best boarding prep school running program

Hey Dave (it has to be you), are you going to the meet next weekend in Lynchburg?

There was a time in the 1970's when everyone got hammered by Coach John Small's XC teams. It was a major event when we finally beat them in our annual dual meet in '72. Glad to hear that the tradition might be coming back.

cool to hear of someone who knows of Coach John Small and Taft. Coach Small was a GREAT guy. If you have access, Runners World did a wonderful story on him when he retired back in 87 or so. Congrats on being on the team that ended his streak.

We didn't end it - Kent did. They did everything they could to peak for their dual meet with Taft and beat them early in the season (and slowly fell apart after that). By the time we raced Kent (later part of the season), we put 5 or 7 guys in before their first man. We always ended our season (the week after New Englands) with the dual meet against Taft and were able to beat them, finally, also. But not without some excitement - we finished 2,3,6,7,8 (I think), but when they first scored the meet, they didn't count the 2d Place finisher and had Taft as the winners. One of my teammates fell down on the ground and started crying (yeah, beating the Tafties was important). It got fixed, though.

Back then, their horses were Parrish, Black, Reed and another guy they called "Wheels". I always like Coach Small and he always made a point of talking to me after our races.

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Rav Simcha wrote:

Sorry I don't know more outside of new england, but, hey you could always go to Mission Prep in Cali and run with Jordan Hasay.

Just to clarify, in case he wasn't being facetious: Mission Prep isn't a boarding school. They do have a good coaching staff with Mando and Leslie Monaco, though.

oldfatguy wrote:

Hey Dave (it has to be you), are you going to the meet next weekend in Lynchburg?

No, this isn't Dave - very good guess though. He'll probably be there, since he hardly ever misses a meet. I will not be, since I'm actually still in college and running on the team - I have my own meets to go to and run in.

I will agree Taft is a great school and seem to have their priorities straight about balancing academics and sports. They do have some great areas to train and I hear the coaches regularly take the team to a variety of local trails and work closely with individuals who are committed to getting fast. But Taft and just about every other boarding school worth a crap had applications due Jan. 31 and sent out admissions decisions on Mar. 10 for the fall. Not impossible but rare for a school to admit someone this late unless they need zero financial aid(Taft costs $36,000/yr), have solid high school grades, and good recommendations along with some fast times to get a coach to lay it on the line for you with admissions at this point in the year.

I will second that Fork Union would be an excellent choice. I think there can be a big stigma against military schools for some kids (i.ie "mom, dad, your sending me off to boot camp?!?) but this is one I definetly woundn't have minded going to. Coach Winston Brown really know's his stuff and probably has a future National Champion on his hands in Mostrag. The indoor track is actually pretty quick for being less that 170 meters wide. I was suprising by running about a 9:45 3200m in there in high school. The school has an excellent running tradtion. I would say that one of the main downsides of the school is the division that they are in. All Private Virginia school unfortuently only compete against themselves in the championship season leading to lackluster depth offset by occationally impressively fast first place preformances (I.e. Mostrag, the Keinos, Doswell etc). However, outside of their championship season, they often attend great meets. If you are looking for something a little different from New England private schools, look Fork Union.

This took place 25 years ago but a high school buddy of mine went to Fork Union and it changed his life for the best. He had some trouble in high school and went there to play basketball. One of the strangest but cool things the basketball coach said was if you want to play basketball you had to run xcountry. So my 6ft9 friend ran xcountry. After Fork Union he went to a D1 school on a full ride for hoops. He ran with the xcountry team in the fall to prepare for the basketball season. I cant imagine a full scholarship basketball player doing that today. My friend later was drafted but cut for the NBA but played overseas.

George. Dadebuck, here.

If you are interested in a Southeastern Boarding school, Baylor School is in Chattanooga TN. We have a program that produced 3 Footlocker finalists, kids who have run at Milrose Games and Penn Relays miles. Graduates have run and are running at Stanford, Colorado, Wake Forest, Dartmouth, Samford and Emory. We have our own Cross Country locker room with couches, showers and AC. We have a big enough budget to fly occasionally to races in New England. We have a somewhat international team with a good runner from South Africa and myself being German. Our coach Van Townsend trained in Kenya and is well connected to college coaches and agents. Our 600 acres campus, with many grass field provides excellent opportunities for base runs. Our school records are: 9:04 2 mile, 4:09 1600 and 1:53 800. If you have any more questions feel free to email me. You can also take a look at the website: www.baylorschool.org

The Fork Union coach or coaches obviously know how to get athletes to the top level, but the original poster should keep in mind that their male stars have been invariably of East African descent. A training program that worked for the son of Olympic Champion Kip Keino is not necessarily going to work for him. Before making a decision to attend any school, the original poster would be wise to contact the coach to discuss whether the coach thinks the program would be a good fit for developing his abilities. Perhaps Fork Union is the place, but perhaps not. I guess my point is that you can't just look at the top athletes coming out of a program to decide whether it's right for you, particulary when the top athletes could probably have run 9:50 in the deuce with no training.

St. Paul's School, not the very best environment for running, but a great school. Arguably the best out there. Good trails as well.

It is true that most of FUMA's best runners in the past were of East African descent, but Coach Brown does not use a cookie-cutter approach to his training. He tends to tailor training to the individual - if a runner can't handle big miles, he doesn't do them. If another runner needs mileage to progress, he puts in the miles. If a combination is required, that is done. My guess is that the original poster would be able to work with Coach Brown and they would develop a program that would work for him.

Last year, a young man named Andrew Rademaker left FUMA with a PR of 9:25 in the 3200. He started high school not being able to break 20 minutes on the notoriously fast Burke Lake course (2.98 miles). Certainly, four years of maturing and naturally growing stronger were important in his improvement, but it was his dedication and Coach Brown's skills that got him that 9:25.

The latest horse in Brown's stable is Axel Mostrag (Eastern European in this case). He showed up at FUMA with some obvious talent and a great set of wheels, but with little experience running XC or even the 3200. Coach Brown has put some base behind the speed and I think the surface was barely scratched with his recent 4:13 (DMR leg)/1:53 800 at the Nike meet in Maryland. 4:10/1:50 are absolutely doable this spring.

FUMA isn't for everyone, but at least from the running aspect it can hold a lot of promise. It is a military school and doesn't coddle anyone. As a graduate of a New England prep school and now the father of a runner at FUMA, and given the choice, I would attend FUMA.

To oldfatguy -- great info I didn't know. This is what the original poster needs to get from each of the schools he is considering, and that was the point of my previous post. Don't just look at the top times to come out of the program, but how the program worked for the individual athletes to generate those times. There are programs out there with insane records, but some have poor depth because the coaching is not responsive to the less-talented athlete. Find out how the program responds to individuals if you want to maximize your chance of reaching a high level.

oldfatguy wrote:

George. Dadebuck, here.

You got me - this is George.

Yes, it's true that FUMA has had success with some African runners who would have been awesome no matter where they went to school, but like Mr. Buckland and I both mentioned, Coach Brown also recently turned Andrew Rademaker into a pretty decent runner. Rademaker was unable to break 5:00 in the 1600 as a sophomore in his first year at FUMA, became a 3200 runner the next year and ran 9:51, and ran 9:25 the following year. In my first track season at Fork Union, the coaches there helped me take about 45 seconds off of my 3200 time as well, and I wasn't new to the distance running game at the time either; that was my 5th year of running cross country and track. On top of that, there is still plenty of time to apply to the school for next fall.

I think you should come to Arizona and live in my garage, and I'll make sure you get the best teachers at my high school. But I doubt that will carry much sway with your parents.

Deerfield Academy, Ryan Moats