EFSC cross country team opens first season with decorated coach, local ties, diversity in age
Doug Butler has been a coach at the high school level for 23 years, and in those years he has achieved several great feats.
From cross country state championships to track and field state titles, Butler has won the biggest honors at the high school level multiple times.
Now, he is the head coach of Eastern Florida State College's cross country team, which is in its first year as a team.
Butler is coaching the newly-started men and women programs while still fulfilling his duties as head coach of Satellite High School's cross country team.
"Coaching both teams, I have to juggle one in the morning and one at night, so it's a lot of time away from home," he said. "But my son is in high school at Satellite, he's a sophomore, so I want to finish my last three years at Satellite and then just focus on the Eastern Florida team," Butler said. "It's new. I have always wanted to try coaching at the collegiate level."
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The women's team consists of eight athletes with a wide range of ages, with some runners with long-time ties to Brevard County.
Maggie Dickinson, 56, said she enjoys being a part of the team and she also expressed excitement about being back in school. She is majoring in General Studies.
"It is awesome. It is unbelievable. My first time in college I didn't pay any attention," Dickinson said. "This time around I have straight A's, I love my teachers and I'm blown away by the quality of the teachers and the classes."
Dickinson's sons ran under Butler while they were in high school, so she already knew him as a coach.
"I'm already getting in great shape, which I'm loving, and the women on the team are amazing. They're just wonderful women," Dickinson said.
Along with Dickinson, there is another runner on the women's team who has a long running history in Brevard County.
Julie Hannah, 48, has been involved in the running community in the county for a long time, and prior to joining the Titans' cross country team she coached track and field at West Shore Jr./Sr. High School for six years.
Hannah said she has participated in Butler's "Set Goals Not Limits" camp in the past and actually trained as runner under Butler for a decade before she started coaching.
"I have a lot experience with his program and what we are doing now is pretty much what I've done in the past 10, 12 years," Hannah said. "I'm 48 now and I just want to see what I am capable of doing. That's always been my mindset."
Regardless of age though, Butler coaches and trains all his runners the same.
"No, we run the same," Butler said when asked about training. "Most of my ladies aren't used to racing so much, so I limited the schedule this year and didn't put a lot of races on them."
While the program is just in its first year, Butler is looking forward to building the program and bringing in runners from across the state to the team.
"I'm very competitive, so I want to be successful right from the start," Butler said. "I think high school girls around the state will see that we're a legit program and that should help us."
2022 EFSC cross country roster
Amie Demars | Fr. | Melbourne (Satellite High School)
Maggie Dickinson | Fr. | Indian Harbour Beach (Holy Family)
Nicole Dombal | Fr. | Melbourne (Satellite High School)
Allison Downie | N/A | Satellite Beach (Florida Tech)
Kenzie Duron | Fr. | Melbourne Beach (Melbourne High School)
Julie Hannah | Fr. | Melbourne (Eau Gallie High School)
Jennifer Martin | Fr. | Northport, N.Y. (Indian River State College)
Rachel Starr | Fr. | Palm Bay (Bayside High School)
You can find the teams schedule here.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Eastern Florida State College cross country team starts first season
