New coaching staff employs fresh, upbeat approach

The Pitt men’s cross country team has undergone numerous changes over the past year. Between five freshmen and two new assistant coaches, one might question the team’s ability to make a seamless transition from the Big East into the tougher Atlantic Coast Conference.

The upperclassmen, however, have embraced the change, and the new coaching staff is leading the way.

Compared to the previous coaches, Jim Lear and Adam Bray bring a different and well-received coaching style to the table, according to senior Ben Kisley. These coaches interact with the team on a more personal level, sending out daily emails with advice on how to hydrate, eat and sleep properly. 

Furthermore, the practices are much different this year. Six times a week, the coaches organize practice. 

These practices include one long run a week, in which the team takes a bus to a trail around Pittsburgh, one or two difficult interval runs and three or four easy recovery runs. This workout plan is preferred to that of last year, when the coaches often ran the players hard — perhaps to their detriment come race time.

“Last year, workouts were a lot harder, and it would kind of wear us out for races,” Kisley said. “I’d say they’re [Lear and Bray] a lot smarter with their training plain.”

Despite the coaches’ hands-on style, it’s been necessary for the upperclassmen to take on a  leadership role as well, speeding up the acclimation process for the freshmen. Junior Rich Addison believes that a close group is a more successful group, and has thus made an effort to frequently spend time with his freshman teammates. 

Every time the team plans to run — officially or unofficially — Addison always makes sure the freshmen are with him, so that he may confirm they’re doing the workout correctly.

“All of the upperclassmen, we try to help [the freshmen] along and teach them what it’s like to run a college race and try to help them with all of the things that have been passed down by the upperclassmen before us,” Addison said.

Through numerous hours spent together, the team has become a close unit, Addison says. In fact, it’s uncommon for a member of the team to be without a teammate at any given time. 

Since the freshmen all live together and the upperclassmen have a cross country house, the runners are constantly around each other, often inviting fellow teammates over to hang out. Having a close group pays off during meets, Kisley says.

“When you’re closer to your team, you’re more motivated to stick together, and you want to do well for your teammates,” Kisley said. “I feel like in past years we’ve been not very close compared to this year.”

In times of duress during competition, this close bond helps most.

“When you’re hurting, it makes it that much harder to quit,” Addison said.

The coaches and players have been fairly pleased with the results they’ve seen thus far. Pitt’s first competition came August 31, when the team raced in the Duquesne Duals at Schenley Park. The men’s squad finished 4-1, with Addison finishing best among his teammates in fifth place. Kisley finished 13th, while freshmen Wes Roberts and Chris Pastore finished 17th and 18th, respectively. 

This is a marked improvement, Lear said, as Pitt finished much closer to Duquesne than last year, placing three in the top nine, as opposed to not placing last year.

The team’s second competition took place September 13th at the Spiked Shoe Invitational, hosted by Penn State. Pitt finished third, with Junior Cullen Davis leading the way for Pitt at sixth place. Freshman Josh Trzeciak finished 19th, while Pastore and Roberts placed 20th and 21st, respectively. 

Lear noted that the freshmen made significant progress between the first and second competitions, as most ran faster at Penn State than at Duquesne, even though the course is longer by 0.23 miles.

As the team continues to make progress, Kisley feels that he and his teammates are well on their way of reaching their goal of finishing top ten in the region. Lear’s main goal, on the other hand, is a high finish in the vaunted NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on Nov. 15.

“My big goal this year is to be in or very close to the top ten in the regional,” Lear said. “The Mid-Atlantic Regional, I know what it means. That’s what I’m shooting at as a goal.”

With plenty of motivation, the team is hungry to reach these goals and bring further legitimacy to Pitt cross country.

“For a while, Pitt cross country, honestly, it hasn’t been as good as it could’ve been,” Kisley said. “With our new coaching and moving into the ACC, we have a lot of motivation to turn a new leaf and show that we’re capable of performing at the top level.”