Central NIKE XC

Who We Are

2005-09-27T01:28:00.000-07:00

We are the Geoff Hollister Athletic Club. Founded in the spirit of employee #7 at Nike, a guy who sold shoes out of the back of his station wagon for gas money so he could travel around the country, going to meets and visiting high school kids, all the while helping them with their training, finding out what they liked and didn't like about all aspects of the sport, finding out exactly what their needs were, helping them get the most out of their running. This fall we are trying to get back to the roots of this company by sending out three trucks to all corners of the US to get a finger on the pulse of how you guys, the high school runners, the grassroots of the sport, feel about running.

We are out here for the same reasons as Geoff, we love the sport and we want to see it grow. Cross country is the coolest thing in the world (track and road races are OK too) and we want to tell you why. Better yet, we want you to tell us why. We want to help you guys learn about running and hopefully it will come to mean as much to you as it does to us. We want to share our passion for the sport with you. And we want you to share your passion for the sport with us. Tell us what makes cross country so special, tell us why your teammates are your brothers, tell us why you love the shoes you are in, tell us aspects of the sport you like and aspects that you don't like, tell us what we are doing right and what we can improve upon, tell us if there is a void in the sport that needs to be filled (can you guys say regional qualifying races for NTN?), anything that is on your mind. The majority of great ideas in this sport weren't thought up by a bunch of stiffs in penguin suits in a board room, they materialized out on the roads eighty minutes into a two-hour run with boogers frozen to your face. Tell us what you are kicking around in your head on those long runs in the middle of nowhere, who knows, it might be the next big thing.

We are here to be a resource. The XC Gurus in the trucks and the guys back at Nike HQ have been running for a long time, and at all levels of the sport: age-group track, junior high, high school, college, and post-collegiate competition. If you have questions about training, racing, nutrition, taking care of your body while training hard, shoes, apparel, how to not freeze body parts on cold winter days, aiming protocol for snot rockets, etc. let us know. Any question you have about any level of the sport, we are here to help. As long as you're runnin' we will be right by your side (unless we get dropped up a hill), we're not going anywhere. How appropriate that the trucks are long-haulin' it across the country, because we are invested in this sport and invested in you guys for the long haul.

Whether you want to be a national champion, state champion, or this is your first year out for the team and you just want to see what it's all about - if you have a goal, we are here to help you reach it, and then help you take it up a notch.

Don't be intimidated because you think Nike is this huge company, you don't have to make an appointment to get in touch with the GHAC. Nike was born of this sport, running is in the DNA of this company. Nike's beginnings were a bunch of runners throwing food at each other at a Dairy Queen in Eugene, Oregon. Nike started out as a running company by runners, for runners. That same mentality persists to this day.

You can email me directly at centralnikexctour@gmail.com, my opposite numbers on the West and East coasts can be reached at their respective email addresses - westnikexctour@gmail.com and eastnikexctour@gmail.com, or just come up to me at a meet and start shooting the bull. We can't wait to hear from you guys.

Mountain View HS - Orem, UT

2005-08-25T00:04:00.002-07:00

Mountain View HS - Orem, UT

2005-08-25T00:04:00.001-07:00

Mountain View HS - Orem, UT

2005-08-25T00:04:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Mountain View.

Anybody got some glue?

One of the perks of being a top gun at Mountain View HS.

The Jana XC, stylish and functional.

The tradition at Mountain View was evident the moment I walked in the door. Loads of state championship trophies, plaques commemorating the achievements of runners past, national championship banners (yeah, plural) hanging from the rafters of the gym. Here's a question for you guys out there, how many of your schools have a seperate trophy case just for cross country and track? Mountain View does, and they're looking to expand. Just like Notre Dame is a football school, Minnesota is a hockey school, and North Carolina is a womens soccer school, there is no doubt that Mountain View is a cross country school. The principal is into it, he attends every one of the teams' races. How cool is that?

If you are under Coach Dave Houle's wing you can't help but be inspired by the athletes that have come before you. Literally, every time you go to practice you are reminded that you run for a powerhouse school with two decades of winning under its belt. This everpresent reminder comes in the form of a row of seven beat-up lockers that look a little out of place next to the thirty-odd freshly painted red lockers that fill the rest of the room. These lockers are reserved for the varsity boys, and on the inside of each locker the previous owner has written his name. If you are the number one runner you will see the names of some of the best runners in Utah history. The decades of sweat that have soaked into the metal leave no available excuses for the current crop of Bruin harriers.

Fremont HS - Plain City, UT

2005-08-23T23:47:00.000-07:00

The guys and girls (5th @ NTN last year) were holding their annual time-trial on the day of my visit, a season-opener to blow out the rust a little bit and see how fit people were, checking the preparations for a return trip to Nike Team Nationals. King and Queen for the day were Ryan Jones, who ran away from the field, and Cassie Ricks, who looked like a stud out there and infiltrated pretty far into the boys team. She was crawling on the ground afterwords, that's the kind of effort the GHAC loves to see.

Once the work was done, we did dinner and a movie - burgers and Fire on the Track. Pretty hard to beat. Love was in the air as two lovely (and fast) ladies asked for mile world-record holder Hicham El Guerrouj's hand in marriage via digital video. It was a touching moment, I had to dry my eyes a few times I know. Nervous brides-to-be, FYI: your proposal is currently being carried across the Atlas Mountains by camel and will no doubt leave the King of the Mile swooning within days.

Where It All Began ...

2005-08-22T01:13:00.000-07:00

After hanging around in Beaverton for almost two weeks, itching to get out there, the truck was finally ready to hit the road. As chance would have it, Abdi Abdirahman (13:13 and 27:33 this summer) was in town. Check out the photos, he seems pleased with the truck.