Prescott High School track and field coaches Emily and Carl Calabrese bring the boom in more ways than one.

"They're like a power couple, man," said senior sprinter and pole vaulter Ethan West. "It's like she's got that, he's got this, it's like boom, perfect! Speaking of boom, you also got her dad, Boom. It's the perfect trio."

"Boom" is the nickname of Coach Emily Calabrese's dad, Tim Philips, a retired compliance officer for the government's food and drug administration. Philips is on the low end of the Baby Boomer age group, but that didn't stop the nickname.

"They (Emily and Carl) introduced me at the opening meeting as Coach Boom and it stuck," said the veteran of 26 marathons in 21 states. "A lot of the kids don't even know my real name. The kids are great, though, it's such a blast."

Philips is the Cardinal head cross country coach in the fall but takes orders from his daughter in the spring on the track.

"She knows more than me about track," said Philips. "Why wouldn't I?

"When Carl and Emily first started in 2017, they could take all the Prescott state qualifiers in one car. Now, they need a big yellow school bus," said Philips.

Emily Calabrese inherited a Cardinal track program with just over 40 participants nine years ago. Now they have 90. Twenty-one percent of the Prescott High School student body of 427 participates in Cardinal track and field. To put that number in perspective, River Falls High School has a successful track program with 110 participants, which is the most in the area, but the Wildcats have close to 1,200 students. Almost three times the amount of Prescott.

"A lot of our growth on the boys' side is due to the football team," said Emily Calabrese. "They have a running joke, no pun intended, about track speed. When Will (Packard) and Ethan (West) have a big play on the football field, they say, 'yeah, we showed that track speed,' and all the other guys say, 'I want to be fast.’"

"Running form is way more important than people think," said West, who is completing his private pilot's license, joined the National Air Guard, and will run sprints and pole vault for UW-River Falls next season.

"UWRF track is making some noise right now and it's fun to see," said Emily Calabrese, who is a Falcon track alumna herself in the 100-meter and 400-meter races.   

Speaking of making noise, the Cardinal girls' track team won the regional title in 2021, '22, and '23 and the boys' track team won the regional title in 2023, as well.

Football radio and television announcers have long screamed the cliche term, "You can't coach speed," during a long touchdown run.

Emily Calabrese just smiles and slowly shakes her head with the knowing confidence and wisdom of a jaunting Jedi: "You can coach speed, to a degree. I love coaching the football players in track because they're tough, they want to be there, and they want to get better."

"We focus the whole spring track season on staying fast and explosive," said senior Will Packard. "It definitely transferred to the football field."

The Cardinal football team finished 9-2 last fall and made it to level three in the playoffs. Packard signed with perennial powerhouse UW-La Crosse to play wide receiver next fall for the Eagles.

"Track is fun glorified speed and strength and the kids get to compete," said Emily. "Prescott track is just a space for everybody. Our kids are our biggest advocates."

"My favorite part of the day and of the year is right now," said junior Makaria Haas. "Being at track practice with my people. It's like the best community."

Haas is the Cardinal record holder in the discus. She qualified for sectionals as a sophomore and just missed out on the state meet a year ago.

"She's (Haas) super focused and works year-round on it," said Carl Calabrese, a former decathlete at UW-River Falls.

Carl met Emily while both were on the Falcon track team together. Carl opened his business in 2017, One Life Chiropractic, Emily started coaching Cardinal track in the spring, and they were married in July. 

"We had a few things going on that year, I guess you could say that," said Carl, who began coaching one year later.

The Calabreses seem like they always have something going on and it's nearly impossible to find another Prescott power couple more pro-Prescott than Carl and Emily. Emily is known as "Mrs. Calabrese" in her day job as a kindergarten teacher at Malone Elementary in Prescott. Both she and Carl volunteer for all the JV and varsity basketball games. Emily is in the gym running the game clock; Carl is helping out in the concession stand.

Life was all Calabresey-easy-peazy until this past July when Emily was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. The doctors caught the cancer early, as it was in stage 2, and Emily began eight weeks of chemo treatment.

"It was miserable," said Carl. "But she got the all clear about a month ago and her port was removed this week."

"I was really worried to get it out (the port) because if I need more treatment, it was not a fun process to put that in," said Emily. "But it feels kind of freeing."

"The Prescott community has been amazing for Emily and Carl," said Philips. "They did all kinds of stuff that let her know how much she was loved and appreciated."

Much of the "stuff" Philips was referring to was coordinated by Trisha Packard, Will's mom.

"My mom is frickin' awesome," said Will as his jawbone flexed and eyes began to squint. 

"Yes, she is," replied Emily with a thankful nod.

Among the first people Emily broke the bad news to was her kids, all 90 of them on the Cardinal track team. 

"I wanted them (her track team) to hear it from me, first," said Emily. "The tables turned because I've been the one to help support them through all their journeys and during that time (with cancer), I needed them.      

"Now we can just continue on with life," said Emily.

Prescott’s power couple will continue on with life the only way they know how; faster, stronger, and more explosive. That's the only way Emily and Carl Calabrese know how to do it.