COACHING CHANGE FOR BARRINGER
By David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
On the heels of signing her first sponsorship agreement with New
Balance last month, Jenny Barringer has made another important move in
the early stages of her professional running career. The USA
steeplechase record holder has decided to change coaches, moving to
former 1500m Olympian Juli (Henner) Benson, the head cross country and
assistant track coach at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado
Springs. Barringer had been coached by the University of Colorado's
Mark Wetmore, her college coach.
"As you can imagine, this is a difficult change," Barringer told Race
Results weekly in a telephone interview. "I came back to the
University of Colorado and Mark and I had an opportunity to spend some
time to discuss my future. We both agreed that he had a big job and
I'm a big job, so we decided to move in different directions."
Under Coach Wetmore, Barringer set NCAA records for 1500m (3:59.90),
the indoor mile (4:25.91), indoor 3000m (8:42.03), 5000m (15:01.70),
and steeplechase (9:25.54). She also finished ninth in the 2008 Olympic
Games, and fifth at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in the
steeplechase. It was in that world championships race where Barringer
ran her American record 9:12.50.
Barringer was quick to point out how much Wetmore's coaching had meant to her career.
"He's an incredible college coach," she said. "He's proved that over
and over again. Coaching a post-collegiate is a different job and
takes a lot of time and a lot of energy. We've decided it's best for
me to find a professional's coach."
Benson said that she had not been actively looking to coach Barringer.
She bumped into Barringer at the Air Force All-Comers meet on January
15, and was reminded that she had written an encouraging e-mail to
Barringer but had never sent it because she didn't have the athlete's
new e-mail address.
"I was running around like crazy doing things for the meet and I ran
right into her," Benson recounted in a telephone interview from
Colorado Springs. "I gave her a big hug and said I have an e-mail for
her."
In subsequent conversations with Barringer, and her manger Ray Flynn,
Benson learned that Barringer was excited to explore her talents
further in the middle distances, especially after her surprising
sub-4:00 1500m at the Prefontaine Classic last year.
"Upon talking to her I realized that she was looking to explore the
1500 side of things more," Benson said. "It was a really good fit."
Barringer agreed. "I'm really excited about it. She was an incredible athlete herself."
Wetmore's devotion to building an athlete's aerobic base will serve
Barringer well, Benson said. But she also said that Wetmore had helped
develop Barringer's fierce competitive mindset.
"From what I've seen Coach Wetmore has done a phenomenal job in all
regards," Benson remarked. "Not just getting her to a high fitness
level. It seems that he had a vision of what this athlete could do.
He did a great job of preparing her both physically and mentally. As
we've seen, she's never backed down from any international competition.
He's done a phenomenal job.'
Barringer said that the coaching change would be immediate, but that it
would take some time for her make the full transition to training in
Colorado Springs which is 97 miles (156 km) south of Boulder.
Barringer's fiancée, Jason Simpson, whom she plans to marry next
October, lives and works in Boulder.
"I'm not sure exactly what the timeframe is, but I'll be training at
least part-time in Colorado Springs," Barringer concluded. "The move
will be a very personal decision for Jason and I in the upcoming weeks."
As for Benson, she's ready to dive in, immediately.
"You dream of opportunities like this," she said. "I really plan to leave no stone unturned."
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