In the summers of 2007 and 2008 I would visit a friend who was on the NCHS cross country team and would train with them for a few magical weeks. The best part of these trips wasn't running the beautiful trails that went on forever. It wasn't the perfect weather that is a true runners dream for summer training (me being from Texas...). Nor was it running with the fastest team in the country. The best part of these trips was just spending time with this team. Being a coach now, the program that Jon has created is a coaches dream. These teams aren't driven by inner-team competitiveness, they are driven by team unity and friendship. I swear the top seven wasn't just the fastest seven runners (out of about 40 guys), it was seven best friends. Seven runners with year long dedication to good grades, consistent year-long mileage, and 7 runners who weren't interested in partying, alcohol, drugs, or even girlfriends for most of them, realizing the distractions they can cause. I know that North Central will continue to be a nationally dominant team because of what Jon has done. Best of luck to them in their future State and National races!