Maurica Powell is Director of Track & Cross Country at the University of Washington. She specifically coaches the distance women’s team and her husband coaches the men. In 2018, Maurica coached the team to a 9th place finish which was the best finish for them since 2012. She is off to a great start helping develop athletes so well.
Prior to coaching, Maurica had great success in her own running- she was a 6 time state champion in track in Massachusetts, ran at Stanford and has top 10 all-time marks for Stanford in indoor 800, outdoor 800 & 1500m. She was also All-American in 2002 where she was 5th in the 1500m & indoor DMR (3rd).
In this episode, Maurica and I talk about her coaching career (of course!), how she recruits, how she talks with athletes about both the simple topics AND the hard topics. I appreciated Maurica’s honesty over the course of the conversation and left wanting to go grab a a margarita with her because her energy and her laugh were just so contagious.
Photo Cred: UW Athletics
What we talked about:
4:45- What Maurica has been up to
9:40- What the recruiting process looks like
13:45- When she knew that she wanted to become a coach
17:00- What she learned from coaching in the Ivy League
19:00- Her relationship with Coach Vin Lananna and what he taught her while coaching under him
23:00- Her evolution of growing into new coaching roles
25:25- Winning the 2016 cross country national championship
35:15- Working with the athletes to not let social media add pressure to them leading into races
40:35- How she individualizes training for each athlete
46:00- The process of transitioning to coaching at the University of Washington
52:00- What it’s like to coach with her husband, Andy Powell
55:40- How they manage travel schedules with having a family
1:01:50- How she helps cultivate healthy body image with her female athletes
1:15:15- How she helps athletes transition out of collegiate running
1:20:35- End of podcast questions
Show Notes:
Maurica’s Post race interview after the 2016 XC Championships
Video of 2016 Team finding out they won the XC Championships
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
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