EPHRATA – Lyndsy Roberts ran both cross country and track for the Ephrata Tigers when he was in high school, and now the 1998 Ephrata graduate is taking over as head coach of the Tiger cross country program.

“I think there’s a lot of great programs around this area, but there’s something special for me about the Ephrata School District and this cross country running program,” Roberts said. “It helped shape me when I was in high school, and now that I’m able to be a part of the other side, I’m hopeful to do a lot of the same.”

Roberts has 17 years of coaching experience, serving as a head coach for the Royal track team, head coach of the Ephrata Middle School track and field team and assistant cross country coach for the Ephrata High School team the past three years.

“It’s just kind of a natural progression,” Roberts said. “Frank (Moore) realized he was ready to move on to other challenges and things, and the position was posted and I was able to move forward with it at that point.”

The years of experience have helped shape Roberts’ own coaching style.

“I was able to take a little bit of everything I’ve learned, see different approaches in different places and make it my own,” Roberts said. “Figure out what works best for the kids to make them as fast as they can be.”

With all his experience, Roberts said he brings a focus on building relationships with the student-athletes to create a competitive product on the course as well as a tight-knit group off the course.

“It’s not an easy program to sell always to kids, but they realize quickly that it’s a lot more than just running,” Roberts said. “They’re there for the camaraderie with the other athletes, and if you don’t have that built into the program the program can’t really take off.”

Building relationships is key for Roberts, and he’s known this batch of rising seniors since they were in the seventh grade from his time as a head coach for Ephrata Middle School.

“This group that are seniors, I started with the middle school when they were seventh graders,” Roberts said. “I’ve been able to kind of follow them up along through that, and that includes my son. I’ve got a lot of passion for running the program and keeping the program going.”

Ephrata Athletic Director Bryan Johnson said he hopes to see the positive culture among the Tiger cross country program to continue under Roberts.

“Our program’s had a quality culture and positive environment, it’s been very competitive the last few years and we’ll hopefully continue to add, build on it and grow the numbers,” Johnson said. “Lyndsy’s a super positive guy, a hard worker. He’s very motivated to do great things for the program.”

With the boys team having some “veterans” on the team and making it to state in back-to-back seasons, Roberts said two of his goals for the upcoming season are to get the boys and girls teams to state.

“We’ve earmarked that as kind of the standard, and we’re hopeful to do it again,” Roberts said.

As for the transition between coaches, Roberts said his previous three seasons with the program should provide for a straightforward one.

“There definitely is going to be transition for the athletes and for myself just from the move to assistant to head coach, but it definitely is smoother than a complete fresh start because I do have those relationships built with the athletes and we can hit the ground running,” Roberts said.

The Tiger boys and girls cross country squads open the year at the Wenatchee Invitational Cross Country Meet at Walla Walla Park in Wenatchee.

“(Roberts) has a lot of pride in the Ephrata School District, just being an Ephrata Tiger, we know that,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be exciting to see what he can do.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.