To the editor:

It had been another fantastic season for the Cazenovia Girl’s Cross Country Team. Coach Kurt Wheeler was again responsible for leading, mentoring and training a team of 14 girls through many races, countless practices and several injuries throughout the season.

We in Cazenovia are of course familiar with the many hats Kurt wears: mayor, school teacher, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve officer, father, husband, etc. One of his least visible jobs is that of girls cross country and track coach. I can tell you from personally observing him the last four years that he is completely committed to his team and his dedication to these girls is nothing short of remarkable.

Regardless of athletic ability, Kurt treats all his athletes as equals, consistently preaching team over individual performance. He has an uncanny ability to motivate these young women to be the best they can be, and his results speak for themselves as he has led his team to be one of the top programs in Class C competition year after year. Kurt realizes that he is not only developing these young girls as athletes, but equally important, he is developing them as young adults, citizens and members of the community. As the parents of two cross country athletes he has coached, this has been extremely impressive to observe.

We were fortunate to be able to chaperone the team’s meet at the Manhattan Invitational in October. In addition to navigating Manhattan and the biggest cross country meet in the Northeast, Kurt made sure his athletes ran a competitive race but also got the entire NYC experience to include shopping, dining, riding the subway and taking in all of the popular sites. We toured the hallowed Ground Zero site and the Statue of Liberty where Kurt, always the teacher, provided constant instruction and impressed upon the girls the historical significance of both.

The season culminated with the cross country dinner at the Lincklaen House a few weeks ago. Here, each athlete was personally recognized by Kurt for her performance during the season. By Kurt’s own admission, he was likely going to get emotional during the dinner as he told us that he thinks of all the girls as his own daughters.

Towards the end of the program, many of the girls were given the opportunity to say a few words about their teammates and their coach, some of whom were seniors and this was going to be their last official team event. By the end of the speeches, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place as each girl gave an extremely heartwarming account about her fellow teammates and coach.

As parents of teenagers, we don’t often get to see our kids in this capacity. Each one exuded a quiet confidence and was extremely well spoken and mature as she talked about her commitment to the team. The team’s dedication to their coach and each other was something to behold and made for quite an amazing night, especially for the parents. We are extremely fortunate to have Coach Wheeler. Congratulations to the Lady Laker Harriers and to Coach Wheeler for another outstanding season.

Lynn and Tony Hart

Cazenovia