Web MasterTo the reader: This article originally appeared in Student Life’s annual April Fools’ issue. Please don’t take anything in it as fact. We made it all up.
Before this weekend’s meet at Case Western Reserve, Coach Eddie Edwards told both the men’s and women’s track teams that in order to win nationals, everyone had to run faster.
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I’ve looked at each individual’s performance as well as that of the team, and I’ve come to the conclusion that in order to compete in nationals we just need to run faster. I’m pretty sure that’s all we need to do,” said Edwards.
According to Edwards, the members of the team need to give exactly 110 percent more effort in order to win nationals.
“We just need to go out there and give 110 percent. That’s what we need to do, give 110 percent,” he said.
Edwards said that while some of his top runners have been giving the full 110 percent, others had only offered about 107 percent.
“That’s just not enough. You can’t win a race on 107 percent effort. You need to give that extra three percent. That is what separates the winners from our team,” he said.
Edwards cited the efforts of former runner Tim Julien, who had been known in recent years to give upwards of 120 percent during meets. According to Edwards, Julien led the team in recent years because he simply ran faster.
“Julien was fast. He was faster than the other runners and that’s why he won. If our runners would run faster as well, then they would win,” he said.
Several runners on the team agree.
“He really does have a point. I think I only gave about 108 percent last race, and I didn’t win. There were girls out there on other teams giving 109 and 110 percent,” said Junior Deia Berg. “If I had simply run a little bit faster, then I would have run the race.”
According to Edwards, the younger runners are having more trouble understanding his advice than many of the more experienced members of the team. He expects them to begin running faster, however.
“Many of the younger runners just aren’t running as fast as the older runners, so they aren’t placing as highly in the races,” he said. “The older runners have really helped them out, though and I think the younger runners are starting to understand that they need to give 110 percent.”
Although his coaching technique seems to be effective with runners, Edwards admits that he has had less success among other members of the track team.
“I can’t figure it out exactly, but running faster doesn’t seem to work as well with the kids who throw things, and not even with all of them that have to jump at some point,” he said. “I’m confident that they need to give 110 percent, but I’m not sure how, exactly.”