Nissa Kubly

By Brittany Bowyer
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How many years have you been a coach at XCP?
“I’ve been with the team for seven years. I’ve been the head coach for three.”

Were you a head coach anywhere else before this?
“I was not a head coach, but I was an assistant at a couple different schools.”

Xavier has a longstanding history of graduates who come back to coach at the school. Are you a former Gator?
“No, I’m not an alum of Xavier.”

Who are your top returning runners this year?
“So we have Chantel Newman, we have Jenevieve Jacques, we have Charlie Werner who are returning, Evelyn Montes, Sophia DeCara and Theresa Gove ... Then we have Avaani Lallian who is coming from our track program.”

Are there any newcomers you expect to make an impact this year?
“Jane Dolasinski.”

What would you say your team’s best attribute will be this season?
“I think that because we have quite a bit of returning girls, just that team chemistry and the team bond to kind of bring the energy during practice and continue it to the racing, that’s what I kind of get the sense of this year.”

Do you have any goals for this year’s team?
“Yeah, I mean we always have the state meet in mind, and you know top three would be right where we would want to see ourselves. That would be a goal.”

Is there anything that you and your team are looking forward to this season?
“We have one trip to California. We’re going to go to Woodbridge, so that’s always a highlight because it’s flat and fast, and good competition. That, and then we have kind of our, ‘home meet,' and Tucson is always fun at the end of the year. And of course, state.”

What are the final numbers going to look like when tryouts are done?
“I think around probably 25 for the team, 27 maybe. So we have a very competitive varsity squad and a large JV squad.”

Is there anything else you’d like to add about Xavier cross country?
“We’re just continuing this tradition. We have a really solid tradition of doing well when we need to, so we’re really working on that. We’re excited, we have a lot of freshmen and new faces, and we work with the track coach and develop our team kind of through all season.”

Brittany Bowyer is a Report for America corps member, covering sports for Independent Newsmedia in Arizona. Report for America places talented journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and regions.