Here at Judge, our cross country team is strong, taking both all city and all region championships last year. But this year, the team is under new leadership with head coach Christopher Ring taking over for Coach Jason Heideman.
Coach Ring ran track in high school and in college at Chico State, and coached track and cross country in his hometown in California starting in 2008. He spent about half that time as assistant coach and then as head coach. He then came to Judge in 2021, where he has been head coach of track and field for two years, and now he is starting as head coach of cross country.
Coaching track is very different from coaching cross country here at Judge. Coach Ring has noticed a lot more bonding between the teammates, since everyone can practice together. The mindset is also very different for cross country with longer races.
“Other than just ‘Oh, I have to go run for 3 miles,’ there’s a lot of smaller details, things like taking care of their sleep, hydration, nutrition, stretches, and all the other stuff that athletes often take for granted,” he told us.
Those smaller details, from hydration to running drills to always running through the finish line, are especially important for Coach Ring, and as the new head coach, he wants to teach his athletes to take them seriously.
“I want them to have more of a focus on the process and less focus on just the outcomes, and more more self awareness that all the things that they do in practice have consequences or have an impact on their performance,” he said when asked about his goals for the team this season
Cross country athletes are still adjusting to Coach Ring’s mindset and the changes it comes with during practices. We interviewed one junior, Sophia Tomczack, who ran with Coach Heideman for four years, starting as a seventh grader. Heideman was an amazing coach and will definitely be missed by the team.
“I think everyone was really close with Heideman, you know? And with Mr. Ring it’s not the same because you don’t have that relationship, but also because he’s a harder coach than Coach Heideman was. He cares a lot more about everything. We do a lot more drills now, a lot more core and weightlifting type stuff.” Sophia told us.
Sophia is still optimistic about the season with a new coach, however. She told us, “I think the team is really strong and I think some of the extra stuff we’ve been doing has really helped with that.” Mantras such as ‘be mentally tough’ that Coach Ring introduced encourage athletes to push harder, and his new warmups and drills have helped athletes get faster and improve their running form.
Some athletes don’t agree, however. One sophomore described feeling stressed after Mr. Ring’s team meetings, which he holds once a week to teach athletes better habits that will improve their results.
“He’s like, ‘if you don’t have proper drill form you’ll be slow, if you eat sugar you’ll be slow, and so on. It stresses me out a lot, like I’ve been doing everything wrong.” the sophomore athlete told us. The two athletes I interviewed agreed the harder coaching style and lengthy team meetings have been a hard adjustment for the team, but that as the season goes on, they will get used to it, and hopefully have successful results from it.
Looking at race results, the season seems to be going well so far. Both the boys and girls cross country teams won their first meet on August 21 at Wheeler Farm. Coach Ring is enthusiastic about the rest of the season. “We have a good crop of upperclassmen that are starting to really show some leadership and everything. And we also have a great crop of freshmen,” he said to conclude our interview.
Cross country season will continue until the state meet on October 30 at Sugarhouse Park. Hopefully the team will continue to see success and reach some personal records this season. Let’s go, Bulldogs!
