Northside Christian's road to state has seen them finish runner-up at both districts and regionals behind Admiral Farragut in meets that went down to the boys 4x400m relay, the final event of the night. We caught up with Coach Jeff Goodwin to talk about his team and their chances for a state title. (Photo by Maynard St. John)
Flrunners.com: What was your outlook for this team at the beginning of the season?
Coach Jeff Goodwin: In 2012, I told my assistants and some other coaches at Northside that I would win a State Championship in 2016. Although the cast has changed some what I really began to feel that it was a possibility with the amount of athletes starting to come in for other sports . Ben Knox and Jeff Goodwin were starting to dominate their events. Ben in the hurdles and Jeff in the jumps. The emergence of Tyler Rhodes and Marc Dagostino as solid point scorers was icing on the cake.
FLR: You had several key athletes that could have made the race for state championship even easier, but they won't be joining the team in Bradenton. Talk about those guys and how that impacted the team.
CG: Our two football players were not able to get four meets in so we had to move into district without our fastest sprinter, a 6 ft. high jumper, and a 40 ft. triple jumper. What followed was very close second place finishes at both the district and regional.
FLR: To come out with those results despite losing those guys had to be very encouraging?
CG: We were actually very surprised that we still had a chance to make a difference at the state championship. Jeff Goodwin was not able to advance in the long jump due to fouls at the board and we always count on him scoring big points for us at meets. But once again this group of extremely hard working men seem to keep grinding out meets with far more positive attitude then I would have thought.
FLR: Northside and Admiral Farragut are close in proximity and have become rivals on the track this season. You two along with The First Academy will also be contending for the two podium spots. What is it about that rivalry that brings out the best in both teams?
CG: The strength of our team all year has been numbers. Four high jumpers around 6ft. ,four Long jumpers around 20ft and four triple jumpers at or above 40ft. We score so many points in the field that teams usually struggle to keep up. Throw in the mix the dominance of the hurdlers and our team has been pretty tough to beat. Farragut has been a great rival all year. Our campuses are only a couple of miles apart and they have an amazing group of sprinters and throwers . Shorecrest Prep was another team who actually had a more rounded team then both us and Farragut, but some unfortunate injuries and a sick Luke Peterson at the regional meet hurt their state bid. TFA was the team that I thought would dominate the state this year ,but I have not watched how they have progressed this year. PK Young is another team to watch out for. They are very talented .
FLR: With the state meet a couple days away what do you work on between now and then?
CG: The good and bad concerning the makeup of our team rest with the ideal that we excel in technical events. Hurdlers, jumpers, and vaulters have been key for us as we try to reach our goals. With that in mind, just one simple hand slip, board fault or hurdle clip can derail your entire meet. So we spend very little time this week worrying about the team score. We concentrate on lead and trail leg drills , 300m hurdle touchdown splits and step counts. We have Marc working with his pole vault coach on the best pole for him and Jeff is doing mostly short approach jumps.
FLR: What are the goals for Saturday and what is it going to take to make the podium and/or hoist the team title?
CG: We know that most likely this meet like every state series meet this year for us will come down to the 4x4. We have just not been able to get it done, missing out at the district and regionals by only inches. The team of Drew Scott, Tyler Rhodes, Ben Knox, and Simari Turner are prepared to make it happen at the state championship.