NEW ERA FOR SAINTS TRACK AND FIELD

After the death of MHCC head Track and Field coach Doug Bowman last May, assistant coaches Fernando Fantroy Sr. and Kelly Holding have taken over the program as interim co-head coaches for the upcoming 2018 season.

The pair have over 50 years of combined experience and have already installed a dramatic new plan for Saints athletes.

“We’ve been working together for probably 20 years,” said Fantroy of Holding. “I’ve known her that long and our philosophy is the same. We’re just trying to change this program to a winning program,” he said, smiling.

“We knew the reputation this program had and were very aware of it when we came into it,” Holding added.

Fantroy is entering his fourth year with Mt. Hood track, while Holding will be in her third. Though they have a short history at MHCC, these two are no strangers to the sport.

Fantroy has 35 years of track and field experience, with 16 of those being at the high school level. During his career he has developed over 50 individual state champions, three USATF Youth National Champs, 15 USATF finalists and seven state record holders, he said.

His specialty has been developing elite athletes, ranging from the hurdles, to middle distance running, long distance and triple jump competitors. Along the way, he earned the nickname “The Hurdle Doc.” His motto for his athletes is to be “DSMO” – dedicated self-motivated ones, he explained.

Holding owns 28 years of coaching experience, 25 of those at the high school level where she won seven team state championships at Damascus Christian High School and led athletes to 63 state championships with multiple state records. She is a six-time Oregon Athletic Coaches Association Track and Field Coach of the Year, and spent three years at Warner Pacific College where she helped her athletes earn four NAIA All-American titles in the long and triple jump.

New assistants added

Holding described some dramatic changes the co-coaches are implementing for the program and strict guidelines they have for their athletes. Now during training, all athletes are required to wear only Saints school colors to practice and warm up together as team, something that hasn’t been done in the past few years, as athletes would typically warm up on their own and wear their former high school or other college gear.

That’s one way this year’s team appears much more organized. It is clear that these two coaches are wanting to change the reputation of this program and they’re aiming high. That is apparent in their search for coaching help. Mt. Hood tried to recruit two recent Olympics athletes to help with the team this year. One was Sam Crouser, as the throws coach. Crouser, who graduated from Gresham High School, set the national high school record in the javelin, won four Pac-12 titles at the University of Oregon and competed in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. The other was Andrew Wheating, a former UO runner and a two-time Olympian in the 800-meter and 1,500-meter run.

Those two men didn’t feel ready for the job, the coaches said.

But they did succeed in getting Jake Campbell, an Idaho State University graduate who served as an assistant coach at Sam Barlow High school for two years, where he ran all four years as a high school athlete.

Holding also brought Steve Curtis from Warner Pacific College, where he was the throwing coach the past three years. During his time at there, Curtis, a former hammer-throw standout, helped his throwers to outstanding performances, such as setting six new school records.

Raising the bar

That explains why, when asked if this season was going to be a rebuilding one at Mt. Hood, Holding replied, “More than rebuilding, we’re changing the program.”

There are 37 track and field athletes this season, nine women and 28 men. The Saints started early, beginning their training last fall, another priority of the co-coaches who also “sacrificed” by showing up for unpaid work to set the tone.

“We do not have to wait ’til the track season to start developing these track athletes,” said Fantroy.

The coaches are also setting a team standard: MHCC athletes will not be able to compete until they hit a certain standard (mark) per event.

“(A) guy running 5 minutes in the 1,500 meters, he’s not running. But a girl running 5 in the 1,500 meter, we can talk about that,” said Fantroy. “If an athlete jumps 18 feet in the long jump, he’s not a varsity athlete,” he added.

“It sounds mean but we’re trying to make this a winning team. We don’t want our uniforms in back, we want our uniforms in the front of the pack,” Holding said. She has introduced a new mantra to the team: finish strong. “They all have them in the back of their shirts, finish strong. That (will) be in the classroom, practice, meets, everywhere,” she said.

The coaches have created a study hall session, twice a week at MHCC’s AVID center, and an Academic Recovery program to help prevent an athlete from dropping out of school.

“They’re not eligible to run on the team, but they’re still in the team,” said Fantroy about the latter. “They come to practice every day but in meets they’ll be unattached. This keeps their confidence level up; they’re still in school, not flunked out (or failing).

“We as coaches ask, ‘What can we do to get your degree and run track?’ ” Fantroy said. He urges athletes to stay positive, knowing that “most of all, they’re here because they want to run track. Their grades are messed up, they were in bad situations, bad study habits, whatever: We’re here to help them.”

Focused training

The team has been training since fall working on certain aspects of their events. Holding is in charge of all jumpers, whether be horizontal jumping (long jump, triple jump) or vertical (high jump). Fantroy leads runners of events up to 800-meters, including sprinters and hurdlers. C Campbell is focused on distance runners, and the steeplechase, and, lastly, Curtis, with the throwers.

The sprinters have been working on their drive phase and acceleration this fall and winter but are now slowly changing to maximum speed, finding that and improving upon it, said Fantroy.

The distance runners have been working on getting their base (endurance) in, but now are implementing more speed workouts, such as 300-meter repeats and jogging the 100-meter curves and also going on tempo runs. This year they are also have swimming practice once a week to help recover from a hard workout and to help prevent injuries.

Campbell also is doing research on weight training, not sure yet if he’ll incorporate it into his workouts. He did say that core strength is fundamental for his runners. Currently, he is working his athletes with hill training, hill sprinting, and doing sprint mechanics.

Saints to watch

Just two weeks from the Saints’ opening meet, this season is shaping up to be one with a lot of potential.

Keep an eye out for freshman Ramontre Williams, coming from Jefferson High School, who has great potential in the high jump.

On the women’s side, returning sophomore Erica Veltkamp from Centennial High School is poised for a strong year in the 10,000-meter run. There’s also freshman runner Faith Richards from Damascus Christian High School, someone to keep an eye out in the 800- and 1,500-meter events.

Mt. Hood’s first home meet will be March 10, after it completes in the Erik Anderson Memorial Icebreaker event at Linfield College on March 3.