Sedona-Oak Creek School District music teacher Cody McKesson has started his second year with the district and is once more coaching the Sedona Red Rock High School cross-country team in the runup to the first meet on Monday, Aug. 28, at Asante Community Park in Surprise.
“I run to my work at the elementary school every morning,” McKesson said. “One of my students came in, he [said], ‘My dad sees you running every day, and he said, “I’ve never seen someone so happy while running.”’ That’s why I run, because I’m at my happiest and best self while I’m running. While I love to compete, I could be banned from competing for the rest of my life and I would still run every day.”
For the 2023 cross-country season, McKesson’s team will include only three returning competitors from last season and eight new students.
“I’m really excited to work with these new kids,” McKesson said. “Then we have one middle-schooler [in seventh grade], she’s just out. She won’t be going to any of the meets or anything But she just comes and runs with us and has her own personal goals.”
McKesson’s goals for this season are to have the students enjoy the process of cross country training and to build teamwork. One of his favorite activities to bolster morale was doing team meals.
“I want to keep strengthening that bond,” McKesson said. “Because when they go out and do the runs together, if they’re sticking together and they like that, and they’re smiling, and then all of a sudden they’re working harder. So [my goal] is getting them to enjoy the process with each other, and that will help them become a stronger team.”
At the individual level, McKesson’s biggest lesson for his runners is to have them understand what their bodies are capable of when running long distances.
“A lot of the students do track and now they’re joining cross-country,” McKesson said. “They’re used to running short [distances] and I tell them, ‘We’re going out a five-mile run,’ and their eyes are just like, what? [I reassure them] they can go on a five-mile run and you can even do more, but they don’t have that perspective yet. So that’s one of my favorite parts of cross-country. Because they’re out thereby themselves a lot. It’s an individual sport with team aspects as well.”
This will be sophomore David Bustamante’s first season with the team after relocating to Arizona from Texas. Bustamante said that his goals are to get faster and being outside is a bonus of participating in the sport.
For sophomore Aubrie Doyle, her goal for the season is to break all of her personal bests, starting with her time in the 5k run.
“I really like keeping myself active after school and [cross-country] lets me have a break away from all the stress of school,” Doyle said. “I’m also really glad this year that our cross-country team grew a lot.”
McKesson said that last year’s cross-country team finished the season with six runners.
“There’s some things I’ve been doing behind the scenes,” McKesson said. “Last year, I was able to get $14,000 for the team from Brooks Running, and we got new uniforms, team tents. I got everyone new shoes, shirts, shorts and everything they wanted. I feel that’s one of the reasons why people are starting to join cross-country again. Because all sudden there’s this idea that our sport matters to people [because] people are donating money. This year, I got them … fancy Garmin watches like $400 watches, I got these for free … That is raising our team culture. Our goal is [to] keep a bond and [let] them know that our sport matters and what you’re doing is awesome.”
Given the predominance of underclassmen on the team, McKesson sees it as a long-term project.
“The talent is certainly there,” McKesson said. “We’re thinking about the future, but staying in the present as well.”
2023-24 SRRHS Cross-Country Roster
Aubrie Doyle
Chokyi Carstens
Diego Bustamante
David Bustamante
Kahlil Alexander
Yvan Maurouzel
Ari Tedrick
Rubin Lyn-Hovermill
Karol Laija
Jana Schipper
Head Coach: Cody McKesson
