Berry retiring after 14 years - Marin Independent Journal

RUNNING

Berry retiring after 14 years

Archie Williams XC, track programs enjoyed plenty of success under her watch

Archie Williams coach Robyn Berry makes the starting line before the Stinson Beach Relay cross country race at Stinson Beach Park at Stinson Beach last September. DOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN — SPECIAL TO THE MARIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL, FILE

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By Derek Wilson

dewilson@marinij.com

As with most runners, when Robyn Berry saw the finish line, she knew there was still another race the next week.

“Fourteen years is a long time. You start coaching and you never have a concept of where you’re going to end,” Berry said after announcing her retirement as track and cross country coach at Archie Williams. “All of a sudden, it’s been 14 years and it’s time to do other things. I love the sport and I’ll always be involved and I’m going to support the athletes in a different way going forward.”

Berry admits it’s difficult to stop being a coach and expects she’s “going to miss the athletes.” She anticipates working races as a starter or official as she changes roles. The Stinson Beach Relays on Sept. 10, the annual unofficial start to the high school cross country season in Marin County, might feel different without Berry directing the race from the edge of the surf as she has for the past several years. But she is now passing the baton.

“When I started coaching, (former Drake High coach) Bill Taylor told me it’s all about the relationships with the athletes, and I didn’t believe it. But he was right,” Berry said. “Working with the athletes, seeing their good days, helping them through their bad days.”

Berry, the Double Goal Coach national winner in 2017, has served as one of the pillars of high school and youth running in Marin County.

“My first year coaching, I was almost afraid of Robyn because she was so confident and has this passion to win, it’s intimidating,” recalled Redwood High cross country and track coach Nicole Graydon. “But during the COVID pandemic we were on all these coaches zoom calls and I found I could ask her anything. Even in the past few years we were calling each other and she was able to answer anything for me.”

Berry’s Archie Williams cross country teams have won five MCAL titles and five North Coast Section titles, and her teams took second in the state in 2017, 2018 and 2021, and third in 2019. Her track team won one MCAL pennant.

“I was a super-ambitious runner from Day 1, but not everybody is,” said Berry, who won six MCAL track and cross country titles at Terra Linda High and set a county prep record in the 3,200 meter race (10:34.7) that stood for 30 years. “I have runners who don’t even know what cross country is. Somebody made them do it, but they find their place and they like running on the trails. If we get them out there, they learn things about themselves.”

Before her retirement, Berry was named one of 19 CIF 2024-25 Model Coach Award winners who “have served as positive role models in their schools and communities.”

Berry has often attracted some of the top talent in the area, but also inspired athletes to be their best — as competitors and as citizens.

“Robyn creates the environment for kids to really enjoy being in the sport,” said Tom Lyons in a 2018 Marin IJ article. Lyons is in his 21st year as the track and cross country coach at San Francisco State. His son, Dean, ran cross country at Drake. “She has the right mix of challenging and encouraging everyone regardless of ability. Her runners have improved tremendously as a result.”