Thursday Spotlight: Coach Matt Kaczor

 

This week CMU's Associate Head Coach Matt Kaczor.  Coach Kaczor is a 2005 CMU Grad, and former cross country athlete himself.  Coach Kaczor currently lives in Freeland, MI with his wife and has two children:  Ciara and Ryan.  

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How motivated were you when you ran in cross country?

"It was a lot, I was one of the walk-ons. We were a championship level team in 2003, 2004.  And it took me until my fifth year which was 2004 to get on the team, and contribute more, ran 125 mile an hour weeks, trying to get it, but it really worked out. I wouldn't take my back my experience that's for sure."

·         How does it feel to know you coach your alma-mater's cross country team?

"This is kind of my dream job, I said that when I took over for Craig Fuller for indoor track, I didn't think I'd get it in my 20's, considering how young Coach Fuller was.  I hope to try and rewrite the record books on the men's and women's sides, and get the team aspect down."

·         What is the most common injury?

"Common ones are stress fractures (shin splints, plantar fasciitis) those are some of the more common ones you'll see."

·        How often do you run?

"I run five to six days a week, but I still enjoy running about 30 to 60 minutes a day."

·        How many miles do you run?

"Probably about 35-45 what I've been hitting the last couple of months."

·        Do you personally feel the team is ready for MAC meet in a this week?

"Yeah I hope so this is the championship season.  All the meets we've done it's a lot different in other sports like in football where you just want to go undefeated to get into a better bowl game, everything's geared up to late October and November."

·        What is the most important challenge for the team coming into November?

"Just making sure everyone fires on all the cylinders, cross country is making sure your five on their best on the same day."

·        How many hours do you expect them to run each week?

"Each person has a different set of mileage, you can't treat everyone cookie-cutter like.  My top runners on the men side, Nate Ghena and Silas DeKalita, run about 125-150 a week.  Most of my top female runners run about 75 miles a week.  We usually train from 7:30-9:00, Tuesday is our workout day."

What are your current standings?

Women-"4th in the MAC but there are in the hunt."                             

Men-"6th,but I feel like that we easily can change that."

Women-"10th in the Great Lakes Region."

Men-"15th in the Great Lakes Region, but there are more than 30 teams in the region."

Written By:  Jason Shannon

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