Many new schools competing in the invitational division at the Maymont Festival for the first time can find the fields assembled to be intimidating and not perform as well. However, the Collins Hill boys and girls from Sewanee, Georgia did not seem detered at all this past weekend as the girls finished second on a 6th runner tiebreaker to Tatnall of Delaware, while the boys were a big surprise to sneak into second place ahead of several ranked teams and bubble teams in the Southeast region. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles interview the Collins Hill coach Andrew Hudson about his team's performances this past weekend in Richmond.
MileStat.com: What made you decide to bring your team up to Richmond, VA to compete at Maymont?
Coach Hudson: I think looking at last year's results helped us to decide to come up considering that many of the top teams in the region went there. Seems like half the elite teams we're at Maymont and the other half were at Great American. Dan Ward had apparently tried to get in touch for 3 years and I
finally got my phone # to him through a friend and he called - he seemed excited to have us up.
MileStat.com: Coming into the meet, what were your expectations of your girls team given that they had the bull's eye on them as the #1 ranked team?
Coach Hudson: I talked with them about our performances in past meets that were as competitive and how sometimes we got swallowed up in tough fields. I knew we were different this year and with how well we had been running, our goal was to win.
MileStat.com: Immediately after the race, did you realize how close it could be with your team and Tatnall?
Coach Hudson: In such a field, it's hard to keep track of everyone when there are so many good teams. We focused on our runners' finishes and knew we had run well enough to win. My assistants tracked the Tatnall runners and let me know that it would be close.
MileStat.com: How tough was it for the girls team to find out that they lost on a 6th runner tiebreaker to Tatnall?
Coach Hudson: It was tough to take considering how well we had run but Tatnall's a great team and they had also run a great race.
MileStat.com: In what areas do you feel your girls team can improve even more at this stage of the season?
Coach Hudson: We have a training program that will hopefully help the girls run their best later in the season - at least that is the goal - the other goal would be to continue to work to make sure all of our runners stay healthy. The girls handled the situation successfully and we are proud of them but we hope their best races are ahead of them.
MileStat.com: Your boys team was unranked prior to this weekend, but did you believe they could finish as high as they did at Maymont?
Coach Hudson: We spent a lot of time looking at comparable results and felt we could finish anywhere from 5th to 12th with the boys knowing that the race would be a huge challenge so for them to take 2nd just blew us away. They set the race up about as well as they could have at this point in the season.
MileStat.com: Does their second place finish make the boys team start to believe more that they could be at NXN team just like the girls?
Coach Hudson: Yes - I think we're starting to realize that! It's very exciting!
MileStat.com: Which individual runners on your team really impressed you with their races
at Maymont?
Coach Hudson: It was a team effort on both sides and every runner mattered but the top 3
girls and top 4 boys really got the job done! It was nice to see Amanda lead the 2nd pack for so much of the race and have enough left to pull away in the last 800m. Nicky and Vicky got out aggresively to set up a great race early. For the boys, Nganda Gatei ran with our top 3 and had a bit of
a break-through in my mind.
MileStat.com: What did you think of the level of competition found in the invitational
division at Maymont?
Coach Hudson: It's probably the best assemblage of boys and girls teams in one meet in
the Southeast that you'll find this year outside of the NXN Regional itself. We loved it - tough course and tough competition and our runners handled it like champions!
MileStat.com: What did your team gain out of racing at Maymont?
Coach Hudson: Some big meet experience and confidence from performing so well. If they
can face those tough fields and finish as well as they did, it should give them a boost for the rest of their season.
MileStat.com: Will Maymont be a meet in which your team considers to compete at in future
years?
Coach Hudson: Absolutely - if we have the line-up to compete, we'll keep coming. It's a LONG drive for us but was well worth it this weekend!
