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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The post Episode 268: Maurica Powell – Director of Track & Cross Country at the University of Washington appeared first on Lindsey Hein.