Meet Wisconsin’s cross country coach of the year: Alexa Richardson
MIDDLETON, Wis. – Alexa (Renstrom) Richardson in September was named Wisconsin’s cross country Coach of the Year by the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Alexa didn’t start out as a runner. “As a kid, my first-ever sport was karate,” she says. She started at 5 and earned a black belt by middle school. “I ran a random 5K while training for karate. I loved it. It was difficult, but once I realized, hey, I’m not too bad at this, I knew this is a sport I could be good at.” The running was always her favorite part of soccer and basketball, so it made sense to devote herself to this. “I liked that the distance was long. I always wanted to give more. I would get up before school, sometimes run during lunch, go weightlifting. When I stepped on that starting line, I wanted to look around and know that I had put in more work than anyone else on the line. No matter the outcome. I worked the hardest to get there.”
As head cross country coach at Middleton High School, “that’s one thing I tell the girls now,” she says. “No matter the outcome, you should be happy with it.” Last spring, the team earned the 2021 girls cross country state championship in the WIAA’s alternate fall season.
Alexa remembers being a senior at Central High in La Crosse back in 2006, when UW-Madison recruited her to run cross country for the Badgers. “I was super excited! It was the school I wanted to go to,” she says. About 20 other colleges also reached out, “but I was excited about Wisconsin, always,” she says. Being a first-generation college student made the achievement even more special. “It was a big step in my family.” Alexa majored in sociology and criminal justice.
In high school, Alexa was two-time team captain and MVP, and conference and sectional champion in the 3,200 meters as a senior. (In those days, girls didn’t run 5K. “I don’t know why,” she says, but she’s glad the distances are the same now as for boys. “It’s a wonderful switch. It makes it easier to compare times, for one thing.”)
The college running experience was different: higher mileage, more intensity, and the stakes were higher: “In high school, you’re racing to stay on varsity, but in college, you want to keep your scholarship! Freshman year, I was intimidated by how fast everyone was. But I felt at home. Everyone was so driven, so motivated—they were like me. We were very close. On race day we were very competitive, but helped each other.”
Alexa majored in sociology and criminal justice and was a deputy sheriff for Dane County for five years after college. “My ultimate goal was to be a K-9 handler,” she says. She loved working with the highly intelligent German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois dogs in the unit. “You had to be very careful with your body language, what cues you were giving—the dogs would read you.” As part of her job, “I would be the bad guy. I’d get in the bite suit, and have them jump on me, or hide in the forest in a tree. At first it was scary—I’m a tiny little girl. But once I got out of suit, it was cool how they can switch it on and off.” In a race between Alexa and a K-9, who would win? “The dog for sure,” she says,” without hesitation. “I’m a distance runner—I don’t have that bolt speed.”
Alexa says being the coach at Middleton is “a dream job. I love it.” She was excited when the opportunity came up in 2016. “I remember racing against Middleton girls in high school. They were always really good.”
“Being a coach is different from being coached,” says Alexa, who has done a lot of research and study to develop this professional skill. “People think it’s easy, you just tell them what you did. But a lot of things don’t work with everybody. It’s different coaching females versus males, varsity versus JV. I’m taking a lot of things that my high school coach did that benefited me so much and helped me be the person I am today. It’s really showing this year with the girls being as amazing as they are. I want them to have the amazing experience that I did.”
Nowadays, she says mental health issues are more likely to be talked about openly. “Anxiety and depression have always been there. Now kids are talking about it and getting help. Instead of just saying take a day off, we can recommend things like yoga, extra stretching at home, and team bonding. The closer the team is, the better they’re going to perform.”
Alexa says bonding is crucial. “You can have the seven fastest girls in the state, but if they’re not supportive of each other, if they don’t race as a team, if they don’t get excited about each other—they’re not going to race well.” Without it, she says, “in my opinion, we would not have a state caliber team. We want everyone to be supportive to everyone else. Encouraging the fastest to talk with ones with different goals.” At the start of the year, she has the girls write up goals and share with each other, checking them off as they go. “We remind them, you’ve already accomplished these goals, you’ve surpassed them.”
Alexa and her husband, Mark, live in Mount Horeb on a backyard farm were they have “goats and chickens and cats, and we’re thinking about getting alpacas soon,” she says. Alexa operates Run-Strong, her personal trainer business, out of her basement gym. “I made multiple miles of trails around our house. It’s very hilly.” Clients are all ages and at all levels. “It’s fun seeing everyone accomplish different goals, and I love the one-on-one.”
They have three children, ages 3, 2 and 6 months. “They love being outside. They do like to run around with me sometimes,” Alexa says. “I do think being part of a team is an important way to develop as a person, but we’re not going to push them into being runners. We’ll have them try all and see what they like best. Soccer, swimming—we will be 100 percent supportive. As long as they don’t slack off,” she says, with a smile.
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