Grapeland Cross Country 2016

Grapeland Cross Country Runs Toward Lofty Goals

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

GRAPELAND – One of the pitfalls of coaching at a small school is the amount of athletes who participate in different sports at the same time. Such is the case in Grapeland where you have student athletes competing in cross country, football and volleyball simultaneously.

As a result, Grapeland Cross Country Coach Brian Cooper said attendance so far this off season has not been great, but he expects it pick up once the school year gets underway.

The second year coach said he became interested in cross country while he was in high school. “I started by running the 400m, then I got bumped up to distance running and ran cross country,” the coach said.

“The course for the boys is 5K (3.1 miles) and for the girls it’s two miles. We try and put in about five miles a day during practice and around 30 throughout the week,” he explained.

Returning to the team this year is Anthony Davila, Ragan Bowie and Kenya Woods. When asked about his expectations for this year, Coach Cooper said, “Ragan and Kenya were both around 12:40 and 12:50 last year and they should both qualify for state. That’s the goal. Anthony should be a regional qualifier. He finished eighth in district last year, but a lot of those kids have left.”

A typical practice for the team involves “… a nice, dynamic warm-up with a couple of laps and stretching. Then, I go out and run with them and we run four or five miles at one time. When school starts we will start increasing the mileage and run probably three miles in the morning and two or three miles in the afternoon. We try and stay off the track as much as possible because it gets rough on their knees.”

Coper said he believes in an “education-first” philosophy but added, “Coaching-wise, I like to push myself and the kids so we can both get the maximum effort out of any given situation. I think what I have told them is that in order to be a better runner, it takes a lot of self-discipline. I can’t make them run. I will give them the tools but like that old saying goes, ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink.’”

Motivation is also a key to a successful cross country program, Cooper said. “One way that I get out there and motivate them is to run with them during practice. I feel that helps them. They see that I’m willing to put in the work as well. So, when I tell them to do something, they know I will do it too. What I’ll do at the meets – you’ll see me everywhere, running and motivating them and telling them their times.”

“Last year,” he added, “one of the kids in junior high was asked if it was weird running out there by yourself and she said no because she had her coach out there running along.”

Goal-wise, Cooper said, “I would like to have both the boys’ and girls’ teams qualify for the Regional Cross Country Meet and within the next few years, I would like to see both teams qualify for the State Meet.”