With John Leech retiring at the end of the 2022-23 school year, the Windsor cross country team was looking for a new head coach.
They didn’t have to look very far.
Sally Helton, who was the assistant coach for the past four years, was promoted to head coach.
When asked how coach Helton’s first year as head coach is going, she said, “Stressful.”
She is not downplaying it with that statement. She not only coaches the high schoolers, but the middle schoolers as well. That is 31 runners she has to coach and plan workouts for on a daily basis. Even with all of this stress, she is working hard to make sure the team bonds well.
Helton said, “I’ve been trying to add in more fun team bonding for the high school, including our Friday night pre-race pasta dinners.
Over the past several years, Helton learned many lessons from the former head coach.
She said, “I have learned a lot from Coach Leech. We spent a lot of time together and talked about running all of the time….we still do. He’s one of my closest friends. He taught me to do what I think is right and what needs to be done.”
While she uses much of what she learned from Leech, she has made some adjustments.
Helton said, “There have been changes to workouts and plans that I have implemented to help our runners. We are going off campus three days a week to run at Pomme Park, which helps with our training. We race on grass, (so) we need to practice on grass. I have added more ‘awards’ at our post race celebrations for kids who excelled at something in the race, not just placing and earning a medal.”
The team was also able to buy new Garmin Forerunner watches that they can use when they train. They were also able to buy new uniforms.
Helton said, “I worked with (Athletic Director) John Crites and got 14 new Garmin Forerunner watches that we are all excited to put to use. I also worked with Mr. Crites and got the middle school team their first uniforms (not hand me downs).”
Over the past few years, the team has had runners such as Bradley Ahrens and Nick Daugherty qualify for the state cross country meet. The team is hopeful they will have others in the near future.
In a recent race at Arcadia Valley, junior runners Noah Kizer and Scotty Moravec both beat their personal records by over one minute. They are both big leaders on the team and help motivate the younger runners.
Helton said, “I’m impressed with the amount of leadership skills I see with our teams this year. On the boy’s side Noah Kizer and Scotty Moravec have done an amazing job encouraging the high schoolers and even the middle schoolers. On the girl’s side, our seniors are amazing. Riley Merchant, Amelia Schaefer and Katie Boyster are both positive and hard workers. Both sides push our runners and encourage them, even when we are all suffering through a workout. At meets, these athletes not only are getting their pre-race routine done but they are guiding middle school to get theirs down as well.”
