Fall Sports Preview: J.E.B. Stuart

The J.E.B. Stuart boys cross country team has the potential to have a great season this year. They have the potential to compete in the regional competition. They have the potential to win the district championship. But to achieve those goals, it will take a lot of heart. Something that Head Coach Ron Kronlage is still hoping the team can muster.

Last year the team went into the district championship with the ability, Kronlage says, to take the top spot. But the team came up short, placing fifth out of seven schools, one spot away from advancing to the regional competition. For a team with the talent to do better, Kronlage said it was quite a disappointment.

“We thought we had a team that could compete for the district championship, but we didn’t rise to the occasion,” he said.

According to Kronlage, part of the problem was a lack of experience. “They didn’t understand how much you have to hurt in order to win.”

This season, experience might be on the Raider runners’ side. The team didn’t lose anyone from last season and there are three runners who will be competing in their fourth varsity season.

The girls team on the other hand is still finding their own identity this year with a squad full of new runners. Kronlage says that with a lot of different girls sports in the fall, like field hockey and volleyball, they have had a tough time attracting female runners with a lot of athletic experience, something Kronlage prizes for a variety of reasons.

Along with understanding the effort necessary to win, experience also translates into durability.

“The more you run, the greater your base. In order to compete at a top level you have to consistently train at a level that will prevent you from getting hurt. We’re still working on that.”

But there is more to running than simply being fit. Kronlage says that teams often have two different styles of running a race. Some teams feature fast runners who run according to their own goals and try to pull up the team by their individual performances, while other teams work on a pack mentality, where the runners stay together and try to bolster each other’s performance.

Kronlage says while he has runners who he thinks are going to perform well, he still questions the team’s ability to work together.

“We’d like to get more pack mentality going this season,” he says.

Individually, the captain of the boys team, Dave Schlaseman, is competing in his fourth varsity season and has the potential for his own break-out season.

Last year he was fourth in the district and this year has the potential to catch the top runners in the district championship.

“He demonstrates the work ethic that it takes to be a great runner,” Kronlage says. “In intervals he is always the first one in, and in timed runs he always goes the furthest.”

Topping Kronlage’s list of tough opponents this year was last year’s district champion Mt. Vernon, the favorite to repeat this year.

To take them on, Kronlage says his team is going to have to face up their opponent’s runners directly.

“Each guy has a job to take the other team’s runners on one-on-one,” he said. For Schlaseman, who will be running against the individual district champion (WHO???) from last year it will be quite a challenge.

Kronlage coaches the team with Ronald Wilson, and has been at Stuart since 1997. Over that time he has seen the popularity of the sport grow from only about a dozen his first year, to over 40 runners this season, although the girls team remains small.

But the growth in popularity has not necessarily translated to an increased intensity in focus.

“I’m still wrestling with that,” says Kronlage. With many of the runners involved in other activities, many have a hard time making it to practice every day, which he said is counterproductive for a sport that requires practice five days a week.

Still Kronlage said the boys have a chance if they put their hearts into winning this year.

“Running is 75% mental,” he said. “Some runners are overachievers and that desire will take them beyond any physical limitations.”

Whether or not his team finds that inner drive could mean a district championship or another disappointment for the Raiders. “They have the potential, but whether they’re going to show … that remains to be seen.”

“Last year I really tried to challenge them, but this year I’m just going to let them gel as a team and see how they perform.”