Opportunity knocked for Fairview's Hatch; Former Fairview track star now coaching Knights

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By Tom Dixon For the Camera
Tuesday, March 17, 2009

BOULDER, Colo. — There's a familiar face on the Fairview track field this spring, but he's in a very unfamiliar position. Instead of winning state championships on the track, former star James Hatch is trying to win them as a coach.

"I know a lot about this sport and I wanted to share that with these kids," Hatch said. "I loved my high school coaches -- all of them -- so I'm hoping eventually they'll feel the same way about me."

Fairview and its first-year coach competed in the first meet of the year March 7 at Boulder High. The girls placed second behind Lyons, last year's 4A champions, and the boys took fifth, just ahead of Boulder High.

Hatch, who graduated from Fairview in 2001, was a state champ in the 800 and the mile. He also set the all-Colorado record in the 800 with a time of 1 minute, 51.23 seconds. He also placed third in state with the state champion Fairview cross country team, running the 5K in 16:33.5.

Two years ago, Hatch set out to qualify for the Beijing Olympics and enlisted the help of one of his high school running coaches, Joanne Ernst.

"She did such a good job with me in high school," Hatch said. "I ran my fastest times and was probably the fittest I'd ever been when I was competing with her."

Hatch suffered a long road to get to the time trials in June 2008.

"I did everything I could possibly do to make that Olympic team," Hatch said. "Just the wear and tear of training, I had trained solidly ... I started in July and I didn't take time off until August 2008."

After a long year that left him sore and hurting, he still hadn't been able to find a training sponsor.

Then after Hatch placed 21st overall in the 800-meter quarterfinals and 26th overall in 1,500-meter semifinals at the trials, he decided to retire from professional running and return home to Boulder.

Hatch, however, was too competitive to stay away for long and he called about coming on as an assistant coach for the Fairview track team. As it turned out, former coach Kim O'Malley resigned about the same time.

"They said, 'Well, would you be willing to take over the program?'," Hatch said. "I thought about it and I figured I'd want to eventually, so when opportunity knocks."

When it comes to coaching, Hatch said he takes a little bit from all of his former coaches including the mantra of his Arkansas coach, John McDonnell: Hard work, done intelligently.

As a three-time All-American at Arkansas and a big part of Arkansas' 40th national championship, Hatch took those words to heart.

His runners are happy with his strategy, too.

"I like his workouts, he makes them hard, but really fun," senior Haley O'Connor, one of 130 athletes on this season's track and field team, said. "It's always different; we don't always run on the track, at least for long distances. We do workouts up in the trails."

Hatch's challenge is to get everybody competing for him to believe in him.

"Having that confidence in your coach is actually a really big step in succeeding," Hatch said. "If you believe in what your coach is doing, it's going to work. Sort of that placebo effect, I guess."

Nina Picher Allan may be a good indication of how he's doing.

"I'm running a lot faster than I ever thought I could," the sophomore says.