Garrett Young challenged his Kansas Wesleyan women's cross country team numerous times this fall and they never failed to respond.
He is asking the Coyotes to take on one final "tall task," this one Friday during the NAIA National Championship.
"Telling a group of athletes 'I want you to get out at a pace I know you can't sustain for an entire race is a tall task,'" he said. "But they have to accept that 'I'm going to go out, I'm going to do this, and I'm going come out the other side okay.'"
KWU will compete in the 6,000-meter race at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Fla. The event begins at 7:30 a.m. central time.
The Coyotes qualified for nationals by winning the Kansas Conference Championship on Nov. 8 in Leavenworth. They upset prerace favorite and 10th-ranked Saint Mary on the Spires' home course. It was KWU's first women's KCAC cross country title since 2013.
"Saint Mary has been in control of our conference for cross country for a while now, so beating them on their home course was phenomenal; it was amazing," said senior Kirstin Hackney who finished third. "I don't think they were expecting it, so that made it even better."
Senior Kierra Jensen led the way with a second-place finish followed by Hackney, senior Josie Koppes in sixth, senior Madisyn Ehrlich seventh and sophomore Micah Dickens ninth.
The Coyotes placed 14th in last year's NAIA race in Columbia, Mo. with Ehrlich leading the way in 49th. She'll be joined in Florida by Jensen, Hackney, Koppes, Dickens, senior Charlee Lind and junior Shelby Lingle.
KWU is ranked 11th going into the race and Young is confident the team will prove themselves one more time.
"From the very get go winning a conference championship was on the goal sheet so I am really proud of the way they bought into everything," he said. "I asked some pretty big things out of them so having their trust and having their belief was really important this season.
"Bringing back six out of our top seven that ran at nationals and essentially everyone else eight through 12, we definitely came in this year with high goals, high expectations. They worked really hard to get to the point that they're at."
Hackney said teamwork has been and is the secret sauce.
"Knowing that we have people that are really good in certain areas can make it easier going into it, especially on a course that we don't know much about," she said. "Trust the training, know that we've done this before. It's a 6K and we've done that 100 times, we can do it again."
Young isn't worried about the course that will host the World Cross Country Championships in January. Weather, though, is a concern.
"The course is pretty fast," he said. "It's a net downhill; it's got one sharp uphill. But it's Florida, and it's scheduled to be in the 80s all week. Our race is at 7:30 so I'm expecting a balmy 70 or 75 degrees. The weather's been pretty warm here all things considered, so I think we're ready for it."
"We run all the time in the summer so should be able to deal with it," Hackney said. "We're going to figure it out, hopefully. We'll find out."
Apalachee Regional Park was the site of the 2022 NAIA Championship. Ehrlich is the only member of the current squad who competed there.
Hackney said conquering this year's challenge is a matter of focusing on the task at hand.