Greetings Liberty Bell parents and interested HS XC runners!
Cross country is a terrific sport for building fitness, confidence in yourself, and for getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. It is very much a “team” sport composed of individual performances and as ‘18 graduate Eden Davis once remarked, “it is also very much like a family – in all of the best ways possible” :)
With rare exceptions, we practice and travel as a combined squad of girls and boys. Everyone races. Everyone gets a chance to run. There are varsity and junior varsity competitions – with the scoring varsity team being your top seven runners – but there is no bench. Everyone plays. Right up until the championship meets at the end of the season, each and every student-athlete gets a chance to toe the line and test themselves against the clock and the course... and we celebrate those efforts at the finish line!
As coaches, my wife Sarah Brooks and I do our very best to see each athlete as individuals but also very much try to foster a team perspective. We create team workouts with common goals and ideas, but also adapt to paces and distances and combinations of intensity and rest that are thoughtfully suited to each runner's recent training and/or race performance.
The upcoming 2023 season will be my 11th (I think) as a XC coach here at LBHS and my 5th as the head coach. I also teach art and coach track here at LBHS and have previous experience as a DIII collegiate XC and distance coach at Carleton College (Northfield, MN). Sarah has been coaching since 2016 and spends her working days as the Executive Director at the Methow Conservancy. We love sharing our own enjoyment for this sport and were fortunate enough to share the “family” side of this sport through coaching our own relatively recent graduate, Keeley Brooks - now starting her junior year in college.
Team communications throughout the season take place via email, but you can also find our weekly schedule, important “postable” information, photos, and our weekly race reports on the team blog: https://libertybellxc.blogspot.com/
If you are new to the Valley, are curious about trying XC for the first time, or just want to ask us any additional questions about the fall 2023 season, feel free to reach out using the contact information listed below.
We look forward to hearing from you! GRRR!!!
Erik & Sarah Brooks
