21. Marietta (GA)
Flo50 rank: 21
Regional: Southeast/1st/156 pts/15:50 avg/0:34 spread
Coach: Jack Coleman
NXN podiums: None.
The dual honors of gutsiest choice and saltiest coach in the national field may go to Marietta's Jack Coleman. He elected to only run five boys at the Southeast regional meet, meaning that one pothole or aggressive turn would have relegated Marietta to DNS in the team standings. Instead of scaring his boys, though, the gamble turned out to be the exact type of show of faith that galvanized the squad and freed them up to run aggressively. Obviously, this weekend in Portland, they have no margin for error at all. But that was true last week, too.
The high-sodium factor comes in to play with the chip on their shoulder. In an email this week, Coleman told me that "MileSplit putting us 21st in the rankings helped out [with focus and motivation] quite a bit."
Always glad to help!
The dual honors of gutsiest choice and saltiest coach in the national field may go to Marietta's Jack Coleman. He elected to only run five boys at the Southeast regional meet, meaning that one pothole or aggressive turn would have relegated Marietta to DNS in the team standings. Instead of scaring his boys, though, the gamble turned out to be the exact type of show of faith that galvanized the squad and freed them up to run aggressively. Obviously, this weekend in Portland, they have no margin for error at all. But that was true last week, too.
The high-sodium factor comes in to play with the chip on their shoulder. In an email this week, Coleman told me that "MileSplit putting us 21st in the rankings helped out [with focus and motivation] quite a bit."
Always glad to help!