Speed Track and Field ready for nationals trip to Wichita

Speed Track and Field’s trip to the USA Track and Field National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships isn’t about coach Charmas Lee, as he’ll tell you.

He mostly clams up when asked if this meet, in Wichita, Kan., next Tuesday to Sunday, has any special meaning to him. It is likely his last trip to outdoor nationals as the Colorado Springs club’s coach. After 20 years doing pretty much everything for Speed Track and Field, he’s planning to scale back his responsibilities next season. He figures he’ll be giving up his title of director of coaching and becoming an executive director only, but that could be flipped if he finds a new executive director first.

Ask about his feelings surrounding this trip to nationals and he talks about the athletes. The club had 11 qualify -  Icenia Anderson, Kristian Carroll, Alexa Chacon, Garrett Finn, Ashlyn Hare, Rachel Hough, Mackenzie Howie, Kaci and Kyle Rex, Collin Scheer and Jonathon Scott (Kaci and Kyle Rex won’t be making the trip). He says something good about each of them, always mentioning their academic success. He’s proud of them.

Ask the question again and he’s discussing David Mueller. Mueller was a member of Speed Track and Field. The Coronado High graduate was killed in a car accident involving a drunk driver two years ago. The team will sport shirts with “DiEM,” from the company Mueller’s family started in his honor. Lee hopes the athletes pick up something from the tribute.

“Coach helps you learn life lessons,” Chacon said.

So Lee won’t allow this trip to be about himself, but it will be in some ways. While he won’t rule out anything, at 50 years old he said it would be tough to continue carrying so many roles.

“If I continue to do so many things, in essence I’ll fail the kids,” Lee said. “It’ll be too watered down.”

Lee’s investment in the club, which he says ranks second in longevity among track clubs in the state, is hard to quantify. He built it from the bottom up. He said during the two 12-week track seasons, he and his wife put in about 2,800 hours of work. He believes he has helped kids who come through the club maximize their abilities in track, with his scientific approach with video technology, and succeed outside of athletics. With participants from many area middle and high schools, he has had a pretty wide-reaching impact in the community.

Lee says the club might improve with some new ideas and energy, but it will be different. Lee said there was a board meeting this week to discuss a strategic plan for the next two-to-five years.

“I think the program will do fine,” Lee said. “It will just have a different look and direction at this time next year.”

The athletes appreciate what he has done to help them. Some athletes talked about how the coaching staff, led by Lee, helped their technique, or how strength training assisted them. Others talked about improving their confidence, or being taught visualization. Many mentioned life lessons they’ve been taught.

“Without him, I don’t know if I’d be doing as well as I am now,” said Howie, who will be making her first trip to nationals.

If Lee isn’t at the forefront anymore, the club would change dramatically.

“It would be really weird,” said Anderson, who became the first person from James Irwin Charter school to get a Division I scholarship when she signed with Colorado State. “It wouldn’t be the same.”

Lee wants the focus of the trip to be on the athletes, and club participants are excited. Tony Carodine of Fast Trax Troupe is another Colorado Springs athlete going to nationals. The athletes know the competition will be tough, but hope to do well.

“I’m really excited and really blessed,” Scheer said. “It’s a great program to be in.”