Two part article on the Husky women's cross country team...

Here's a link to a two part article from trackshark.com on the meteoric rise of the University of Washington women's cross country team, and a group interview with Michelle Turner, Amanda Miller (left, at Olympic Trials/photo by Paul Merca), Katie Follett, and Christine Babcock, written by Angelina Ramos.

Some highlights:

Trackshark.com: Tell me your favorite quirky or awesome thing about a member of your coaching staff, but whatever you can in 15-20 seconds, ok Go!

ALL 4: (Coach Greg) Metcalf+ espresso = METCAFFINATED…says it all!

Metcalf favorite words= frickin’ outstanding, fan-freakin’-tastic

Metcalf fact: owns more shoes than the entire cross team combined!

Loveable Kelly= HUGS! She’s famous for them, braids all of our hair before races, superb artistic ability, without her we wouldn’t last because she is the glue to our team!

Trackshark.com: Coaching a women’s team to become ranked #1 in the nation, easily working over a typical 40 hour work week, and training at the Olympic Trials qualifying level (qualifying in 2000, 2004 and in 2008) in the steeplechase, both which are easily seen as one very time-consuming full-time job…how do you do both simultaneously and excel the way you have?

Kelly Strong: I try not to think about “how many hours worked” in a week because it’s such an enjoyable job. On my birthday, I got to hang out with our women’s team for breakfast, then with a fabulous recruit AND Lauren Saylor! It was awesome! I am surrounded by wonderful people and it doesn’t seem like work most of the time.

I’ve been coaching and training since 2002. I’ve been fortunate enough to be sponsored by Asics. They have been so good to me in terms of support and supplying equipment. Coach Metcalf has been incredibly flexible with my schedule and allows me to have time for my training. I treat coaching/training as 2 separate jobs even though they are related. I get my individual training done in the morning so that I can focus on coaching the rest of the day.

I have to admit, it was tough leading up to the trials. Trying to be more selfish with my needs was hard…having an Achilles injury made it even more challenging. Ultimately, I continued running professionally for the 2008 Olympics. To see it slip away was a struggle. The trials ended up being an amazing experience though, because being there as an athlete was obviously great, but I was just so proud of our girls (all four athletes interviewed competed at the Trials)! I walked away from a poor race and was able to switch roles and put on another hat: my coaching hat…how many people can say that?

To read the full article, click here for part one; and here for part two...