This year’s cross country season was one that took off with a strong start, leaving coach Luke Scribner running after the season and shouting words of advice and motivation throughout the race course; just like he does during his runners’ meets.
The former Frisco Reedy High School coach concluded his first Wylie East cross country season last semester by clinching a district win for the girls and helping the varsity team qualify for regionals, two goals checked off his list as head coach. His goal of having the boys win district alongside the girls, however, was one that went unchecked.
“I wanted to win district, both boys and girls,” Scribner said. “Obviously the girls completed that, but the boys, we fell a little bit short. But we had a lot of young kids on the varsity for the boys.”
State qualification was also another goal of the former Tarleton State runner that went unmarked.
“This is actually the first year I’ve never made the state cross country meet,” Scribner said. “Every other year I’ve made state cross country, and this was the first year that I didn’t.”
Despite the high hills that slowed the momentum of his season, Scribner followed his season on the downhill, which led to the pair coming face-to-face with the muddy part of some race courses, but the often crucial part in every new coach’s journey: the building of new foundation.
“We kind of had to restart a lot of new traditions and create a new foundation for the team,” Scribner said. “We had to change some things and just kind of get it to where people can reach their highest expectations.”
And almost all his runnin’ Raiders seemed to have met their wildest expectations, with almost 97% of them running a personal record in the 5K in the fall. However, his runners’ success doesn’t stop solely after cross country season; it continues with the boys’ track team, which recently won its first ever district title April 4.
“Track was really, really good as well; if I had to put one word on it… I mean, I would just say successful,” Scribner said. “The girls got second as a team as well, so that’s really good there. Also a lot of development from the distance side as well.”
[I’ve learned from my runners] to always be willing to adjust, because I may write the workout four, five, six months and we get to the day and we may be ahead of where we should be or behind where we should be. So it’s always being willing to adjust on the fly because you never know what’s going to happen or how the day is going to be.”
— Luke Scribner, head cross country coach and boys track coach
The track title for the boys checked yet another goal off the list for Coach Scribner as a new head coach, leaving only the goal of athlete qualification for state unmarked for now.
“Coach Olford and I sat down and we wanted to obviously win district for both boys and girls,” Scribner said. “And to get some kids qualified for state, we still have a couple of weeks until we get to state.”
With Coach Scribner’s first season as head coach running its final 800 meters before the end of track season, success paced itself well with his season, but so did moments of teaching and learning for him and his runners.
“[This season taught me and my runners] patience, seeing the development and a lot of growth from the team,” Scribner said. “I would definitely say patience is something we learned a lot this year.”
And behind success and those moments of teaching and learning, Coach Scribner’s takeaways from the cross country program strides behind them, never quite losing the pack it paces itself with.
“Whatever you put into the program is what you’re going to get out of it, and that can go with running, that can go with life; if you put hard work into something, eventually it’s going to pay out,” Scribner said. “Consistency is key. If you’re consistent with something, you’re going to just get better and better and better and better. Just keep building towards whatever goal you have.”
Waiting for Scribner’s season at the finish line, is not only Scribner himself, his white cowboy hat protruding from the distance, but his favorite meets as head coach waiting alongside him.
“District [was a memorable cross country meet]… especially with the girls winning and just having a really, really good day and doing exactly what they were supposed to,” Scribner said. “And seeing a lot of people PR that day… Lovejoy [was a memorable track meet] because we had a lot of breakout races there, we had some kids that the lightbulb finally clicked, and we saw that success and joy on their faces.”
Despite the season’s strong start, Coach Scribner remains determined for a more vigorous start next season, anticipating the cross country boys to win their first district title as well as state qualification for both sides next season, with similar goals for track.
“That’s something we’ve been talking about on both sides,” Scribner said. “And with us returning most of our runners, that’s something we feel like we can do.”
For Coach Scribner’s first season at Wylie East, it ran pretty smoothly throughout the months. He hopes his following seasons will run as smoothly, if not running as one of the best, for years to come.
“I’d like to stay a couple of years and build a legacy,” Scribner said. “[We will] have it to where when Wylie East shows up to a cross country or track meet, people know who we are and know we’re ready to get after it. We’re going to be a team that’s gonna compete and run really well.”
