Running for Pirates’ treasure

Lining the walls of Whitworth cross country Head Coach Dr. Toby Schwarz’s office used to be quite a bit of portraits from runners past and present, reminding him of his past success.

A majority of those pictures and memorabilia rest at home as the offices in the athletic department are in a transition of renovation and expansion. But one particular memento remains close to his desk.

It is a Whitworth Pirates flag, donning Schwarz’s face in the center, on which a patch-covered eye takes the attention away from the thrown-together Photoshop work of the student-athletes of his, which adorn his enthusiasm and passion toward the sport of distance running.

Because behind the hard shell of discipline and intimidation is a man as goofy and outgoing as any on the team.

“Sometimes the least mature person at practice is going to be me, saying or doing the wrong things,” Schwarz said.

Schwarz, in his 11th season as head man for the Pirates distance crew, has overseen a dominance of the Northwest Conference this season, with his men garnering the school’s first conference championship in 36 years, while the women finished tied for second. The ladies have finished that high five times in the last eight years.

As 2008 NWC Cross Country Coach of the Year, Schwarz brings a fierce spirit toward his athletes, and a mantra that goes beyond the dirt or paved trails they compete on. It has also brought forth a Division III Regional title, won last weekend (Nov. 15) at Bush’s Pasture Park in Salem, Ore.

“If you ask my athletes to describe me in one word, usually the word they use is intimidating,” Schwarz said. “If you ask me, I would say I am the least intimidating person in the world … or the other [word] they would use is intense, more than intimidating.

“I think my coaching style is to make the athletes excited for what they are doing and put everything into it. I want them to be passionate about it, I want them to be intense about it … not just do things and go through the motions. With that, I try to be amiable. I think the athletes enjoy being around me, but that there is also a line there too.”

Jo E. Mayer, a junior and Spokane’s East Valley High School alum, says it is his attention to detail and personal approach that makes him stand out as a leader.

“He is very in tune with each one of us as athletes, and very demanding of each one of us as athletes,” said Mayer, who sports a 3.987 grade point average at Whitworth, studying mathematics and pursuing a secondary education certification. “He demands excellence, which is a good thing, but not to the point where it’s bad. Our motto is perfection, and that includes our academics, our faith … we strive for perfection.”

As for that near-perfect GPA Mayer totes?

“It’s going to drop after this semester, because I’m taking advanced calculus and number theory,” said Mayer, who finished 26th in the regional meet in Salem, part of the ladies team that took fifth in the team totals.

While the goal of being the strongest force in distance running is the ultimate goal of the team, there are four tenants to the program’s definitive success, and that is a combination of four unique standards: achieving athletic success, academic success, social growth and spiritual growth.

“We talk about those four things, and how they are not mutually exclusive,” Schwarz said. “We think you can be successful at all four things at the highest level possible, but you do have to sacrifice other things to reach that.”

With such strong standards and expectations of his student-athletes, an obvious concern would be how he is able to recruit without scaring anyone off.

The key word for prospective Pirates is commitment.

“There is talent and there is potential talent,” Schwarz said. “Potential talent is rooted in ‘Is this person willing to sacrifice?’ … ‘Is this person willing to give up things to achieve other things?’ If I ask anybody, ‘Do you want to win?’ Everybody says ‘Yes,’ but the whole idea of, ‘I’m competitive because I like to win?’ No. A competitive person is someone that has to win, almost at all costs, they want to sacrifice in order to win.

“The potential talent, in my opinion, is that there is a direct correlation to achieving your talent, based on how hard you are willing to work and how hard you are willing to sacrifice, and how much you are willing to dedicate. What I always tell prospective student-athletes, what I say to them is, ‘Are you a runner, or are you someone who likes to run?’ If you are a runner, then you are going to eat, sleep, breathe being a successful runner. If you like to run, then you go do Bloomsday. Compare it to golf … I play golf, but I’m not a golfer. I look for runners when I recruit.”

That attitude and mantra can come as a surprise to “runners,” but even some of the newer Pirates have already caught on in believing in the system.

“It’s definitely different from normal,” said Nick Gallagher, a sophomore from Bedford, Iowa, who won the individual meet at regionals. It was the first time any Whitworth runner had won a regional meet.

“Normal coaches, I suppose, just give you the workout and holler at you with times and whatnot. But Toby actually gets out there and runs with you for some of the runs, and he’s really active in marking out the courses by every 100 meters. It’s really helpful when working on tempos and such.”

While pre-physical therapy is Gallagher’s ultimate goal at Whitworth, he is currently pursuing a degree in health fitness physical education. In his free time, he and his running mates do everything together: eat, run, take classes, even their social activities revolve around their distance peers.

But one line that never gets crossed is to push the limits of coach Schwarz’s patience. While he may be a funny guy at heart, he can get his point across if you’ve done something wrong.

“He can tell you how stupid what you did last night was, but he can make you laugh while doing it,” Gallagher said. “He gets the point across to not do certain things because they can hurt your performance. But yet at the same time, he still maintains that personal relationship with you.”

And it’s those personal relationships that have made it so the only lines the Pirates cross are the finish lines in good time.

Following Saturday’s results at the NCAA Division III West Regional Championships in Salem, Ore., the Whitworth men’s team will be traveling to Hanover, Ind., this weekend (Nov. 22) to participate in the NCAA Division III Cross Country National Championships for the first time in school history.

Story by Darren Shimp, who can be reached at darren@htsports.org.