Ever wondered what kind of funny stories the St. Joe teachers have stored up? So did we! So we set out to document some of the greatest stories from the school’s most popular teachers. Check out the second installment of Teacher Tales, featuring Mr. Jody Harris.
Brett Davis, a history teacher at Mount Saint Joseph, was a Division I cross country runner at James Madison University, located in Harrisonburg, VA. He is now assistant coach of the JV and Varsity cross country teams at the Mount.
“The difference between college running and high school running is; in high school you stayed after school and ran for about an hour and a half, did your workout and then you went home.” Mr. Davis added, “in college, it was much more demanding and was more of a part-time job.” I then asked, “What is the difference between the meets in college and high school? What is the difference between the courses?” His response was, “In high school the races were mostly 5K (3.1 miles), but sometimes shorter and I never left the state of Maryland because I was in public school. But with college, it was 10K (6.2 miles) and I ran in about 5 or 6 different states all up and down the East Coast.”
I asked if he likes coaching at the Mount, and whether he thinks differently of his coaches now that he is in their shoes. His response was, “I like coaching here because there are a lot of dedicated and hard-working runners like our varsity team, because you guys are student-athletes and you are dedicated to the sport at the same time, ” he said. “I have a greater appreciation for my college and high school coaches because at first, I took them for granted when I was a teenager and I have used some of their coaching tips and the way they coached into the way I coach today.”
I’ve had Mr. Davis as my coach for the past two years and he’s helped not only with new runners but also experienced runners. He is very dedicated to the sport such as any coach should be to the sport they are coaching. He definitely gives off this “let’s go win and have mental toughness” kind of vibe to him which makes the team stronger. As coach, he’s helped the team win four meets so far this season and many more to come as assistant coach of the Mount Saint Joseph cross country team.
Over the past few years, the Varsity Cross Country team was nothing short of dominant with some of the top runners in the state. However, with the loss of some dominant seniors, the varsity cross country team has a new face and identity. For some, the transition from an older experienced team could be a problem, but for this team, there is hope for the season. The team won back to back MIAA cross country championships in 2015-2016 season and the 2016-2017 season, anchored by Hunter Petrick, Andrew Brinker, Ryan Hockstra, Chris Flynn, Gabe Antone, David Trider. This year’s team now consists of Chris Flynn, Gabe Antone, David Trider, Nick DeLauro, Reza Farjami, Michael Vartain and Dan Alli.
This year’s cross country team is expecting to have a rebuilding year with new faces and a different environment with some new coaches as well. The top three runners (Chris Flynn, Gabe Antone, and David Trider) have been consistent with placing and times while the back four (Nick DeLauro, Reza Farjami, Dan Alli, and Michael Vartain) are improving and working on pacing together and staying as a pack. According to Coach Jack Peach, so far they have been looking strong as a team and staying together. One area that needs to improve is the time gap between the number three runner and the number four runner. Sitting at close to a minute, the time gap needs to be shortened if the team wants to have a legitimate shot at the championship.
When speaking to Coach Jack Peach about what his biggest goal for this season was, he replied, “my biggest goal is to be a top team and be able to compete for champs.” He said, “our back four runners need to work on getting stronger and get more miles in. Also, they don’t have as much experience in these type of races.”
For a team building in experience , this year will be interesting to see how the improvements work and to see how the new guys do on the big stage. We don’t know what will happen, but the underclassmen will definitely gain from the competitions. Either way, it should be an interesting season for the Varsity Gaels Cross Country team.
The Quill 