1) Personal Profile: Tell us about yourself. Don’t be afraid to brag.
My name is Justin Wrigley and I am the head cross country and track and field coach at Saint Thomas Aquinas (Overland Park, KS). This is my 26th year coaching cross country, 21st as the head coach, all at Saint Thomas Aquinas in Overland Park.
I have been very blessed and extremely lucky to work with some incredible kids and coaches over the years and together we have won ten boys and nine girls 5A cross country state championships as well as ten runner-up and three third-place trophies in the last 20 years.
Along this incredible journey we have had six boys and five girls individual state champions as well as seven Kansas Gatorade Runner of the Year winners. I was mentored by the legendary Greg Wilson, who we have named our annual home meet after. I could never thank him enough for everything he taught me about coaching and life in general. One of my favorite Greg Wilson lines is, "as coaches, our job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
In addition to being the head cross country and track & field coach, I am the assistant director of student life and I also coached freshman girls basketball for 15 years. Although I don’t coach basketball anymore, I was honored to be part of such a successful program and I learned a lot from that experience. Now I sit on the sidelines and play the music for all home basketball games. It’s a fun job and I have a great seat for all of the games. I absolutely love high school basketball games on a Friday night in our home gym.
2) What is your high school/college athletic background?
I ran in high school at Bishop Miege and that is where I met the best friends I have ever known. We had some really good experiences and were fortunate enough to win two state titles, my freshman year and senior year. Freshman year was cool but senior year meant so much more. As a freshman I just ran scared and determined not to let the seniors down. As a senior and a leader, everything was so much more clear and it just meant more. Coming down the homestretch at Rim Rock Farm for the last time and just flat out knowing your teammates were right behind you, that’s a feeling that I will never forget. I will also never forget the first half mile of the 1995 state meet when I looked to my right and saw my little brother by my side, stride for stride. We smiled at each other and knew in that instant that we were going to have a very good day. The bond of runners is super tight, but the bond of brothers is just different. I will never forget winning that title with my brother, Adam. Although our team won the race, unfortunately, I was passed in the final steps and ended up second individually. However, the disappointment didn’t last long and nothing could take away the joy of accomplishing our team goals with the guys I love so much and trusted to push me every bit as hard as I pushed them. What a great memory!
After high school, I ran for Kansas State University and had low to medium success. I was dealt some really hard lessons as a runner in college and I wish things would have gone better but I learned just as much, if not more, in failure than I ever did in victory. Realistically, I was a DII talent trying to make it in the Big 12. My advice to kids would be to not hide from DI if you think you belong, but don’t overlook DII, DIII or NAIA because it just may be a better fit. My college career was pretty poorly but I would never trade it because I wanted to be a Wildcat since 3rd grade, it just didn’t work out but I learned a lot. Keep your options open and find the best fit. You never know where that may be.
3) How do you feel about the current state of cross country here in Kansas? What is something you’d change about cross country in Kansas? In the U.S.?
Kansas cross country is absolutely cooking right now. I am in awe of just how good some of these current runners and teams have become. No one likes getting their butt kicked, but you have to tip your cap and respect what so many people are doing right now. Currently in 5A, we are seeing the greatest generation of girls in Kansas history and so many of them are in the same classification at the same time.
We are watching some girls getting 7th or 8th at state that would win almost every other year or win almost every other classification. It is totally bonkers. Again, it sucks to get beat, but if you can’t respect what these kids are doing, there is just something wrong with you. Tip your cap and get back to work. You have to rise to the occasion or you will get left behind. It’s a challenge but it’s also bringing out the best in everyone.
If I could change anything about Kansas cross country right now, all of these studs would go to Saint Thomas Aquinas! Haha! But seriously, while we are seeing insane progress at the top end of the sport, it seems like overall participation is dropping off. Teams that used to have 100+ kids annually now have 40-50 kids or less. I’d love to see the overall participation numbers return to what we saw 5-10 years ago. Cross country is the best sport and a lot of kids are missing out and that’s a bummer.
One thing that I have definitely seen change in my 25+ years of coaching is that we used to tell kids that anyone can run cross country, now the message is clear: this sport is hard and you can succeed but you have to be ready to work your butt off. I think that is scaring some kids off. I love how fast the top kids are running but I think we’re losing the diamonds in the rough that joined just to get involved. I’d like to see that swing back.
4) What is/are your top XC coaching/athletic memory(ies)?
All of my top coaching memories start with the people. As coaches, we get to spend everyday with the very best people you could ever hope to know. The kids work so hard, they are so humble, friendly and kind. They are the pillars of our school communities. It doesn’t matter what town you are in, the cross country kids are the very best. Additionally, I have met so many friends; from former teammates, parents, assistant coaches, and even opposing coaches, these people are just amazing. Cross country people are just the best.
Specific to our team, we’ve had some really incredible highlights and also some truly painful heartbreaks. What I love is that you can learn equally from the good and the bad. Every day is a new lesson. On the high end, we’ve had some girls and boys teams pull off really absurd finishes and sweep 1-2-3 and even 1-2-3-4 individually at state on the way to scoring 15, 18 and 22 points. Scores that I never dreamed were possible. It’s hard to believe that those results actually happened.
However, we have also been dealt some really serious gut punches where some other team was just better or we had health issues that cut our dreams short. But in those moments of severe emotional pain, I have never seen kids come together so closely. You work tirelessly to succeed. You dream of victory and invest everything you have but some days you win and some days you don’t. But when life punches you in the face, it just boils down to how you handle it and who is by your side.
That is what makes cross country so great: the empathy, caring and passion outweigh everything else, every single time. When you are surrounded by incredible people, you just know everything is worth it. As you get older, you start to care more about winning the hearts than winning the races. If you’re lucky, you can do both.
5) What is your favorite meet that your team goes to and why?
I don’t have a super strong favorite here but Rim Rock is a special place where incredible things happen and it’s the real measure of what happens in Kansas, so I’d say the state meet and the Rim Rock Classic are always my favorite.
6) What’s your go-to workout for your team?
25 years ago I was assigned an assistant track coach that tried to help me and told me to read Daniels and Vigil but I was young and insecure and determined to show the world that I knew what I was doing so I said, “no, we’re just going to do the training my high school coach taught me.” Boy was I wrong! She quit because I was stubborn and then later that year we had an insanely talented 800m runner and I realized immediately, I need to hit the books and websites and pester every good coach I could find. I learned the lesson but I missed the opportunity.
I have been humbled more times than I can count in this sport, but nothing pairs better with humility than wisdom and from that point on, I knew I didn’t know anything and I have tried to never miss a learning opportunity again. Seek out the brightest minds you can find and learn everything you can from them! Be humble, know you are not as smart as you want people to think you are just keep learning!
So to answer your question, our go-to workout is timed thresholds (cruise intervals) straight from the Daniels book that I was too insecure to read 25 years ago. We start small in June and progress over time, gradually building the intervals up from 3 minute runs with :60 rest up to 10+ minutes. But the one single session that I really love is a workout we try to do twice every season of 2 x 3200m thresholds with a 2:00 rest.
When kids master this workout, I know they are ready to roll. But, you have to be careful not to overcook the goose! To benefit from threshold training, you must run at the right pace. If kids race this workout or go VO2 on short rest, they will be flat in their upcoming race and you will look like a fool who has just trained workout warriors instead of capable racers. We have made that mistake, and it sucks. Like I said, constant humbling experiences have taught us some really hard lessons. So you better be open to learning or you will miss the opportunity. Be humble, keep learning and know that if you ever think you know everything, you are about to get a hard dose of reality.
7) What’s the best high school race you ever saw/were a part of?
As a spectator, I saw four high school boys break 4:00 for the mile in the same race at the Festival of Miles in 2023. That was absolutely gnarly! But as a coach, probably the 2013 Kansas State Cross Country Meet when our girls scored 15 points. That one was just a real jaw-dropper. I’ve never seen a team so absolutely dialed in with the belief that it was their job to own the race from start to finish. Those girls were really special. The pre-race huddle was amazing. You just felt the vibe that they were not messing around and I felt like I better just get out of their way and let them cook. That race was over before they fired the gun and those girls knew it. They were on an unstoppable mission that day. They just knew they could do it. It was cool to watch. Unwavering belief in yourself and your teammates is lethal. I have never seen such a beautiful race before or since and I think I’ve seen some really cool races.
8) Describe/explain a fun tradition your team does or maybe even one you’ve witnessed another team do that promotes a positive team culture.
I am a huge believer in visualization and the psychological edge you can gain from it. Therefore, we practice a visualization process every pre-meet practice. It could be in a space at school for a local meet or a hotel room for a travel meet. Whenever we compete, we visualize everything the day before. Before the first visualization session of each season, we watch a short video about Billy Mills and how visualization helped him win the Olympic gold medal in the 10k. Some of the kids don’t get it when they are freshmen but when they graduate, they understand the importance of it. Especially if they are moving on to college running.
9) 20 years from now, describe high school XC. What changes do you think will be made different from today? Faster Times? Different Distances? Rule changes? Anything else?
This one scares me. I fear that in 20 years high school sports could be obsolete and we could be immersed in a club sports culture even more disturbing than what we see today. I really hope I am wrong but the times are changing and I don’t love what I am seeing. I want to coach for 20 more years but I don’t like the direction things are going in youth sports and club sports culture. I say, put on your school uniform and train and race with your classmates. I hope that we can see a swing back in that direction. I’m not interested in a future that involves personal trainers, club fees, and fearmongering. High school sports are special in our country and we should be trying to preserve it.
10) Who has been influential in your running/coaching career?
I feel very fortunate to have met some of the brightest minds in our sport going all the way back to high school. When I was a teenager my parents dumped me off at a cross country camp in Washington where I met Pat Tyson, the legendary coach of Mead High School, now the coach at Gonzaga and the college roommate of Steve Prefontaine. I have stayed in touch with Pat over the years and learned so much from him. His enthusiasm and passion were contagious when I met him in the 90s and I am grateful for all he has taught me.
Early in my coaching career I met Chris McAfee, then of DeSoto and now at Mill Valley and he and I have become great friends and collaborators. Chris has been there for me through everything over the last 25 years and has always been someone I can confide in, ask questions, or just hang out with and get our minds off of everything. He’s one of the best coaches in Kansas history but he’s also one of my very best friends.
Many years ago I had the bright idea to start following Van Rose, the legend of Kansas distance coaching. I would find him at meets and clinics and probably bug the hell out of him. But he was so open, caring, and giving and I learned so much from him over the years.
Additionally, I feel like we have an incredible network of friends in this sport. I am grateful to be in many incredible coaching social groups with really awesome people. McAfee and I have been close with Aaron Davidson and Levi Huseman for many years now and we can discuss anything with them. We’ve shared the highs and lows of coaching and life in general for longer than I can remember.
There are so many coaches I consider to be true friends and experts in this sport that to start listing them would probably be a mistake because if I left even one person out I would feel awful about it but they know who they are and I hope they know I love them very much!
Finally, my coaching mentors in cross country and track & field at Saint Thomas Aquinas, Greg Wilson and Craig Moss. These guys were just incredibly kind and patient and had to deal with a young, annoying and insecure version of myself. They both taught me so much and set me up for a career that I will never forget.
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1) Personal Profile: Tell us about yourself. Don’t be afraid to brag.
My name is Justin Wrigley and I am the head cross country and track and field coach at Saint Thomas Aquinas (Overland Park, KS). This is my 26th year coaching cross country, 21st as the head coach, all at Saint Thomas Aquinas in Overland Park.