1. Faith & Character Development

I am a big believer in the mission statement of Crean Lutheran High School: “Proclaiming Jesus Christ through excellence in education”

It is my primary goal to integrate this message (the message of the gospel) into the sport of cross country. I hope to teach life lessons and find teachable moments to help develop all the student athletes on the team.

Practically, we do this daily through sharing our theme verse and praying and weekly with a team devotion centered on a theme for the year. We also integrate our schools acronym CHRIST into everything we do.

(Commitment, Honor, Responsibility, Intelligence, Sacrifice, Teamwork)

It is my goal that every athlete who goes through our program will grow in faith and in character and will become better students, citizens, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, etc. I believe that the sport of cross country, because of its innate challenges, is a great arena to practice and develop perseverance, teamwork, trust, and community.

2. Academics

Combined Boys and Girls GPA by year

2018 – 4.04
2017 – 3.82
2016 – 3.88
2015 – 3.77
2014 – 3.6
2013 – 3.5
2012 – 3.6

Each and every year our cross country team earns some of the highest average grades among any team in the school. We have had multiple Valedictorians (2013, 2016, and 2019) on the cross country team as well. Because cross country causes students to form disciplined work habits and sleep habits, many student athletes in cross country achieve more academic success than their peers and form disciplined habits that can continue on to college and beyond.
Many studies have also shown that participation in high school sports generally can have a positive impact in academics.

3. Collegiate Running Opportunities

While not every runner has the ability to compete at the college level, we have been blessed with several runners on our team who have gone on to compete in collegiate cross country, many with athletic scholarships:

• 2010 Alexandra Sciarra (Biola)
• 2013 Michael Sciarra (The Masters College)
• 2014 Maddie Beavers (Westmont College)
• 2015 Tyler Arnold (Concordia University Irvine)
• 2015 Lauren Maurer (USC)
• 2015 Sean Pino (Lipscomb University)
• 2016 Mandy Reyes (Biola)
• 2016 Shannon Howell (Biola)
• 2016 Ariana Sciarra (The Masters College)
• 2018 Craig Odenwald (Westmont College)
• 2018 Peter Weiss (George Fox University)
• 2018 Emma Lottman (Westmont College)

4. Long Term Health Benefits

Long-distance running can have an amazing positive benefit on a person’s health. Cardiovascular health is extremely important and can have an impact in many other areas of life. Learning the discipline to train consistently and to workout for long periods of time can really help a person to develop their cardiovascular system.

Tthe discipline of making good choices with regard to rest (sleeping) and eating are also incredibly important for health.

It is my goal that sudent-athletes who go through our program would gain good healthy habits that they can continue and sustain throughout their lives.

5. Making Friends & Building School Spirit

Last, but not least one of the most important roles XC plays in the life of our runners is in the area of social development and in growing friendships! Most of the athletes on the team are friends with each other. They spend a lot of time together at practice, but for many athletes the people on the team are their best friends outside of practice as well.  If your student-athlete does not know many people going into the school year, they will know about 30 athletes by the end of the summer and will gain many close friends as well. Additionally athletes on the team will be part of something bigger than themselves a school community which supports other teams as well.