Scouting Report: Bloomington North Boys

Scouting report interview with Bloomington North boys head cross country coach Charles Warthan. The Bloomington North boys finished 21st in last year's state championships and are team who should be on the rise this fall with only one runner graduated from that state meet lineup. With 4 runners back who ran under 17 minutes for 5K last fall, Bloomington North has the talent be very competitive in every meet that they enter this season. 

Top 7 Returnees (Full Team Scores Rankings)

20Bloomington North High School (IN)795
1) Andrew Warren16:08.2060
2) Isaiah Hollars16:35.50123
3) Warren Drew16:40.69135
4) Paul Rushton16:45.60169
5) Ben Iovino17:10.10308
Average Time: 16:40.02 Total Time: 1:23:20.09 1-5 Split: 1:01.90
6) Jake Talbert17:18.00351
7) Miles Main17:34.40443


Q&A Interview with Coach Warthan (Bloomington North)

1. How many years have you been coaching high school cross country (and at your current school)?
This is 40 years for me at Bloomington North.

2. What do you attribute as the main reasons for the success of your program?

Good athletes that buy into hard work and continuous training.

3. What would be the best way to describe your style and philosophy of coaching and working with high school runners?

Build the weekly mileage base, learn to push through the discomfort, continue to improve

4. What are your core beliefs in your training plan and workouts for your cross country squads?

Build the base in the off season, keep the mileage up during the season, include tempo runs, progressions runs, progression repeats, fartlek, tempo repeats, an6d intervals

5. How many runners do you return from your top 7 from a year ago?

6 of the top 7 and 8 of the top 10

6. Who is your projected top 7 heading into the cross country season?
Andrew Warren-Isaiah Hollars-Ben Iovino-Paul Rushton-Miles Main-Jake Talbert-Henry Streib-Nathaniel Dixon- Michael Harman    5 through 9 will be close

7. Who are your team captains or leaders and what stands out about them as examples for the rest of their teammates?

Andrew Warren-has the ability to be a very good runner, he has to put into practice of competing throughout the full race and learn to top into himself to close at a high level.  Isaiah Hollars-Leads by example.  He is not a vocal runner but is very smart and coachable.  He is the type of runner that attempts to complete the highest level of work, and is not afraid of work.


8. Who have you been most impressed or surprised with their improvement and/or fitness from their summer training?

Ben Iovino has had steady improvement.  He started running his sophomore year with little background in running.  He pushes the mileage limits above what others on the team do.  He is currently our number 3 runner.  

9. Any impactful freshmen or transfers to join the team this season?

So far no freshman are running at a level to be considered varsity.

10. What are the top invitational meets that your team will be attending this season?

Our conference is strong with 2-3 teams having the ability to place high in the state meet.  Culver Invitational, our semi-state and state.  The Culver Invitational is probably the best meet of the season.  Some years my teams have finished higher in the state meet than they do at Culver.  The tournament season is a 4 week competition that can wear down teams if they have to run strong every week to move on.

11. What will be the biggest obstacle or challenge facing your team this season?

Depth and staying healthy.  Our top runners will have to stay healthy because our 5,6,7 are currently too far back to replace them.

12. What will be the biggest reason why your team is successful this season?

Again, we have to stay healthy and continue to improve.  We have potential but will have to get that 30-45 second improvement from all of varsity runners to be a top team.

13. What is a favorite annual or common pre-season workout or run for your team?

Progression repeat miles or Ks.  12 minute runs- Hill running

14. What is a favorite annual or common mid-season workout for your team?

Strong K repeats followed by a hard 400

15. What is a favorite annual or common championship season or end-of-season workout for your team?

Lane 8 tempo 400s- some repeat Ks

16. What are your top 3 goals for this year's squad?

Challenge for a conference title-advance through the tournament season-top 10 finish or better.