Arapahoe Invitational in 2007, my first meet at Vist, I think our boys beat one team. Selle jokes that he had to pull me out from under a bus afterwards. At that time I was seriously questioning leaving LSW. The season actually had some great surprises, though. The girls managed to make it to state, and we had one boy, Jeff Warren, who went on to medal in both the 800 and 1600 that spring.
The night after the 2007 state meet Selle and I set down and started talking about what we wanted to do with the team. Both of us agreed that we wanted to be competitive in the state of Colorado, but knew we would have to be patient. We both agreed that we thought we could be competitive within five years and actually shook on investing the time to do it.
After that it was a matter of giving kids at Vista as much of an opportunity to run as possible. We started meeting the winter of 2008 with about five of them every day. As kids started to see the rewards of the off-season, more kids joined in. By 2010 we had a strong group of about 60 boys and girls out in the summer. When the boys placed third in 2010 and the girls third in 2011, we felt the time we were spending each week was becoming justified.
Maybe alongside schools like Monarch and Fort Collins, you have one of the all-time special coaches staffs ever assembled in Colorado. Tell us a little about the people and how all that came together.
We have a great group of people on staff for sure. Everyone is really passionate about coaching high school athletes and enjoys what they are doing. These guys do a really good job of understanding the Xs and Os of the sport, but, more importantly, they are great at working with kids.
Coach Eric Selle is from North Dakota. He hired me in a phone interview and had been coaching at Vista as a favor to the AD at the time. Selle is really the person that started the program and began at Vista two or three years after the opening of the school. Eric started as an assistant but moved to the head position a year or two before he hired me. Because his two boys were getting older, he was looking to get out of coaching. He will say that he was trying to hire his replacement, but Selle has too much fun coaching to ever do that! His wife has already told him that he doesn't get to quit.
Coach Maria Cox is the real brains behind the operation and manages to keep the other four males on staff in line. Maria works at Vista and had never coached before, but Selle heard that she was really good with kids and that they loved her classroom. He was quick to recruit her in 2008.
Coach Arthur Cooke is from England and has a strong background in running. He was a long-term sub at both Mountain Range Middle School and Vista before we finally got him on staff. Coach Cooke primarily works with our top seven to 14 boys during the XC season and the middle distance runners in the spring. I credit Coach Cooke with guiding the boys to the last two state titles.
Coach Chris Woolley is a firefighter in the community and has children in the school district. Woolley actually approached us about wanting to volunteer one day when we were doing a hill workout the winter of 2012. Woolley was on a run that day. We talked to him shortly after and felt that he would be a really good fit. Primarily, Woolley has taken over our core, strength, and injury prevention routines and has managed to keep the kids healthy each season.
What would you describe as the highlight of your coaching career to date?
Winning in 2012 was pretty special because we finally got one after six years of trying. I would say that right up there would be the boys and girls sweeping all six races at the 2012 Continental League Meet. The kids set the goal back in June to try and accomplish it. They knew that every member of the XC team would have to do their part, not just the top five to seven boys and girls. The 25 to 30 minute 5Kers trained every bit as hard as the sub-16 minute kids that summer and fall. It was one of the special days in our program.
What's the secret of Vista Nation? There is no more visible parent-and-school support group for a cross country program in the state, and you don't even work in the building at Mountain Vista. Where does all the energy that keeps this fire going come from?
We have great parent support for sure and they are always willing to help. We ask for their help a lot, something I'm not always the best at doing. Parents want to help though and are happy to support in anyway they can once you ask. The coaches have tried to stress that every member of the team, including the parents, helps with the overall success of the program.
In 2010, we wanted to find a better way to recognize this. We ordered a whole bunch of neon green "Vista Nation XC" shirts so that people could identify with each other at meets. I was amazed at how many parents didn't know each other, but because of those shirts they started to form a bond. We also wanted the kids to be able to see those shirts at school and at meets and say to themselves, "Hey, I'm part of something really special here!"
As a side note, the idea for the shirt is something that I stole from my best friend who ran at Kansas XC powerhouse Shawnee Mission Northwest. Their coach, Van Rose, has used a similar strategy for years. You can never miss SMNW at a meet, or their parents.
Every successful coach has dreams that keep the fire burning. Do you have a dream or two you'd care to share with Colorado Track XC?
We have ambitions for our girls and boys to do well at things like the state meet and NXN in the future, but more than anything I want to see the program continue to develop for the long term. How cool would it be to look back at things with Selle, Woolley, Cox and Cooke 30 years from now and say, "Look at all those kids and families that were impacted in the community!"
We have put a lot of emphasis on the importance that the JV and open runners make to the team. I would like to see that part of the team to continue to grow, and hopefully get closer to 10% of the school population out for cross country each season.