Team Spotlight - Pleasant Valley HS; Boys
This interview features the Pleasant Valley High School boys cross country team, interview with head coach Erik Belby. The Pleasant Valley boys were 5th in the Iowa State 4A Cross Country Championships in 2011, and return six of their top seven runners including Caleb Drake, 7th individually.
=================================================================
School, location (city, state) -
Pleasant Valley High School, Bettendorf, IA
Team (boys, girls, both) –
Boys
Head Coach –
Erik Belby
Assistant Coach(es) -
Mark Wilson
Top (state level) athletes; name, grade, PR’s –
Caleb Drake, Senior, 7th in the 4A State Meet in 2011 (5k - 15:30); track PR’s - 800m (1:58.13), 1600m (4:27.69), 3200m ( 9:23.22)
Key(s) to the success of your team –
I believe the key to the success of our team will be whether or not we are successful in keeping our pack of #2 - #7 runners together in big meets. They finished between 16:16 and 16:23 at the state meet last year; and that helped us finish 5th. To improve on that finish from last year we will need that pack to train together and race together. The key will be to do so at a higher level. The competition in Iowa is getting better all the time.
Your favorite meet(s) –
I really like our schedule in general. We race once a week. The highlights for us are Conference, District, and State. The other meets are means of building towards the championship stretch. Our favorite regular season invites are our home meet on September 1, Marshalltown on September 6, Peoria Notre Dame (IL) on September 15, Griak (MN) on September 29, and Sterling (IL) on October 6.
What you most love about cross country -
I love the fact that all athletes can be winners at each and every meet. Regardless of place, personal bests may be recorded by all on any given day. Athletes who are willing to put forth tremendous effort are going to improve and perform at a high level regardless of the talent they came with on day one. Of course, the true pleasure is enjoying the great outdoors and competing on grass!
Teams you most enjoy competing against -
I enjoy competing against all the teams that I believe are going to push us beyond where we’ve been in the past.
Team goals for the season –
Our team goals are to win our 7th Mississippi Athletic Conference title in the past 9 years, win Districts, and land on the podium at the state meet (top 3 finish). It won’t be easy, but I think we have the personnel to take a crack at it.
===========================================
Visit the IOWATFXC.COM Pleasant Valley HS webpage at https://ia.milesplit.com/teams/PVHS .
See the Pleasant Valley cross country home website at http://www.pleasval.k12.ia.us/highschool/teachers/belbye/Erik%20Web/XC%20Home.htm .
