KYTrackXC.com

Correct me if I'm wrong but that school won their region in cross and looked to be half decent. I was looking through results and their guys team didn't even score at Tates Creek Invite. Anyone have a clue what happened to all of those runner?

That depends on who is answering the question.... I believe that most of those runners can still be found posting times on Milesplit but obviously not for whom they were posting last fall.

Their girls team was decent as well but have suffered the same fate.

Maybe they were kidnapped by aliens?! If I ever disappear, I hope it's something cool like that. Of course, with my luck, it'd be gypsies who do it. Doh!!!

Actually, Lafayette is fairly local to us, within our Area, and as the area rep for KTCCCA I follow some of the runners careers. I noticed some of the runners had changed schools. I'm not one to be a whistle blower so any names I may have noticed will stay with me.

Well I ran for lafayette last year. To me the coach we had is one of the best coaches in the state of kentucky. He took our crappy track and cross country team and in one year turned us into city champs then next year region champs in cross. In track we qualified more runners for state then we had in over 20 years and we won all distance races at regionals(800,1600,3200,4x800). The school decided to let him go due to certain complications with the administration over the fact that he wanted to coach both cross country and track but the school wouldn't allow it. So they fired him from both jobs. My old teammates are so loyal to him that they all quit the team and are running for his AAU running club. The lexington track club. They have been competing unattached in college races and are doing very well. Some of them are even competing in the Bellarmine Classic this weekend. Needless to say the school made a horrible decision in letting him go. The former Lafayette runners are still out there competing, but they would rather run for the coach who cares about them then the school that doesn't.

Well Jud, if I remember you guys weren't that bad before last year. Things in the real world are not always what the seem. This is also a good example of in the professional world there are rules that have to be followed or you end up with a situation that we have here with Lafayette High School. I think you can point your finger at the school and say they did the wrong thing or they did what they had to under their professional rules for many reasons. Let's put it this way Jud, I think there is a lot of information you don't have and you should not have and that is ok.

I might not know the whole story. But I'm sure I know a lot more than you do about the topic. I was answering the question as to what happened to lafayette. This isn't a debate. The coach was WRONGFULLY fired from his position and the team decided they would rather not run at all then run for that school. The ENTIRE team quit and the parents backed their decisions. Thats something out of the ordinary. I don't know if you have some sort of ties to the new coaching staff there or what, but what they did to my coach was wrong. The runners luckily are able to compete in other races outside of KHSAA as long as they are unattached.

@judw I don't think the LHS runners decided they would rather not run at all than run for the school but they did luckily have the option of choosing the far superior coaching and training and opportunities that coach would open up for the runners that LHS simply does not care about for unknown reasons. LHS might choose to keep its decisions a secret and allude to some actual rationale for not rehiring the coach but what they did has damaged the reputation of the school, not the coach. They seem to have a pattern of selecting mediocre over good coaching.

I know a good bit about this topic and I am tired of hearing about this sob story.

First, Jud, dont forget that Tyson Gay is an alumnus of your school. Coach Northington sent quite a few kids to state. Everyone from Tyson to Reggie Branch (400-800). They were a state contender yearly. Not quite 20 years ago. Along that note, the Lafayette girls team is the only team prior to this year to win the Lexington City championship during my tenure. That team and other Lafayette teams that were state contenders were coached by Don Young. Where is he now? I think that last part is worth mentioning. Don Young resigned and helps with Jesse Clark. He is one of the greatest men I have met. (I am removing emotional comments)

Now for the other junk. I think there are two sides to every story. The Lafayette principal is a friend of mine as is the AD. I know how they think and how they are grounded in fairness and dont act without cause. Anybody who meets with them will soon see that. There must have been something other than what is being said. They are not unreasonable people. Quite the contrary. If a coach of one season does not want a coach from another season to be on their staff, that is their right. Phil Wilder is one of the best distance coaches in Kentucky. The magic he was able to create in November at the state meet yearly, is mindblowing. He was never my track distance coach (first two years are the exception). Its not that i didnt want him, it was that he and I worked well apart. He trusted me and I trusted him.. He was able to LET GO and allow the kids to go and be coached by a different coach because that is the way our system worked. You have to be able to work in a system. That is the key. No matter how hard you yell or get mad and make threats, quickly, they will find a way to move along without you if you cant fit into their system and play fair. That is a pretty big life lesson. Try doing that in the corporate world and see how it goes.

On a last note, I would give my right arm to go back and be able to compete in high school. Play one more football game, run and throw in one more meet. JUST ONE! If I ever got in the way of a kid being able to represent their school in competition because of political garbage, I would surrender the right to be called a coach. The power of being a coach is a tremendous thing and should be wielded with care. Any abuse of that power should be quickly remedied.

@Dunbulldogtrack

For a "myriad" of reasons I'm choosing to view your opinion as biased but I support your right to express it.

@jtmullins

arent opinions supposed to be biased?

@Dunbulldogtrack I'm glad that you know more about this situation than other people including me. It's no sob story but has provided a life lesson in adversity, rising above it and moving on. At least we know what myth is being put out there. If you were told this (high school)coach said or did anything to influence or interfere with any of us competing on our high school team you have been misled and you are repeating the myth. We never knew before what justification was being used. Yep, that is junk alright. The irony is that he encouraged participation on the high school team.

Dunbulldogtrack

@jtmullins

arent opinions supposed to be biased?

@Dunbulldogtrack

Maybe I worded that poorly so I'll try again. Since you acknowledge your friendship with the LHS principal and AD, and your admiration for "one of the greatest men you've met" it stands to reason that you and your opinions are biased. Having said that, if these student athletes were blessed with Wilder in the fall and Timoney in the spring we wouldn't be having this conversation. Two excellent coaches who take their responsibly to young people very seriously.

Just because we are friends doesn’t mean that I agree with every decision they make. Hardly. I do think the lesson of overcoming obstacles is a little clichéd in this story. I have trouble tying my shoes most days, but that doesn’t inspire me to tell a story about overcoming obstacles to my team. I am a huge advocate of high school sports. Period. Kids need to compete for their high schools. Our sport is on the fringe anyway, we don’t need sub-groups competing for clubs and not their schools. Doesn’t look good in my biased opinion. I don’t like anything that takes away from the HS experience. I am a proponent of everything HS. That is a very biased opinion because it is the business that I am in and I see successful models everywhere.

So I am one of the athletes running for the Lexington Running Club and we are doing just fine without the school team. We are having alot of fun. Coach Tom Stickel is a great coach and I like his training methods more that I like those of the current track coach at Lafayette. Everyone had their own choice of running for the school or running for the club. Most all of the cross country team decided to run club,but some of the girls are running Lafayette track this year, which is thier decision and I respect them. This topic is getting kinda heated, but we athletes are all happy. As long as we are having fun nothing else should matter. Tom Stickel is a wonderfull coach and my teammates and I appreciate his dedication to us. There is nothing wrong with skipping out on high school athletics to participate in a club this track season, especially when we trust the club coach more. Plus, College track is way more fun than high school for me and I am all about having fun (if you haven't realized it yet). So before anyone tries to say anything about our situation, listen to the athletes. We are the ones racing after all.

im going to venture that the new lex-laf coach droped mileage and focuses on more workouts a week? am i correct?

@trydistance he individualizes it for each person. some need more workouts a week while others need longer harder runs to get better.

@judw
I don't think that you are talking about the current Lex-Lafayette coach.

@judw yea i ment the current one. individualizing the training sounds good to me cause every runner is different. any coach who is able to put in the time for each individual like that when they have alot of numbers is at the very least a decent coach.

So, I've read the posts and there seems to be two sides of a story here but I didn't see one thing answered. Did the students decide to run AAU/Club rather than for Lafayette because they intend to transfer next year or because they weren't welcome on the Lafayette track team while being coached by someone else or because their AAU coach thought it was in their best interest to skip a high school track season for the long term good.

Once that question is answered, are they planning to run for Lafayette in the Fall under a different coach or miss an entire CC season as well as their track season?

For the record, I too am a hugh proponent of High School Sports and a huge proponent of being part of a bigger picture team atmosphere. HS track is great because you have to blend different talents and get them to feed off each other to drive performance to a higher level as a team. You're CC runners are naturally going to fill in the distance races but success in the sprints, jumps and throws are required to win meets as a team. CC is one thing but Track is entirely different and even more of a team sport when Schools are trying to win city or conference championships as well as region or state meets. For example, JT got 32 points last year in the state meet but it took a couple other elite athletes who should not be overlooked from HC to win the state meet. They have a good chance to win again this year, not just because of JT but because of the whole program. That's a team and should be the main focus of what High School Sports are about. Now I just want to see what HC can do with their girls program Look at ST X on the big school side, 7 boys qualified for the dream mile. How many of these get to run in the region and state 1600? Two. There are elite athletes that have to sacrifice for the team and may not get to do exactly what they want to do.


That being said, I don't understand why these runners didn't compete for Lafayette as well as train outside the school. Many elite athletes have personal trainers to help with their training program. I'm not sure how this would have been any different other than how it was handled. Putting my opinion aside, what are these athletes going to do in the fall?

Plan was initially for runners to train privately with club until track season began. However, the school did not approve of that and sent out letters stating that it would not be tolerated. So, it is clear athletes still wanted to be part of the program they built. Secondly, to refute a few points. No decision was made by the administration for the benefit of the track program. If you believe that, look at recent results from Dunbar invite, etc. I am still a proponent of high school athletics. Some of the best moments of my life came from being a member of a HS team. But, when a decision is made that jeprodizes training of the athletes, they have the responsibility to do what is best for them. In this situation, those athletes had a tough decision to make but chose wisely. No one loved that team or school more than the athletes, so when passing judgement, keep that in mind. If you think they won't miss competing under the lights against regional rivals you are sadly mistaken.
Secondly, decisions about cross country have not been made as Lafayette has yet to hire a coach. That will be another decision for all parties involved to be made this summer. If the athletes choose not to run for the school, it should be known that the choice was only logical. It isn't a coup to hurt high school athletics in any way, shape, or form. This discussion has occurred too much and for the sake of these young athletes, their coaching staff, and school, please lay the topic to rest. They are young adults. Remember that.

cbeckerson

...Now I just want to see what HC can do with their girls program...

@cbeckerson

Wait a few more months... the Crusaders and Spartans are going to have their hands full with Cougars at the Horse Park this fall!

@cbeckerson
We were not welcome on the team if we were running for the club. The members of the Lexington Running Club are running unattached in college meets right now. Cross-Country is still undecided for most of these athletes, but will have plenty of time to decide what the want to do for this upcoming xc season. I assume the decision will be easier when the school decides on a new xc coach. I actually will be transfering myself, but my transfering has nothing to do with this situation.

@oregongirl16 this is a heads up, please make sure you and your family and new the school look into every rule. I would hate for you to lose another season of running eligibility, just remember that you run in high school track races this year, yes it was an open event but you still ran. I am not really sure what the KHSAA rules are but they are there. Maybe someone else on here with more knowledge could give you some answers. But it will be nice to have you back out running in the high school races again.