Rusty Snow has a lifetime full of running experience.
From winning high school state championships in Maine to winning four Master’s national cross country championships, Snow has spent a fair share of time on podiums.
However, his biggest impact on the sport of running may come from his coaching. He’s coached adults through his organization, Santa Barbara Running and Racing, and has most recently helped lead Santa Barbara High to its first-ever cross country state title.
Through SB Running and Racing, he has helped cultivate a community of runners in town. Through his coaching at the high school level, he has helped the Dons reach levels never before seen.
And none of that would have been possible if it wasn’t for the mile run in P.E. class in junior high school.
Rusty’s Running Career
Growing up in Maine, Snow’s early athletic career consisted of hours spent on the slopes as a competitive skier.
However, that all changed when he got his first taste of running during the mile run in his junior high P.E. class.
He found some success, prompting him to slowly move towards running. He began his first official running action on his high school cross country team as a freshman.
However, he was still skiing. After a full year of running was under his belt, Snow made the decision to specialize in running, a decision his ski coach was not a fan of.
“My ski coach wasn’t pleased that I quit, he said ‘You’ll never make an Olympic team as a runner but you’ll make an Olympic team as a skier,’” Snow said. “I said ‘I don’t care, I would rather be a mediocre runner than an Olympic skier,’ so I pursued running.
“I was a better skier than runner, but I loved running and had a passion for it.”
That decision proved to be worthwhile, as Snow went on to win a pair of high school state championships, one in cross country and one in the two-mile race for track & field.
His success opened the door to compete in college, and Snow ended up at Brandeis University, a Division III school outside of Boston. However, the success didn’t follow right away.
“I thought I’d be great right away and it took me three years of making lots of mistakes until I finally ended up doing really well,” Snow said. “I was floundering for the first three years in college and I figured it out by doing the opposite of what I was doing.”
The switch made between his third and fourth years was a simple one: don’t focus on the outcome.
“I said ‘Okay, this sport sucks and clearly I’m not good at it so why don’t I just put my ego to the side and just try to be a good team member,’” Snow said. “I did that and I immediately started winning races, I started jogging and running easily and started recovering.”
In his senior year, he was named an All-American in cross country and won the New England Championships.
Since then, Snow has found plenty of success running. After qualifying for the 2000 Olympic Marathon Trials, he has been a decorated Master’s Athlete.
At the Master’s level, he is a four-time national cross country champion, a two-time national age group marathon champion and a seven-time World Elliptigo champion.
According to Snow, most of this success can be attributed to that change in mindset between his third and fourth years of college, along with plenty of training and dedication.
This mindset is one that he carried over to the next stage of his running career, which began with his move across the country to Santa Barbara in 2003.
Making an Impact in Santa Barbara
When Snow arrived, his passion for running did not stay on the East Coast.
He began attending local races as a way to join the community, and it was there that the next stage of his career was born.
“I’ve always been a student of running and have been very passionate about it so I would go to local races and just watch a lot of runners,” Snow said. “Week after week after week I noticed no one was getting better.”
With that knowledge, Snow approached Jim Kornell, now Hart Kornell, who was on the Santa Barbara Athletic Association Board, which was the running team in town at the time.
Snow and Cornell were on the same page when it came to training philosophies, so they came to an agreement that Snow would coach the half marathon program in town.
After Snow stepped into the coaching role, all 35 group members ran their best time during the next race.
In 2005, Snow came together with Mike Swan and Peter Park, who had training groups of their own in town.
“We were all friends and I even coached them at one time,” Snow said of Swan and Park. “I said ‘Guys we have the same coaching philosophies, why don’t we create one big team?’
“We were all on the same page about it and we started SB Running and Racing.”
While Park was only with the organization for three months, Snow and Swan have been the coaches at SB Running and Racing ever since.
Now 19 years since its conception, the organization still trains with adults from the Santa Barbara area on Tuesdays and Saturdays every week.
From those just simply looking to get in shape to Olympic qualifier hopefuls, Snow and Swan have created a running community in town through their coaching.
“We just kept showing up on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and we’re still doing it today which is awesome because it’s kept us active and coaching as well,” Snow said.
As SB Running and Racing was growing up, so was Snow’s son, Blaise. By the time Blaise reached high school, a new avenue for coaching opened up for Rusty.
Becoming a Don
Four years ago, Blaise Snow entered Santa Barbara High and joined the cross country and track & field teams.
Rusty, as a running fanatic and supportive father, would attend practices and meets to simply watch and enjoy the sport.
However, a running figure like Rusty was unable to fade into the background, as Blaise and his teammates began to approach him with questions.
“For Blaise’s freshman and sophomore years, some of the kids would ask me things about how they were doing,” Rusty said. “I would stay on the sidelines and just be chill, not step into the coaching staff necessarily. I would give them advice, tell them certain things to work on.”
Staying on the sidelines didn’t last long for Rusty. Heading into his son Blaise and his stepson Cainan Birchim’s junior years, he reached out to Olivia Perdices, the head coach at Santa Barbara High.
“I sat down with Coach P and said ‘Hey what would you like me to do? I’ll do whatever it takes, the kids are asking me what to do and I can help. I don’t want your job and I’m just looking to help out,’” Rusty said.
“She said ‘Coach the boys’ and I said ‘Okay I’ve got it,’ so the past 18 months that’s all I’ve done is coach the kids.”
Since Rusty stepped into a coaching role, the Dons’ boys cross country and track & field teams have enjoyed bountiful success.
Much of that success has come in the last year, where the cross country squad captured the CIF-SS title and the program’s first-ever CIF state championship in the fall of 2023.
While it all came together last November, the trophy was a culmination of a journey that began months prior.
“It started 18 months ago just talking about it and saying we can win the states, I said ‘Hey guys we can do it and nobody is going to know it,’” Rusty said. “I’ll make sure we’ll be there at the right time, you don’t have to worry about your performance or times, it’ll be my fault if it doesn’t happen.
“All I want is that you guys do the best that you can and that’s the only thing you need to think about, keep it simple.”
Applying the same mindset to the high school students that he had in his final year of college, the Dons began to find success.
“It comes down to honesty, having a positive environment and all the kids buying into it,” Rusty said. “We were all in, all of us, and it was wonderful. I wasn’t concerned about winning, I just wanted everyone to run well.”
Just this past spring, Santa Barbara High enjoyed a banner track & field season as well, including the second straight individual state championship by UCLA signee Andreas Dybdahl.
Dybdahl, who also competed as the top runner on the state champion cross country team, credits Rusty as a key factor in his success.
“Coach Rusty has changed my life as a runner,” Dybdahl said. “I think what makes Rusty such a great coach is his incredible depth in knowledge for the sport and his passion.”
Amidst a highly competitive field of runners, Dybdahl secured his back-to-back state title in the 1,600-meter race with a mind-boggling time of 4:08.23.
According to Dybdahl, this feat would not have been possible without Rusty Snow.
“I have seen the most improvement in my running starting last year when Coach Rusty made me crucial workouts for the postseason that gave me the strength and speed to win the State meet for the first time,” Dybdahl said.
“I will definitely remember these philosophies and techniques as I head off to UCLA. Overall I’m super grateful for Rusty and everything he has done for me.”
From East Coast to West Coast, Rusty Snow has made it clear that he has a gift for running. Whether that be through racing himself or coaching the next generation of runners, he has proven that where he goes, success follows.
When asked what his philosophy at its core is, Rusty’s answer flowed as if he’s repeated it countless times before: “Prepare to perform with a clear vision for victory, that is what it’s all about.”
With that philosophy and a lifetime’s worth of training, Rusty has cemented himself as a pillar of the Santa Barbara running community.