Christa Marr named CHS cross country coach

After having success with a single coach to oversee both the boys’ and girls’ indoor track teams last winter, Canton High School Athletic Director Danny Erickson has opted to continue the model in the fall with the appointment of Christa Marr as the head coach of both CHS cross country teams.

Marr had three main goals heading into her first week of preseason practices last week. First, she asked each of the 45 runners who attended to set individual goals. Second, she hopes to improve the team’s individual standings in the Hockomock League and in the Division 3 meet. The girls’ team finished the 2011 season at 3-2 and the boys finished 2-2, and both teams finished in the middle of the pack among the 30 teams that competed in the divisional meet.

Her third goal was to stress good sportsmanship, team building, and team unity. “We are one team now and we are building a team culture,” she said.

Marr comes to CHS having coached a joint boys’ and girls’ outdoor track team at Dover-Sherborn Regional High School. She joined the team four years ago as an assistant coach and was elevated to the position of head coach. Marr was an all-star runner at Falmouth High, excelling in the sprints and triple jump and finishing as the second-best 300 hurdler in New England. She was named a Boston Globe and Boston Herald All-Scholastic in track.

She decided to focus on cross country at the University of Southern Maine, where she graduated with degrees in economics and international studies. She is now pursuing a doctorate in economics at Clark University in Worcester. She lives in Mansfield and was looking to join a Hockomock League team as a head coach.

Already she has set a unique training regimen, asking each of the team members to train in what she calls short, moderate, and long sessions. The short sessions are for runners who need to practice for short but concentrated distances; moderate sessions are 30-35 minutes of running, and long sessions are more than 40 minutes. The runners will choose the sessions until the end of the preseason, and then Marr and her assistant coach, Dave Hiltz, will choose the groups during regular season practices.

Both the boys’ and girls’ team will warm up together, stretch together, and in many cases, boys will run with girls as a way to push each other. Many of last season’s top seven runners have returned to the girls’ team, while the boys’ team might be looking at more of a rebuilding year after graduating a number of talented senior runners last year. As of August 26, there were 25 boys and 20 girls who had participated in preseason practices.

Both teams open with the Hockomock Jamboree on September 5, and the first official dual meet is set for Tuesday, September 11, at Sharon.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Aug 30 2012. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.