2023 D3 XC Coaches Press Conference
The 2023 D3 XC National meet is here and we sat down withs six coaches to discuss their season, the goals for Saturday, and how they handle the big meets.
Time Stamp
2:34 - Donna Ricks - Carleton
12:28 - Derek Stanley - UW-La Crosse
24:06 - Ryan Chapman - Wartburg
40:58 - Tyler Deck Shipley - NYU
52:13 - Matt Sinnott - North Central
1:05:44 - Tim Connelly - Carnegie Mellon
Coach Donna Ricks is the Head Coach at Carleton. They come into Nationals as the No. 2 ranked team. They’ve had an undefeated season so far and looked impressive against SUNY Geneseo at the Mike Woods Invite. She brings back a full team from last year’s podium and has been impressed with how they’ve looked all year.
“I just said to them, ‘Champions figure out how to make things happen.”
Tyler Deck Shipley from NYU leads the No. 1 ranked Women’s team and the No. 29 ranked Men’s team heading into Saturday. NYU women have been the story of the season. They finished 26th last year at the National Meet. It was their first time at the meet since 2013. Tyler is in his thrid season now and talked about how’s been a slow culmination of little things that have led to this big breakthrough.
”And, if you just came back every month and took a temperature of the room, I think you would gradually start to feel that this is a place where some really good momentum is happening. And just the kind of energy in the effervescence is continuing to grow and I think that would be the best way to see it.”
Matt Sinnott was “handed the baton” after Coach Al Carius and Coach Frank Gramarosso retired at North Central. As a North Central alum and long time coach, Coach Sinnott was honored to begin his leg. He leads North Central to the National Meet as the No. 2 ranked team.
”Our metric for if we've had a successful season is if we were as prepared as we could be. If we missed something in preparation, well that's the checkmark that I look at. We don't have any control over the outcome, we have control over how prepared we are going in.”
Coach Ryan Chapman of Wartburg leads the only program with two top five teams in the country. The women are ranked fourth and the men are ranked fifth heading into the national meet. He speaks to how he balances both teams and ensure both teams get the right amount of attention.
“Something we say is, why do we go up front? And the answer, well, that's where we belong. That's where we belong.”
Coach Tim Connelly of Carnegie Mellon has the No. 3 ranked Men’s team and the No. 31 ranked Women’s team as they get ready for the National meet. Coach Connelly speaks to how they aren’t looking at the rankings and only worried about themselves. He is excited about the experience they will rely on the men’s side and the experience his women’s team will get running at the meet.
”We go into races just worried about us. We don't talk about other teams and, you know, this guy's going to do this and that guy's gonna do that. We worry about what we have to do and that's kind of the approach that we've been able to take all year.”
Coach Derek Stanley of UW-La Crosse leads the No. 1 ranked Men’s team and the No. 13 ranked Women’s into the National Meet. A theme from Coach Stanley has been seeing how his team has responded back from injuries. There have been key pieces on both sides that returned from injury that has helped both team tremendously.
“Our theme for the year is belief. Everything that we have done this year has been under the concept of believe in yourself and believe in what's possible. And if you get on that line and you believe in yourself and your team, then I think we'll be able to have a pretty good chance of attaining what it is that we're capable of and what our potential is.”