Coaches Corner for October 27th: Ryan Kobliska, Ogden Cross Country

with us on coaches corner KWBG talk to Ryan Kibliska Ogden cross country as the Bulldogs get ready for on the boys side of things the state meet on Friday and a coach who wanted to look back to the state qualifying meet and boy oh boy number one great weather that day about time the kids got some really good weather and number two the great weather also brought great results girls finished fourth at the state qualifying meet and the boys qualified finishing second Ryan that's a real nice drive home from jewel that night wasn't it it absolutely was Ryan both our boys and girl teams over the course of the last few weeks have been improving steadily week to week and I just think it was so much fun and so satisfying for us as coaches to see them take it take it up another level and run our most competitive races of the season when anytime you're getting ready for state qualifying that week those last couple days leading up to it there's a lot of nervous energy and anticipation but if you can channel that I think that becomes fuel for some great races and really felt like our kids were they just prepared very well heading into state qualifying they had a plan and they executed on it very well and just showed some awesome effort in the late stages of their races so both the boys and the girl teams we are very pumped about how we raced last week well let's start on the boys side of things obviously with qualifying for the state meet and we knew there was a couple of top teams there with Ankeny Christian and South Hamilton I think at one point you had mentioned West Hancock to me as well I'm not sure when that was but I feel like that was a name that got brought up and so when I saw the final results I'm thinking man that Kabliska guy he kind of knows what he's talking about I say that jokingly because of course you do but just take me through the boys meet Miles and Beck both finish in the top 10 Luke's in the top 15 as you're watching things kind of unfold are you feeling like the kids look fresh that they look like they're going to run their best there were some moments in that race where you got a little nervous but when we came into this meet for the boys the objective was I think very clear Ankeny Christian was a very heavy favorite in this meet and so for us to advance we knew we'd have to match up with South Hamilton and with West Hancock

our plan typically is to run pretty even pace races we saw a lot of other schools go out very hard in the beginning so even when we were at the one mile mark of the race it felt like we were quite a ways behind a lot of the runners we were trying to compete with but to their credit our guys kept their cool very well and they stuck to the plan and got the job done in the second half of the race very impressed with the guys you mentioned Beck and Miles were both top 10 finishers to be individual qualifiers they had to compete very well and make up ground throughout the race but like I said as a team we've been improving steadily week to week and we're running our best races right now I do gotta give mention to Kale Anderson for us he's been running as an eighth grader this year has been our fifth scorer he rolled his ankle pretty hard with about 600 meters left in the race and we knew every point mattered he really got it out and kind of limped and hobbled his way into the finish line so that we could get those precious team points and advances as a team so great effort from him great effort from our guys as a whole and really felt like it was our best performance of the year well and then we go on the girls side of things uh real quick and I know we'll do a season wrap at some point but I wanted to talk about state qualifying meet Ryan the girls finished fourth place outstanding field I thought on that girls side as well to finish fourth was tremendous there's a little PCB though that's left in jewel because Sophie Sligman was that close to qualifying as an individual wasn't she she was very close um and you know you try to have that discussion afterwards I know it's it's disappointing to be that close and not make it but she also ran the race of her life to even put herself in the conversation or even be in position when that was a possibility as warm as it was that night there weren't many kids setting PRs on the course and just her effort and determinations throughout that race she set a PR by 30 seconds again put herself very close to advancing the state but also gave us a huge boost as a team and this was a night for the girls we were running without a couple of girls that are normally scores for us one injury one previous family commitment so um for our girls even to just to hold on to that fourth place that we had took a really big effort from everybody so great rates from Sophie and I'd like to mention Alana Wells set a PR and Addy Hunziker was running as a fifth score she ran a full minute faster than she did on this course when we ran there two weeks prior so um across the board great effort from our girls and just like the boys that felt like it was our best race of this season all right so let's talk about the week for the boys I always feel like I love number one having that that race at the end of the week for stay I'd never like state being in the middle of the week I always kind of feel like it's nice to have that full week to A prepare and B Ryan get some paths on the back right it always feels good when you've had a you know a long season a challenging season to to get a little praise so tell me about the boys this week how have they been and kind of what's the schedule as you guys get ready for Friday

we are sticking to a pretty typical schedule um in terms of our the training the running that we're doing in practice it's not much different than a normal week definitely a little bit lighter as we're trying to taper and go into this race with some fresh legs but guys are in very good mood there's a lot of fun energy at practice you know we feel like we accomplished a big thing last week but at the same time we've got the next couple of days where we need to start to focus in so that we're prepared to to run one more big race I think we're being realistic you know we had we we met a big goal about qualifying last week and you know we're probably not one of those teams contending for a trophy this week but um we also don't feel like we've run our best race yet so we want to run another strong team race we know we're going to deal with some pressure to do that and um we have a lot of guys that are coming back in the future so we're going to gain some like important experience this week and um we just want to enjoy one more week with the guys and go out with one more big race Ryan final thing for me I know you just said you don't feel like you've run your best race yet that's got to be somewhat exciting for coach and for the kids to to all know man we haven't all clicked at the same time what if we all clicked at state what if we found our way you know into the top five or even the top 10 I mean coach that would be a tremendous so wait to say goodbye to your seniors but also talk about getting that bar set for next season already right oh yeah there's a lot of exciting possibilities um just with the number of meets we've had canceled you know it felt like a lot of guys kind of got a late start to their competition season and when you look back over the last few weeks there's been steady progress for several races in a row and we we're really hoping to see the guys take it up one more notch this Friday Ryan is always thank you so much for some time best of luck Friday in Fort Dodge thank you Ryan you bet Ryan Kabliske again joining us Ogden Cross Country here in coaches corner