Bellingham sounds like an awesome training environment with a lot of trails. How is the xc/track program at WWU for women? Interested to hear personal experiences and feedback about the coaches. Thx!
Bellingham sounds like an awesome training environment with a lot of trails. How is the xc/track program at WWU for women? Interested to hear personal experiences and feedback about the coaches. Thx!
Through not very familiar with the womans program, i am aware they had a girl (katelyn steen) place top 10 @D2 Nats. She is also an incredible track runner.
WWU has trails everywhere, it's truly runners heaven.
Men's team has some standout runners and most came out of highschool subpar.
Ex..Issac derline: 16:20 5k-HS & 14:58 freshmen year (31:44 10k)
I think you've made a wise decision if you're choosing to attend WWU.
college search wrote:
Bellingham sounds like an awesome training environment with a lot of trails. How is the xc/track program at WWU for women? Interested to hear personal experiences and feedback about the coaches. Thx!
I hope you like to train and race barefoot because shoes are not allowed anywhere in the city of Bellingham.
Has Western gotten their new rainbow tie-die uniforms yet?
trustafari stands alone wrote:
college search wrote:Bellingham sounds like an awesome training environment with a lot of trails. How is the xc/track program at WWU for women? Interested to hear personal experiences and feedback about the coaches. Thx!
I hope you like to train and race barefoot because shoes are not allowed anywhere in the city of Bellingham.
Great school for science and engineering.
Flafel wrote:
Has Western gotten their new rainbow tie-die uniforms yet?
trustafari stands alone wrote:I hope you like to train and race barefoot because shoes are not allowed anywhere in the city of Bellingham.
Nah I heard the ones they received weren't fair trade/fair labor/renewable/0-impact as requested so they threw them in the trash and promised to be more scrupulous in their search for replacements.
High mileage training, very slow paces, friendly, laid back coaches
Sarah Crouch, by whatever name she used to have, won the D2 NCAA 10,000-meter championship while at Western Washington. She's also one of the most articulate interviewees in the sport.
I ran for WWU on the men's team and it was a really great experience. The town is a runner's paradise, and from campus you can run a different route every day, all on trails. Weekend runs usually end up on Galbraith mountain or in the Chuckanut range where you can easily do 20 miles without running the same trail twice.
I liked the coaching staff. The are very laid back, and you can't expect Pee Wee or Bill to check in on you every day. I've seen some runners put off by that, since many high school coaches are more hands on. They're easily approached, but often you have to do the approaching.
They also have a new assistant who is doing really good things with the program.
The training tends to be high mileage on the men's side, but the women's team does not follow suit. I believe 50-60 mpw is often the max they will do (I often thought they should do more, but that's just me). A few have ventured into the 70s and 80s. The coaches emphasize finding the right volume for you.
You should be sure the school has an academic program that interests you. There are several programs that are very strong, although they are more of a liberal arts school. Their science programs are surprisingly good, though there is little in the way of engineering.