elcome to Titan Cross Country 2011!

The immediate effects for our XC teams are an increase in athletic fees, reductions to our 2011 meet schedule & the elimination of bus transportation to our contests that are located in town & the immediate vicinity.

For those of you who know me, I am a huge proponent for fiscal responsibiilty (well in advance of the budget crisis) and see these changes as positive solutions to managable problems. I understand when those not immediately connected to a school jump to the conclusion that athletics should be cut and eliminated from the budget. It is up to all of us to educate the public that based on the number of athletes served both athletically & academically each school year that athletics is one of the few programs in the District that reaches so many students for so little money.

Fact: Athletics currently makes up .78% of the budget for Salem-Keizer Schools. That is approximately $2,950,000 spread across a district of (6) high schools with (106) funded sports teams and affecting an exponentially large group of student/athletes.

The question is - Can we maintain that .78% even more while retaining a quality program both academically & athletically? Of that, I have no doubt & welcome the challenge.

For those of you who have followed our success ih the past several years, the 2010 season was another year of tremendous individual & team success both athletically & academically.

After leading the state 6A with a school record team GPA of 3.96 in 2009, the Titans girl's team finished with a 3.73 team GPA in 2010 (tied for 23rd in 6A) while the boy's team posted a team GPA of 3.61 (tied for 12th in 6A). This marked the 7th consectutive year (since 2004) that both boys & girls teams have made the DFO +3.0 GPA lists which is something that all of us are most proud of.

On the run, the varsity boys captured their 2nd straight CVC/District Meet title and qualified for the State XC meet for the 3rd consectutive year. The JV boys, although a sparse group, ran well to finish 5th at the District meet. All-CVC performers for the boys were Trent Dudley (1st team), David Clark (1st team), Emanuel Kraynick (1st team) and Brendan Abel (2nd team).

On the girl's side, the varsity girl's team finished 3rd overall at the CVC/District Meet and missed qualifying for the State XC meet for the first time in three years. The JV girls also finished 3rd at the District Meet behind three huge season's bests from the lead pack of Rebecca Elmer (10th), Jill Smith (11th) and Tiffany Dinh (13th). All-Conference & State XC meet performers for the girls were Grace Lin (1st team) and Steffani White (2nd team).

With a solid core group of returning runners, our goals for 2011 remain high. We look forward to the challenges that the 2011 season will bring us and remain focused on excelling both on the course and in the classroom. I know our team captains for 2011 are busy this summer working to ensure that 2011 produces another year of exciting times for the Titan Cross Country teams!

I hope all of you are taking advanatge of your free time during the summer and working on improving your fitness level, either on your own or as part of the summer training group. If you are a new, incoming runner or have any questions about our program, please feel free to contact me by email or leave a message at WSHS. You can find key training concepts that we will be using listed on this website.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me via email or check our Frequently Asked Questions page for answers.

Looking forward to a highly successful 2011 XC season!