Coaches Corner for September 4th: Michael Melchert, DMACC Cross Country

With us on Coaches Corner, KWBG, get a chance to talk some DMACC cross country, Michael Meltzer joining us as he bears get a chance to get the season going for real. And I know Michael, they were super busy this summer and I can tell you that because I see him out running all the time and I usually know who's from Boone or the Arian. So I can tell that the ladies and the guys have been busy. Have you been pretty happy with the ramp up to Iowa State? Yeah, I think this has been, you know, obviously the most kids have ever had and the most consistent summer habits kids. So I'm excited to see what they can do tomorrow. Women's side of things, obviously, and I know we have a bunch on the men's side and we'll get to that here in just a second, but boy, we got a lot of new faces on the women's side this year. It's probably exciting and a little terrifying at the same time, right? Yeah, it's definitely an adjustment period for them, but kind of moving into college and getting used to my training, but it's an adjustment period for me too. And we'll see how they race tomorrow and we'll kind of adjust from there. When you get kind of together and let the ladies know what you expect in the off season, how'd they kind of take to what you wanted them to run? Yeah, I think the biggest thing for them is it's just a lot more volume and intensity from what they're coming from their high school program. So I think just getting on the same page there, they have to be on top of their recovery more than they were in high school and kind of take care of the things outside of running so we can continue to build that mileage and have those bigger workouts. So it's been a good transition for most of them, a little bumps along the way, but we're getting to a good place as the season gets rolling. Michael, you do have a couple of sophomores that are coming back on the women's side of things. Does that help with such a big freshman class? Yeah, you have to have some summer leadership from my perspective and kind of how we do things. So, C.C. and Mariah are two sophomores coming back and they've done a great job over the summer and then obviously as we transition to getting on campus, helping the freshmen out and getting them to where they need to be. Expectations for meet number one, Michael, I know with the week that it has been with such not great conditions, it's obviously gonna be hot Friday morning when they run. What do you kind of want to see from the ladies though in this first meet? Yeah, I think just go out, be competitive, see where the summer training has taken them. I think a lot of them will be a lot of five KPRs are in meet one, which is a good building block. And I think it's just a good mix up in their training. You know, all we've been doing is workouts, mileage, workouts, mileage. So I think just to break it up and get a race in there, I think we'll really kind of raise their spirits as you were there at. And then yeah, like I've said, a couple of times now, just kind of adjust from there what we need to do. I know we have a lot of freshmen on the men's side of things too, but I'll tell you what, Michael, you got a lot of sophomores in there and potentially, you know, your top couple could be in that sophomore group. We could always have, you know, something change up with the freshmen, maybe stepping in there, but you're kind of veteran that way, although there is a big freshman class. It's kind of interesting mix this year. Yeah, I think having sophomore leadership or kind of anticipated to be our top runners definitely helps a lot. And I think it gives the freshmen something to look forward to. But yeah, like you said, every year I've had at least one freshman kind of, you know, go crazy in the fall season versus what their expectations were supposed to be. So I'm excited to see, you know, what that looks like this first meet and then as we go throughout the season. It's got to be exciting though, Michael, with obviously thinking about these freshmen and what they could do, but having those sophomores that are really gonna, should be able to lead by example for sure. That's got to make coach feel pretty content when it comes to this first meet. Yeah, yeah, they've always, the sophomores we're talking about, they've always, you know, performed well and I can go through race strategy and not have to worry about talking to them too much on the side kind of after our team meetings and they kind of know their expectations and then that I think just put our ducks and rubs with everyone, you know, on the right path. If you're passing, you know, for an AK race, our number one runner after the first mile, it's probably not a good place to meet. So I think, you know, they've done a good job. I've coached them for, this will be, you know, going into year two for most of them. So I think we're at a good spot. Do they have some pretty high expectations? I know you just brought that word up, Michael. Do they have some high expectations for this fall season? Yeah, I think if you ask any of the sophomores, they want to win the whole dang thing, but we got to get to November 1st. I think, you know, the rankings just came out there. They were ranked third nationally, so obviously that's a podium team. I think that's pretty realistic for where we are right now, but it's hard to tell. We'll see, it's all going to depend on, you know, we have a lot of runners four through 10, four through 12 that I don't really know where they're going to end up by then. So their feeling is going to kind of be the marker for how high we are on that podium. Michael, having a big target on your chest to start the season, would you rather be the hunter or the hunted? I like a little bit in between. I like to be, you know, in the three through eight ranks. So I think we're right there. I think with how the guys have gotten runner up in the past two seasons, I think most people kind of know to look a little bit for us, but yeah, definitely don't like being the top, but definitely like to be excited as well. Well, Michael, best of luck in meet number one on the Iowa State course. So we'll talk to you again here in a couple of weeks. Thank you, I appreciate it. You bet, Michael Meltzer again, joining us, Team Matt Cross Country here on Coaches Corner.