Interview With New Castle Boys' Coach Jon Tabor!

ECI: First off, can you give a brief description on how you came to the New Castle community?

JT: "After graduating from Taylor University in 2001, I took a temporary (one-year) job at DeKalb HS in Auburn , IN.   I was fortunate enough to be a volunteer coach with Tim Rayle and Rowland Perez during that year.  The DeKalb boys XC team ended up placing 6^th in the state in 2001 with Kaleb Van Ort, Josh Wolfe and Mark Stahl as the top 3 runners for the Barons. All three of them were talented runners who placed in the Top 25 at the IHSAA State Meet that year.  After the 2001-2002 school year, I married my college girlfriend (Kristina Ammerman) but I was out of a job.  After interviewing at numerous places throughout the state, I stumbled upon an opening at New Castle Chrysler High School .  Once I arrived home from the interview, I found two messages on my answering machine from New Castle as well as Hamilton Southeastern offering me a teaching job.  After a few days of serious thinking and praying, I took the job at New Castle Chrysler High School starting in the fall of 2002.  I started coaching track during the first year but didn’t start coaching the boys cross-country team until the 2004-2005 season." 

ECI: Since taking over the New Castle program, you have become one of the premier coaches in ECI.  What do you attribute to your success?

JT: "The success of the NCXC team comes solely from the athletes who have bought into the system that I brought to the squad.  Over the past five years, I have been blessed with tremendous athletes not just as runners but also as young men.  In 2004, I totally revamped the boys team and introduced many things in practices, workouts and meets that were not done in the years before.  However, my athletes believed in the system and trusted me to help them become the best runners they could be.  Earning their trust was hard but positive encouragement, consistency and a good relationship with the athletes helped them to believe in me.  Once the trust was established, our team was able to succeed and consistently improve.  Although I was able to find success in small improvements during the first two years, it was in 2006 when we finally had something to show for our efforts.  In 2006, New Castle won its first major meet (Delta Invitational) and first Sectional Championship under my leadership.  It was during this season when the administration, parents, athletes and fans finally realized that the New Castle XC program was going in the right direction." 

ECI: I understand that you and your wife gave birth a season or two ago.  With both of you as coaches for the New Castle cross country programs, how have you been able to manage your time with raising a child and maintaining successful running programs?  

JT: "This is my 5^th season as the Head XC Coach at New Castle and this is also the 5^th season for my wife to be a volunteer coach for the Lady Trojans XC team.  Kristina and I currently have a 2½ year old son (Hunter) and a 3 month old daughter (Kaari).  Up until this year, we have been able to manage coaching with our toddler son; however, with the birth of our daughter, things got a lot more complicated.  Kristina hasn’t been able to attend every practice due to the craziness at home but we have been able to find some people to babysit every now and then to allow Kristina to join the girls team.  However, Kristina’s involvement with the girl’s team is not as much as it has been in the past." 

ECI: Coming off of a stellar season last year where your team was able to claim the Delta Invitational title, defends its sectional title, and put itself at the head of the ECI running class, what is your outlook for this year’s squad? 

JT: "With the graduation of three of our top 5 runners from last year (Tucker, Goodin & Ferguson), we knew that this year’s squad was going to have very different dynamics compared to last year.  However, I have been pleasantly surprised at the athletes that have stepped up to fill the shoes of our departed graduates.  Tim Spurlock (12), Sam Lewis (11) and Brandon Brooks (11) have been the front runners for our team.  Tim and Sam have steadily improved since last year but the big surprise is the improvement of Brandon .  Brandon didn’t run track last spring so I was unsure of where he would stand in terms of his conditioning.  However, Brandon has been on the heels of Sam throughout the season thus far and Tim, Sam and Brandon give us a good 1-2-3 punch up front.   Jacob Grear (12) ran varsity last fall as our No. 7 runner.  Like the past two years, I expect Jacob to run well throughout the season but drastically improve during the post-season.  Josh Hill (10) didn’t see varsity action last fall but has improved enough this year to be a Top 5 runner.  Josh is deaf and mute but has never let his condition get in the way of his improvement.  Although there is a gap between Brandon and our No. 4 runner, Jacob and Josh are battling with each other to close that gap.   After our Top 5 runners, we have a group of 4-5 athletes who could be our No. 6 and 7.  I am glad to have the friendly competition on the team and hope that they will continue to challenge each other and themselves to compete for those varsity spots."   

ECI: We have watched Tim Spurlock steadily grow into one of the area’s best runners in the past 3 years.  Can you describe his progression and what he has brought to your team over the past few years?

JT: "I first saw Tim when he ran as an 8^th grade on the NCMS cross-country team.  I called him on a weekly basis during the summer before his freshman year and encouraged him to join the team.  I called it persistence…he called it stalking.  J  Without much summer running, I finally convinced him to join the team.  A few meets into his freshman season, he got injured and was out most of the regular season meets.  However, he was healthy and ready to run at our conference meet as well as the tournament meets.  Tim’s best time his freshman year was 18:36.  Although his freshman season didn’t turn out like either of us had hoped, it did ignite his passion for the sport.  During his sophomore and junior years, Tim added on more and more mileage during the summer in hopes that he be prepared for the season’s workouts and not be injured like his freshman year.  He challenged some of the team’s better runners such as Drew Tower and Adrian Tucker and established himself as a front-running threat.  Tim’s best times as a sophomore and as a junior were 17:18 and 16:39, respectively.  Tim’s running form and work ethic has drastically improved with each season.  Tim strongly desires to improve and to break records.  As a senior captain, Tim has encouraged the younger runners on the team to work hard and to not be satisfied with less than their best.  Tim has a great rapport with all of his teammates and is a great athlete to coach. 

Note:  As of 9/6/08, Tim is currently tied for 12^th on the New Castle All-Time list with 16:37.  Also, he is T-4^th in the Junior Class Record list (16:39) and is currently T-11^th in the Senior Class Record list (16:37)." 

ECI: Your teams used to feed into the Delta regional until the recent realignment in 2007.  How much different is it competing in the Franklin Central semi-state and what are your personal feelings about the realignment? 

JT: "Although it came at one of the worst times (it would have been interesting to see what would have happened last year at the Semi-State with our team), we played with the hand that was dealt to us.  The Rushville Regional is much more difficult due to Franklin Central, Warren Central and Roncalli feeding into it.  The Franklin Central Semi-State is the most competitive meet we will see in competition.  Many of the teams that get eliminated at the FCSS could easily place in the Top 10 at the State Meet.  My personal feelings about the realignment are mixed.  On one hand, it makes sense for us to attend the FCSS due to it being closer for us than New Haven .  On the other hand, it is frustrating knowing that we have to be ranked in the Top 5 in the state if we ever want to compete at the state meet.  However, as I mentioned before, we will play with the hand that is dealt to us and do our best in the tournament meets both individually and as a team."  

ECI: Well, thanks for the interview and good luck to you and your team the rest of this season.

JT: "Coach Leitch, thank you for the questions and for all the hard work that you do on ECIrunner.  It is much appreciated and most of my guys visit your website often.  If there is anything that I can do to assist you with the website or anything else, please don’t hesitate to ask."