Pepper already has two state titles
By MIKE FINNEY
Staff reporter
09/05/2002
LEWES --
George Pepper has found his new job as Cape Henlopen High's cross country
coach to be as comfortable as slipping on a favorite pair of old running
shoes.
That is because he has been in this position before.
Pepper coached the Vikings from 1979-1995, and took over again this
fall after Pat Pollock resigned.
"It hasn't really been a problem," Pepper said. "I
haven't really been gone. I've still been doing the winter track and
spring track, so it was kind of a natural fit to come back in when they
were looking for a cross country coach."
He does not have to worry about keeping up with the Cape Henlopen boys
team, which has won the Division II state championship the past two
seasons.
In his previous tenure as cross country coach, he led the Vikings to a
pair of titles - including one in his first season in 1979.
The Vikings' boys team admits it is different adjusting to a new coach,
but the familiarity with Pepper makes the transition easier.
"It's different," said senior Greg Swift. "We're doing
different kinds of workouts. But coach Pepper's great. He knows what he's
doing out here.
"Last year we did more distance work at the beginning of the year.
Mr. Pepper's going more for speed first and distance later."
Junior Nick Lemon agreed that Pepper is a welcome addition.
"It was a real sad thing to lose coach Pollock, but that's all
right," Lemon said. "Pep's a real good coach, too."
The boys team returns only three of its top seven runners from a year
ago, so Pepper has his work cut out for him.
"Right now, the hardest thing for me is trying to run with
them," Pepper said, jokingly.
Pepper said training cross country runners and track athletes are more
different than most people understand. There are a lot of subtleties in
getting a runner to cover 3.1 miles.
"Cross country is a little different than track," Pepper
said. "A lot of people think cross country runners can just naturally
go out and run and they don't have to think about technique. But there's
still a lot of technique involved.
"It's different than trying to teach hurdlers to hurdle, or
jumpers and vaulters to do the things that they do, but they still have to
pay attention to form and stride length and some of those things to make
them more efficient."
Swift, Lemon and sophomore Evan Mock were among Cape Henlopen's top
seven runners last season. And they are the only ones returning.
"We need guys to step up at big meets," Swift said. "We
have a couple of good guys on the team this year. We just need other
people to step it up and be there when we need them."
A winning tradition is one thing that is always hanging around the
trails at Cape Henlopen.
"We've been lucky," Pepper said. "We've had good groups
of kids that are willing to work hard. We've been lucky enough to have a
few individual champions from time to time.
"Right now we're just trying to get them in shape and then go on
from there."
 The News Journal/GARY EMEIGH |
| George Pepper returns to the helm as coach of the Cape Henlopen cross country team. |
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