Mike Potter (Warwick Valley High) — "I would say swimming is the key. Not so much this season due to construction and time constraints with the pool but we make it a point to get in the water a number of times per week. 'The liquid Doctor' we call it. Just having the water on their legs speeds up recovery and when swimming we can increase our strength tremendously without bearing weight on our legs."

Jim Mitchell (Bronxville High) — "As for a non-running activity I suppose the only thing I continually tell the team to do is to learn to balance all the responsibilities in their lives. They have school and homework obligations, family obligations, training and racing obligations and social obligations. Some are fun and some just need to be done and they need to attend to them all."

Rosalind Gallino (Somers High) — "Eating well, asking them to keep track of how and what they eat to make sure that they are getting enough protein and iron allows them to see the direct relationship between what kind of fuel you give your body and how your body recovers."

Bart Sessa (Syosset High) — "Brutal question, we use weightroom, active isolated stretching, icing, focus on nutrition as well as extensive drills and strength work. I would not feel comfortable dropping any of it."

Steve Patrick (Greenwich High) — "Don't laugh — exercise videos. We do old Gilad workouts, Turbo Jams, etc. They incorporate various degrees of strength, flexibility and aerobic work through Pilates, Yoga, etc. They work well for injury prevention, core strength, and cross training."

George Febles (Fordham Prep) — "Sleep. Can't stress that enough."

Coach Gallino — "Not at this stage."

Coach Potter — "Yes. We commonly do strides and cool downs at the end of practices barefoot. We have also done as much as three miles of barefoot running on grass within our long runs.We look at it as a natural massage for our feet among the other positive gains from it.The kids seem to really enjoy running barefoot."

Coach Mitchell — "No barefoot running except some strides on the turf football field."

Coach Sessa — "We have regularly run a portion of every day barefoot, evolving from a bit of easy jogging on our warm down, to drills and even some portion of our training runs (only on safe grass of course). I would bet in the fall we get 5-10 miles a week barefoot now."

Coach Patrick — "No we have not. We are a little skeptical with the younger and still growing athletes doing barefoot running."

Coach Febles — "Yes. Kids will warmup a mile before practice running barefoot on or inside the track (on turf), and will cooldown barefoot too. Many have started running barefoot (or 'minimalist') for all or parts of certain workouts/runs where safe. A few have even taken to doing all running in flats or 'Vibram'-type shoes. Interestingly, the kids with the 'worst' strides or most severe mechanical problems have benefitted the most."

Coach Potter — "I really don't. I am so engulfed with what I do at the high-school level with my team that I do not spend enough time to find out more about the professionals of our sport. There are many greats out there who have done tremendous things for the sport. Athletes that I would have as favorites would be those that are humble, hard working, community oriented and those who have risen through some sort of adversity."

Coach Mitchell — "Professional runner? I don't think I have a favorite. I always liked Ron Clark and Peter Snell and Mary Decker especially her world championship year of 1983."

Coach Gallino — "It ages me but the answer is Edwin Moses."

Coach Sessa — "Probably Solinsky, got to know him when he was a high school athlete, he always remembers our first meeting and is very genuine with the kids at all the events he attends."

Coach Patrick — "I was at a very impressionable age when Steve Prefontaine hit the running scene. He made us want to be runners."

Coach Febles — "Haile Gebrselassie."

Coach Potter — "There are many coaches that I have looked up to over the years for support and guidance such as Bart Sessa (Syosset), Tim Fulton (Somers), Tom Cuffe (Msgr. Farrell), Bill Aris (F-M), Matt Hemmer, Jim Glover, and Lou Hall (M-W) just to name a few. I have learned a lot from these guys and have been able take their advice/wisdom and use it to in a way that benefits us here at Warwick Valley. However there has been no mentor more profound to me in my career than Tim St. Lawrence. Coach Saint was my high school coach and I had the honor of working with him for nine years before he retired after the 2008 cross country season. Coach Saint was a master motivator and really knew how to get you to run for each other. He always had this energy about him that kept things fun and made you want to be relentless in the pursuit of excellence. I owe all the credit in the world to Coach Saint for giving me the opportunity to continue what he started here at Warwick Valley."

Coach Mitchell — "When I started coaching Frank Rienzo was the Molloy Hign school coach and he was always kind enough to help out a novice coach. Also Arthur Lydiard occasionally stayed at our apartment in Queens when he visited New York."

Coach Gallino — "I have learned much from Jim Mitchell about how everyone is an 800 runner until they demonstrate otherwise. It makes sense as the 800 is a classic and difficult distance — if you can run that, you can run pretty much anything. I have also learned from Andy Capellan the importance of focusing on the less coached events — you get just as many points for winning a hurdle race or the triple jump as you do for winning the 400, but far fewer coaches in the section and the state take the time to coach those events. Dan Doherty's program is a testament to the idea that excellence begets excellence."

Coach Sessa — "I have been fortunate to have many friends that were and are outstanding coaches. But if I have to choose 1 my high school coach Harry Schneider is kindest, most modest person I have ever met. He coached all events well (imagine coaching a national record in the hurdles and Federation Cross Country Championship team) and built two programs from scratch. After developing the Centereach dynasty of the 70s and 80s, he has spent the last 10 years creating and developing a great program at Sedona High. Awesome!"

Coach Patrick — "Bob Lane and his wife Dena have both been incredible mentors for both me and our kids. Almost all our runners participate in the Fastlane running camp. Bob and Dena are a tremendous resource for us. The results over the past six years speak for themselves."

Coach Febles — "George Febles, Xavier 1968-1977; Regis 1977-1989; Xavier 1989-1993; Fordham Prep 1993-present. Learned, and continue to learn, all I know about the sport from Dad."

Coach Potter — "There are many great meets out there, but one of the more special meets that we go to every year as a team is our OCIAA Championships at Bear Mountain. This meet is special because of all the history that we have as a program and county on that course. Every single person on the team races this day and it is the last day of our season that we are all together as we cut our team down to seven-to-10 athletes for the remainder of the fall."

Coach Mitchell — "There are many favorite meets. In cross country, of course, the Manhattan Invitation; in indoor, the Yale Invitation; and in outdoor, Penn of course and the Friendship Games and Fast Times."

Coach Gallino — "I have to say that I am partial to the Big Red Invite these days."

Coach Sessa — "Every meet has a purpose, some are jamborees to develop a love of the sport (i.e. Manhattan), some are bonding experiences for your team (overnights or goofy trips, i.e. Brown & Great Adventure) others you work on something (any of the many smaller meets at your local park or neighboring section)."

Coach Patrick — "Our kids really like the Ocean State Invitational in Rhode Island. They really get the kids pumped to run but in a fun environment."

Coach Febles — "The CHSAA Champs. It's when kids realize they are part of something big, and historic."