Friday Features: UWA coach Ray Stanfield pushes cross country teams to top
By Mike Perrin
There is no question that University of
West Alabama cross country coach
Ray Stanfield leads from the front – or maybe from right beside his teams. In his first season at UWA, he guided the men to their first Gulf South Conference championship. The women finished third in the league. Both teams made the NCAA Division II Regional Championships and the men’s team is in the hunt for the national title – another school first – this weekend at the Division II National Championship Festival in Louisville after finishing third in the regional.
Stanfield definitely leads by example. The 60-year-old fitness enthusiast sometimes runs alongside his teams during workouts and even during meets. He also does personal training and “boot camp” style fitness programs in Livingston. “The classes I do here are at 5 a.m.,” he said. “That is ‘my time,’ not time taken away from my team or my job. I choose to exercise at 5 a.m., not sleep.” He said his style is “old school.” “I tell the kids at the start of every season, ‘I know my way is not the only way, but I know my way works, so we will do it my way!’”
Stanfield calls cross country “the ultimate team sport. A basketball team can have a player who averages 35 points a game and they will win a lot of games,” he said. “A football team can have a great running back and win football games. A cross country team can have the best runner in the race and have no support and they won’t win anything. No. 5 is as important as No. 1. That’s how I coach.”
When he came on board in January, the veteran coach who had stops at UAB, Samford, McNeese State, Sam Houston State and Rice brought a strong shot of confidence with him. “I told the team the first time that I addressed them that I was here to win the conference and I thought we could do it the first year. The key to leading a team is that the leader portrays what he or she is telling the team in a daily fashion. I think I portray being a winner to my kids.”
Stanfield’s kids – Victor Onyango, Zach Mosley, William Kazery, Kenny Slavik and Hillary Langat – will carry lessons of dedication and commitment onto the course in Louisville. Stanfield is a testament to those lessons he has shaped in 38 years as a coach. They also surely know his philosophy on fitness: “It’s much easier to stay in shape than to get in shape. The key is consistency, much like being a successful athlete. There must be a commitment to being consistent in order to be successful.”
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11/14/2014 - Revival of a Rivalry.
11/21/2014 - VSU's Margaret Stauffer Finds Strength in Team, Family.
11/28/2014 - Union Off and Running.