Distance coach Wendel McRaven joins TexAgs Radio in-studio

Texas A&M track & field's long distance coach Wendell McRaven joined us in-studio for the weekly Track & Field Report. McRaven looked back on a couple of productive meets for the Maroon & White and shared what it takes to be successful in Aggieland.

Key notes from Wendel McRaven

• Eric Casarez did a really nice job. Really impressive. He strained his calf, and our training staff got him healthy enough to run at the SEC meet. He spent two weeks off not running after the SEC championship, and really, his first run back was when we ran in the Bahamas, and then he went on to make the school record.
   
• I stepped into a great situation at A&M. I'll have been here for 12 years in July.
   
• Heather Abadie did a great job down at Rice. It was really a cool weekend. Heather has done a phenomenal job and is a phenomenal pole vaulter. Sometimes we forget she's a sophomore, but she's still figuring things out. She is definitely the leader of that pole vault group.
   
• Maddie Livingston running a 35:00.65 was impressive, and it was her first ever 10k on the track. She was a little nervous about it going in, but she just did a great job overall.
   
• I don’t think there was even a transfer portal then when Eric transferred. You had to get permission from your head coach. He was coached by an Aggie at Oklahoma. I didn't do a great job at recruiting him out of high school, but I wanted to work hard to recruit him from Oklahoma. A thing that makes him a leader is in reality he's a normal guy. We can joke with him, and he's just a normal guy. It proves to the younger guys you don't have to be on a pedestal to be great. He leads by example, and he's really positive.
   
• We can't really recruit anyone until after their sophomore year, and they can start visiting after their junior year. On the distance side, it's a developmental process. We are talking to some high school seniors, but they are on the later side of developing. It's a never-ending process. Our sport doesn't really have as many dead periods as some others sports. You really have to ration your energy out. If I'm going to do a good job at coaching and as a father, I have to ration my energy out.
   
• With Livingston, the biggest problem for freshmen particularly is they are in a new environment, and there are so many opportunities. You have to find that balance between the academic side of things, health and nutrition. It's the question: Are you doing all the little things? Consistency and staying healthy are so important, and as a freshman, you really want to come in and prove yourself.
   
• We don't want there to be a huge jump from high school to coming here. We look at what helped them stay successful and build on that. We start them on different volumes when they get here. We want to see how they adapt to volume. It depends on the individual, which is both a good thing and a challenge. The challenge is we don't coach robots. We coach people.
   
• We have adjusted the training a lot because we are on the road a lot. For the next three weeks, we are hopping on airplanes, so we have to figure out how to balance that. Who are we giving weekends off or who are we giving a slower race to?
   
• For college kids, it's really about finding that balance. Are you doing those little things? Freshmen, a lot of them were able to get away with not doing all the little things in high school, and you can’t do that now.
   
• The Florida Relays is a great meet. We had a good experience at the meet last year, and we have a pretty good crew going this weekend. It will be a good group and a good meet overall. It is also an upper-level meet.