Michigan men's cross-country coach Ron Warhurst is beginning his 23rd year at the helm, long enough to see plenty of talented stars come and go. But that doesn't mean his best days are behind him.
"The boys are young, and they keep me feeling (young)," Warhurst said. "They will tell you I still like the loud boisterous jokes during practice."
It's ironic that anyone who runs 10 miles a day, beginning at 4 a.m, for an easy practice can call themselves young. But these are some remarkable athletes that come through Warhurst's program.
In his 23-year tenure in the Michigan cross-country and track and field programs, some 48 All-America certificates have been handed out to athletes who have run under his tutelage.
"Of those All-Americans, the most talented is definitely Kevin (Sullivan)," Warhurst said. "But he isn't the one with the most awards, yet."
That honor goes to former Wolverine Brian Diemer, who hailed from Grand Rapids. Diemer made the 1984, '88, and '92 U.S. Olympic teams. He was the United States' team captain in Barcelona in 1992.
Warhurst's runners have been frequent visitors to Olympic cities over the years.
In the trials for Atlanta this past summer, a couple of Michigan runners almost ran for Canada.
Freshman Steve Lawrence placed 6th in the trials. Sullivan could have medaled in the games, but he went down with an injury to his bursila last spring.
Lawrence, Sullivan and freshman Jay Cantin will probably be running for the Canadians in Sydney in four years. Sophomore John Mortimer has a chance to make the American team.
Warhurst has seen stranger cross-country occurences, however, than his pupils wearing their country's colors. He has seen one remarkable person in John Scherer.
Scherer, who graduated in 1992, was a walk-on who won 11 Big Ten championships. He was an All-American 10 times.
"Because of John, I don't cut walk-ons," Warhurst said. "I let them decide if they can handle Big Ten cross-country."
But walk-ons who run to stardom are few and far between.
"If they want to stick, they've got to be able to run seven miles at a 6:30 (per mile) pace," Warhurst said.
"Even if they can handle that, we go hard every other day for periods of 10 days. They've got to have endurance."
Michigan has been doing plenty of those kinds of workouts lately. The Wolverines are in the midst of a two-week layoff, without a meet.
"It's nice to have a lull in the middle of the season," Warhurst said. "We can have real hard practices and use that to our advantage."
The Wolverines will need any advantage they can get this year in the hunt for the Big Ten title. Wisconsin has won it the past two years and owns 11 out of the last 14 championships.
"I think we've got as good a shot this year as we've had in a while," Warhurst said.
"We've been fortunate this year, not having any big injuries (other than Sullivan in the preseason)."