On a New Course

Palisadian Gwendolen Twist Hopes to Revitalize the St. Monica Cross Country Team   

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

At the team postseason banquet last fall, Palisades High running coach Gwendolen Twist told her team that there are two titles in her life she is most proud of.

“First is being a mom,” she said. “Second is being your coach.”

Just like she does in every race she competes in, Twist gave it her all for four years with the Dolphins’ cross country and track programs. Now, the 45-year-old mother of two from the Alphabet Streets is taking over as head cross country coach at St. Monica Catholic… and she could not be more excited.    

“Interestingly, I didn’t go looking for this job, it sort of found me,” Twist said. “Basically, my name got thrown in the hat before I even knew about the position and the more I explored it and saw the possibilities, the more it felt like a great fit. I found out about it in mid-July and I was officially offered the job on August 21. I cleared all paperwork with the Los Angeles Archdiocese and it became official last week, although I won’t start until the season officially starts in a few months.”

It’s not always what you know, but who you know and Twist was given a glowing endorsement by her friend and Janes Elite Racing Club teammate Tania Fischer, the head cross country and track coach at Santa Monica High.

“Paul Lupi, the coach at Wildwood School [in Los Angeles], has a son at St. Monica and he reached out to Tania, who was out of town, to see if she knew anyone qualified,” Twist said. “She texted me that she was giving my name and number to the Athletic Director. At first I was scared and didn’t want to leave Pali because I’ve invested four years with those kids. It became a situation where they really need me at St. Monica, eventually the doubt went away and I realized that’s where I need to go.”

Twist was an assistant at Palisades under Bob Macias until last year  when she became co-coach with Rob Hockley. The Dolphins’ varsity boys team placed third in Division I while the girls took fourth at the City Section cross country finals in November and the boys were denied a chance to defend their first City track title in the spring when the season was cut short because of COVID-19.     

“They liked the environment that Rob and I created at Pali,” Twist said. “It’s not about winning but developing the person as a whole. I’m not worried about Pali—the program is in great hands with Rob! That said, I’ll miss a lot of those kids. It wasn’t an easy decision to leave, but it feels like the right one.”

In addition to being the sole coach, Twist will be inheriting a St. Monica program significantly smaller than what she was accustomed to at Palisades, where there is strength in numbers.

“At Pali, we’d have 70 to 80 kids at practice so we had to split them up into groups to get in all the workouts we needed,” she said. “We also had some really, really fast kids. At St. Monica, I have maybe seven or eight kids right now. In a few years with the culture I create hopefully I can grow that to 20 or 30. From what I’ve heard they don’t have the strongest program and that’s why they wanted to bring in someone who can turn it around and get things headed in the right direction. I like that it’s all on me. Any success we have will be my doing. I don’t know who’s signed up for the class, I don’t know anyone there but in the next few weeks I’ll hopefully get my roster and schedule a Zoom meeting.”

St. Monica, located minutes from Pacific Palisades on Lincoln Boulevard in Santa Monica, is a Southern Section Division 5 co-ed high school with 425 students. Among its notable alumni is Palisadian Bob Klein, who played football for USC, the Los Angeles Rams and the San Diego Chargers. The Mariners compete in the Camino Real League against other parochial schools—St. Genevieve, Mary Star of the Sea, Bell-Jeff, Cantwell Sacred Heart and Bishop Montgomery.

Twist’s 12-year-old twin boys Wyler and Teyton attended Palisades Elementary and just started sixth-grade at Paul Revere Middle School, though they are more into gaming than running. As for Gwen, she won the Palisades Turkey Trot 5K for the first time on Thanksgiving.      

“I’m bummed about the Turkey Trot and all events being canceled this year,” she admitted. “It’s so sad and I really miss racing.”

Since her new school is close to Palisades, she anticipates training runs at many familiar spots, like Palisades Park on the bluffs, San Vicente, Will Rogers State Beach and hill workouts on 21st Street.

“I’ll be sad to see Gwen leave as she was a tremendous help and she’ll be a great asset to any program fortunate enough to have her,” Hockley said. “I wish her all the success!”

Perhaps the only thing that Twist enjoys more than coaching is running herself. In January, she volunteered as her team’s third runner at the XC National Championships in San Diego and placed sixth in the Masters Division to help The Janes take first place in the 40s and 50s age group. In May 2019 Twist won the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon in a personal-best time of 2:51.49. One month later she bettered that with a 2:50:52 effort at the Grandma’s Marathon in Minnesota.

Twist’s competitive nature surfaced in 1984 when, at the age of 9, she ran a quarter of a mile in the torch relay leading up to the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Twist tried other sports growing up but soon gravitated to running, although she came from a sailing family (her father was on the Intrepid crew that won the America’s Cup in 1970). She ran cross country and track for four years at Newport Harbor High in Newport Beach, serving as captain for two years and placing 10th in her division at the state meet.

Twist walked on at the University of Pacific in Stockton but eventually gave up running. She married her husband Jordan in 2002 and they moved from Venice to the Palisades, where they have lived ever since. She produced a documentary titled “Spirit of the Marathon” in 2006 as well as the sequel “Spirit of the Marathon 2” in 2013. She joined The Janes in May 2017 and subsequently hired “Run with the Lab” founder Blue Benadum  as her private coach.

Twist has had as much success  coaching as she has in her own career and in some ways it is even more rewarding.

Palisades’ girls qualified for the state cross country finals seven times in a row from 2012-18, winning four consecutive City titles in that span, while the boys won the City title in 2015 and finished second in 2017.

“I’ve known Gwen since she became friends with my mom and since seventh grade she’s always volunteered to go on runs with me during the summer and she’s given me tips on how to be a more efficient runner,” said Pali High sophomore Layla Adeli. “Gwen was always so supportive during practices or before races and she helped anyone on the team when it came to dealing with injuries, running form, or just being there when we had a bad day at school.  Her presence really made us want to do well and she did an amazing job co-coaching with Coach Rob,  our other amazing coach. She was a great coach because of her inspirational pre-race pep talks, her energy and spirit and her prominent tips on running faster. Gwen also really helped me prepare for summer practices and the Mammoth trip leading up to my freshman year and was always there for the team when we needed a boost of energy on runs. I’ll miss getting to go to Mammoth with her, running with her, her stories about marathon running or filmmaking and seeing her at our meets, but I know St. Monica’s will be so lucky to invite her onto the team!”

Twist is eager to get to work and put her own distinct stamp on the Mariners’ program, just as she did at Palisades.       

“Not everyone can say they love their job but I do,” Twist said. “I love to watch the kids strive to be the best they can be. They make it fun to come to campus. It’s a great way to start the day.”

Twist will carry lasting memories with her of her time coaching at Pali High.

“There are so many things I’ll remember, from one of them getting a PR to simply pushing through a hard workout they didn’t think they could do,” she said. “I love it when that light bulb goes off and they’re on the same page as you… it’s really fun. I like challenging them. If a kid tells me they want to break 24 minutes I’ll say ‘Great, but let’s see if you can’t do 22:30 by the end of the season.’ I look forward to that. Once they buy into the program they get that hunger. I‘ve seen that with a lot of kids. It’s not about time and winning, it’s about  having fun. If they do that they’ll also have success.”

Twist already has a plan for how she can turn the St. Monica program around and it starts with establishing a healthy atmosphere.

“The first thing I want to do is create a safe environment where the kids can be who they are and to figure out what that is through sport,” she said. “I want it to be like a family where they can use running to work through that. To just have fun and use running to see what they’re capable of doing. I don’t care about awards or winning. I want this to be a life sport, not another sport’s punishment. There are so many factors contributing to a student athlete’s performance. Maybe they don’t get enough sleep one night or they’re stressed about a test or they broke up with a boyfriend or girlfriend. It’s all about giving 100 percent.”

Fisher said of her friend and teammate: “I knew Gwen would be right for the job and that it’s important to have more female role models and head coaches.” Among the talented runners Twist has tutored at Pali High is Sarah Bentley (now at MIT), who  was third at the City cross country finals last fall and on the track won the City 3200 meters in ninth and 10th grade.

Twins Miranda and Lucas Schriver, now beginning their senior year, both expressed gratitude for Twist’s tutelage.

“Coach Gwen was simply one of the best coaches I’ve had in my athletic career,” said Miranda, who won the City cross country title as a freshman. “From my first year in high school until my senior year she was always there to lend a hand. She took the time to get to know each and every individual runner and it amazes me how enthusiastic she’s been and continues to be through it all even in times of uncertainty, like our current circumstances. I always felt like I could rely on her for inspiration and motivation during practices and runs and I’ll definitely miss her great sense of humor! She has certainly had a huge impact on the team and myself personally, and while it pains me to hear she’s leaving I’m very excited for her.”       

Added Lucas, the City runner-up last fall: “We’re going to miss her  a lot. She inspires us as a fellow runner and coach. She ran with us and really wanted to coach and support us even when she had other social things. She inspired us as another racer telling us about her marathons and wanting to qualify for the Olympics so we felt a connection where if she put in all this work to be a great runner and still has time to coach us, we should be giving our very best to appreciate her dedication. She was also a friend of the team, someone you could talk to if there was anything wrong. She was like a second mom and she herself called us her children. She’ll be missed and the team won’t be the same without her.”