KWU Athletics
Garrett Young is a happy camper these days. In his new role of head cross country coach and associate head track coach at Kansas Wesleyan he's where he wants to be and doing what he wants to do.
"To put it as simply as possible it feels good to be home," said Young, a 2017 KWU graduate and former All-Kansas Conference distance runner and assistant coach for the Coyotes. "(Coaching) was never really the goal in college and it just kind of grew on me. But as soon as those seeds were planted the idea of coaching at Kansas Wesleyan, at my alma mater, was always something that intrigued me."
Young returns after three years at Southwestern where he was head cross country and assistant track coach.
"I honestly am excited to see how much the school and the program has grown since I have been away, which is night and day," he said. "It's a very different looking program than the one I left in 2019."
Young replaces Kyle Hiser as cross country coach and will assist him with the KWU track program. Hiser was promoted to program director for both sports in June and Young was hired soon after.
"To see the growth and investment that Kansas Wesleyan is putting into the cross country and track and field programs and being able to come home ultimately drew me in," Young said.
The KWU women placed third and the men fourth in last season's KCAC championships. Senior standouts Stephanie Martinez and Tabetha Deines qualified for the NAIA Women's National Championships – the third trip for Martinez and second for Deines. Freshman Daniel Harkin qualified for the men, but did not return to KWU this year.
The Coyotes open the season on Thursday evening at the Terry Masterson Twilight in Hutchinson at Fun Valley Sports Complex.
MEN
Young likes the quantity and quality of the squad. He's working with 13 runners, three of them named to the KCAC Preseason Team – juniors Austin Hess (JR/Garden City, Kan.) and Shane Calvin (JR/Lakin, Kan.) and sophomore Giovanni Rios (SO/Temecula, Calif.). KWU was fourth in the coaches' preseason poll.
Hess qualified for NAIA half marathon in track last spring and placed 46th.
"All three of them are in really great shape right now but I think anyone who has been around this will tell you your fourth and fifth and sometimes sixth and seventh (runners) are just as important as your ones and twos," Young said. "If Austin wins the whole thing and our fifth man finishes 110th that doesn't help us too much.
"What's exciting about that is we actually have a really deep group right now. (Sophomore) Cisco Alvarez (SO/Colorado Springs, Colo.) has made some strides forward over the spring and summer. He's been running in that top group with Shane and Austin and Gio."
Three freshmen have run well early on – Jake Cruz (FR/Pasadena, Texas) from Houston, Nick Martinez from Coppell, Texas and Will Griffith who ran for Salina Central and finished 19th in the Class 5A state cross country meet last season.
"He's a little bit more used to the higher mileage and is taking to the training really well so far," Young said of Cruz. "(Martinez's personal records) in the longer distances on paper might not be quite the same pedigree but is off to a really great start and has been hanging in with those (top) guys and looking really good in workouts.
"Right now, I could not tell you who's going to finish fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth or 10th because it can be anyone, anywhere on any given day. And we would like to see that continue to be the case."
WOMEN
Young does not like the R-word – rebuild.
"I think when a coach describes a rebuild that's a copout for 'we're going to be bad and my kids are going to be bad,'" he said.
The Coyotes are a new team in 2022 after the departures of Martinez and Deines who left indelible marks on the cross country and track programs during their eight combined years. Young's focus, though, is on the here and now. This year's team features two upperclassmen on the nine-runner roster.
"I think that we have an extremely talented group," he said. "It's a very young group; the lone senior is Regan Rhodes (SR/Mullinville, Kan.) who will for sure be a top five for us."
Junior Daniella Gaona (JR/Clifton, Texas) is the program's other veteran but Young is pleased and impressed with the youngsters, particularly one with local ties.
"We have a very strong freshman front runner in Madisyn Ehrlich (FR/Salina, Kan.), a Sacred Heart graduate who was 10th (20:13.20) at her (Class 2A) state meet as a senior," he said. "She has really been running away with it a lot."
Four other newcomers also have performed well – freshmen Joni Schroeder (FR/Salina, Kan.), a Southeast of Saline High School product, and Charlee Lind (FR/Wamego, Kan.) from Wamego along with sophomores Josie Koppes (SO/Manhattan, Kan.) of Manhattan and Alayna Behrman (SO/Craig, Colo.) from Craig, Colo. Lind placed 18th in the Class 4A state meet last October.
Martinez and Deines' departures have created leadership opportunities, according to Young.
"Without an established hierarchy some of the girls are finding the opportunities to step up," he said. "Who is the leader and what is the identity of this program? It doesn't have to be the fastest girl on the track or on the course.
"Anytime that you get to wear Kansas Wesleyan on that jersey you're going to go compete hard. I'm never going to give them the excuse of this is a rebuild so there's not an expectation to perform at a higher level. With the group that we have I think they know that we can compete for high places and positions."