Reaching a ‘mile’stone

Recently, Keene State College’s Peter Thomas received a very special honor. Because of his excellent coaching job for KSC men’s and women’s cross country teams, he has been named the Little East Conference coach of the year. This is yet another award coach Thomas can add to his impressive list of accomplishments.

Thomas has coached KSC cross-country and track and field teams for over 25 years. He has received multiple honors for his efforts and has coached several All-American athletes.
During his tenure as coach, Thomas has led the Owls to many LEC championships and several NCAA tournament berths. Over the years, KSC has fielded some very capable teams, with much credit given to its coaching. Thomas helped KSC become a highly revered athletic program.

“It’s always nice to be acknowledged by your peers for your achievements,” Thomas said, “but what this really means is that the team performed very well this year.”

It was truly a successful year for both men’s and women’s teams. The women’s team managed to win the LEC championship, while the men finished third in the LEC but qualified for the NCAA tournament and ended with a better result than the men’s team that won the LEC’s. Both teams put in a tremendous effort and coach Thomas said he couldn’t be more proud of the squad.

“I just try and talk to everyone, keep them motivated and give them effective, efficient workouts to help them improve,” Thomas said.

He also said he tried to help his team continue to improve by carefully laying out workouts that will help improve the teams’ speed and endurance. Thomas said the team has performed great but it’s always important to continue to get better as athletes. In Thomas’ opinion, it’s vital these athletes go out and do their best during the fall on the cross-country teams, work hard staying in shape during the winter, go on to compete on the track and field teams and keep up their training during summer workouts. It’s this kind of dedication that inspires victory and is a large reason why the Owls have done so well year after year.

Part of Thomas’ philosophy is  getting you to compete against yourself.

“Pete makes you want to be fast, and not just faster than your competition but faster than yourself,” sophomore runner Haley Lydstone said. “I have never worked harder than I have being a part of his team. Everyone is very enthusiastic about running which also helps.”

Another big part of Thomas’ success is his willingness to put in the hours that most coaches will not.

“He devotes his life to his career as a coach,” junior Allison Chamberlain said. “He spends most of his time here on campus where you can find him in his office hanging out with his athletes, showing around recruits or driving us out to any place he thinks would be interesting to run. Pete knows us better than we know ourselves. He sees our strengths and weaknesses even when we cant and he knows how to work on our weaknesses.”

A little known fact about Peter Thomas is that, not only has he been a fantastic coach at KSC for many years, but he was also once a student at KSC. From 1973 to 1977 Thomas competed as a runner on the very same teams he commands.

It was a bit different for Thomas back then, however.

Thomas explained that his coach would run speed drills just about every day. He has not taken his old coaches practices to heart. Coach Thomas said he has found more success in his own methods that don’t focus so much on speed oriented drills but instead provide a much more balanced training.

While the current team is very talented, the Owls look just as dangerous as they prepare for next year’s season. They are fortunate to be able to return the majority of their current teams. The men’s team will have five returners, graduating only two seniors and are poised to continue performing well.

What may be even more impressive, though, is the entire women’s team, who won the LEC tournament last year, is returning next season. The key to future success is to avoid any injures, which always seem to spring up unexpectedly. Last year’s team was no exception, as they lost some of their runners to injuries. All signs are go for another impressive season next year.

With his many accolades, it’s pretty impossible to say coach Thomas has done anything but a tremendous job as head coach of both the men’s and women’s cross-country teams. He continues to bring the best out of his athletes, year in and year out, and nothing less is expected from Thomas’ teams in the future.

This most recent award only adds to a long line of successes for Thomas and his Owls.
Let’s hope his trophy case isn’t quite full yet because, with all his returning runners, he is bound to be adding to his collection.

Ryan Glavey can be contacted at rglavey@keeneequinox.com