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'JESUIT':S' BIG;'BROTHER". '\',;;, .

Walt Lange,Blends.Experlel)C8With Temperence

_ ' .,lBY Riindell Sturgeon

.Everyweekday afternoon of the school year, at about 3:00 p.m., a gathering, occurs at Jesuit High School in Carmlchael•.Californla. Just outside the gym or

on the football field, runners dressed In anything ·from $120 Adldas sweats totraditional tattered greys and wearing 1-shlrts advertising races and various

, " brands of IIquldrefreshment,group 'up for 'an,afternoon's workout: A younglooking, tanned man, states that a steady qm Is In order. Nominations for thelength and direction are voiced, a I;OnsensusIs found and the run Is on. Out onthe road runners split Into different groups' at various paces. The conversations

.vary from class problems" to girls, politics and even running. '., .,'

What sounds'lIke an afternoon ·fun run' 'Is In reality a typical training 'session, of:Nor-Cal distance power Jesuit High underthe young looking, tanned 'gentleman,Walt Lange. Despite fostering sChoolrecords that would be the envy 01 manycolleges, ranging Irom a 4:06.1 mile to a2:24 marathon, Walt Is known as muchfor a program that creates an enjoyablerunning and learning envlronmen!, as heIs for producing winners. His stated almsas a coach are one, to teach the athlete allthe basic concepts of training and racing,and secondly to' use that Imparted know­ledge to develop an Independent, sell'motivated runner. Racing success Isconsidered a by-product of putting theright things together. Yet success Indistance running Is synonymous with thename Jesuit.

So how does he do It? Some coachesdo it with charisma and Inspiration.Others do It with special training tech­niques or a whip and a chair. However,Walt does It with an honest, sincere,low-key approach that makes him both afriend and a respected mentor. While hedefinitely believes In his methods, hedoes not push them to other coahces orathletes,as "the way." In fact he will nottalk about them unless asked and willpreface his statements with, "Well, this

,Is' how we do It, but It's not the onlyway." Yet when he talks of his methodsand his teams there Is a definite sound ofpride In his voice. , .., SinceWalt took over tIi6"pro{jnllT\lhthespring of '71, the"Ma~auders 'haveconsistently been at or'"hear the' fop of theSan Joaquin Section rrh:llstance'runnlng.With the talent Lange Inherited In '71,Jesuit was able to build and Improve tothe point where they won their firstharrier section title In '74. In' '75 and '76Walt's team finished second to powerfulMira Loma, losing by Just'one and: twopoints. This past cross country season hissquad was again. number one In' thesection and number two In' the Nor-Calfinals (1979). Jesuit runners hold. ail-timesection bests In the mile, six mile, twentymile, the marathon and the _four, .,mllerelay. Also, to date, Lange Is th,e onlyprep coach to have two runners break 30minutes for six miles In the same race Inthe same year.

However, the thing that makes WaltLange special Is that he Is not a coachwho Is a runner, but a runner whocoaches. .Everything that he does with hisrunners has been tested on his own body.He does not ask his runners to doanything he has not or will not dohlmslef. He runs dally with his chargesand stili competes In local road races.

Wait began running In 1958 as asophmore at St. Plus High In SouthernCalifornia. He was then a hall-mller andbroke two minutes for that event by hissenior year. From there it was to LoyolaUniversity In l.A. where he studiedbusiness and ran on his own because theschool did not have a track program.After a brief stint with Mihaly Iglol's LosAngeles Track Club In the winner of '62,an experience Walt still talks about withmixed emotions, he continued to run onhis own and eventually broke 4:30 for themile before graduating from Loyola.

His coaching career began during hissenior year Irt'college when he volunteeredto help with the track team at St. BernardHigh In Playa Del Rey. After graduationhe took a teaching job there and began todevelop the methods he uses today. Atfirst he was mainly Into Igiol type trainingwith the emphasis on Interval runrlng.However, he began to read about Lydlardand his methods. He was also Influencedby local coachesJack Hedges of Westmin­ster High and Dick Scully of SouthTorrance. Both of these coaches, likeLydlard, emphasized mileage and anendurance base. Lange's program today Isan outgrowth of what he learned fromthese three men. He developed a solidfoundation at St. Bernards and one' yearafter he left, the team, stili using hismethods and under his Influe'nce; capt­ured the section cross country title. Oneyoung ru nner, Chris Hoffman, set a

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national three-mile record for sophomoresusing his ex-coaches methods and fre­quentlycalled him for advice.

After leaving St. Bernards In '69 Lange'and;'hls' family moved to Carmichaelwhere he became a stockbroker. Howeverthe 'stock market was on a downwardswing, and he ended up teaching atJesuit. R1ghtaway he had success. In hisfirst full year, '71-'72, he had one runner,Mike Tulley; clock 9:15 for two milesalong'w)th a 2:32 marathon, and asophmore who was destined to becomeone 01 the great rest prep runners of alltime, by the name of Rich Kimball, run,4:26 for the mile. The program has beenbUilding ever since. It has grown to thepoint where It has becomeself-perpet­uatlng, and 1hls past spring Jesuit hadmore distance runners than many, schoolhave football players. '

The successof Lange's runners has notbeen confined to just track and crosscountry. He was one of the first coachesto not only let, but encourage, his kids torun road races. The list of Marauder roadmarks Is just as Impressive as Ite tracklist. Seven Jesuit runners have bettered32 minutes for six miles, six have beaten55 for 10, seven have gotten under 1:54'for twenty and four have bettered 2:40 Inthe marathon. In fact, Tom O'Nell, whonow runs for Stanford, heads the list at2:24, the fourth best prep mark In history.It's not unusual for a Jesuit runner to runIn a road race even during the track orcross country seasonfor the simple reason"the kid may have a chance to do well, In Ione. A further demonstration of Walt'sloosestructure and devj!lopment of Indep­endence.

However, If you listen to the coach hesays he has little to do with Jesuit'ssuccess. To quote Walt. "It's the kidswho make the program." He adds,"Great athletes make a great coach."There Is some truth to that. Walt has hadsome very talented, Intelligent young mento work with. But he has also had hismiracle cases. A few years ago he had afreshman who literally could not break 13

'minutes for two miles at the end of theyear. However: he stuck with It and Waltstuck with him and by his senior yearPete McCarry, now a top runner forAmerican River College, ran that two-mileevent In 9:19.

The most talented runner Lange has I'coachedwas Pedro Reyes. Th Is past track •season, Pedro was the fastest mller In the Istate of California and third In the nation I

at 4:06.1. Lange readily admits that :maybe he did not get the most out ofPedro. Walt, If he has a coaching fault, :has often been accused for being underly ­optimistic and doesn't shoot high enough.Yet, Pedro, ,like any Jesuit runner youmight talk to, gives all the credit to thecoach for his success and speaks of Langewith reverence.

The bottom line is that ihe Jesuitmentor believes In self-motivation. Heleads by example. At age 37, he Is stilirunning and training dally with his team.He feels this gives credibility to hisprogram. He also says, ••It gives therunners something to shoot for, beatingthe 'old man.••• Walt states, "Theathletes that I get have always been toldthey need a coach to perform. They needa coach to play basketball, they can'tswim without a coach, they can't playfootball without a coach. I want myrunners to feel that they do not need acoach hanging over them In order forthem to run welL" Says Walt. "I workwith little boys who are young men, andthey need room to grow."

Coach Lange Insists that his success Isthe result of good athletes Implementing aphysiologically sound program that acc­ounts for Jesuit's winning ways. Walt Isright. It Is the program and how theathletes use It. However, even If WaltLange won't admit It, the program Is hisand the runners reflect the philosophies·and ideals that he Instills In them. Thepersonality of the Jesuit distance programIs definitely Walt Lange's, a runner'scoach, , , '

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