Charger Sports

Boy’s and girl’s cross country teams rank higher than their shorts after winning

Senka Hadzimuratovic, Charger Staff

The Cookeville High cross country teams finished off their season in high spirits. For many cross country teams across the state, the season ended in the last week of October, when regions across the state (eight total) held meets for teams to compete for eligibility to run in the Tennessee State Cross Country Meet, held on Nov. 2. For the first time in Cavalier cross country history, both the complete girls’ and boys’ varsity teams made it that far.

“This is definitely a boost to the tradition of our program,” says coach Bill Wrasman.

Throughout the season, the team practiced daily, hosted two meets, ran in mid-week meets at various schools, and visited Gallatin for the Mid-State championships.

Wrasman says, “This season we’ve had a lot of challenges, and people will remember us by how we’ve met them. Overall, I think we’ve handled them well.”

Two runners, Justin Birdwell and Daniel ‘Spud’ Flatt, are ranked first and thirteenth in the mid-state, respectively, putting them on the all-midstate team (made up of the top fifteen runners in the mid-state).

The boys and Wrasman attended a banquet on Oct. 28.

Birdwell explains, “We’ve improved individually since last year, but the whole state has also gotten stronger runners, so our competition was tougher. But that only made us run harder.”

On Oct. 24, the team headed off to Rippavilla Plantation in Columbia to give it their all at the Region 4 Cross Country Meet and gain a top three spot which would qualify them for state. The region consists of ten teams, including Cookeville’s rivals from Blackman, Columbia Central, Oakland, Riverdale, and Tullahoma.

In the boys’ race, Justin Birdwell came in first place with an astonishing time of 15:45 minutes for a full 3-mile course.

“With that time, Bird has broken and reset all of our individual cross country records and is ranked higher in the state than any cross country runner in the history of the school,” explains Wrasman.

The rest of the team also excelled.

Jesse Dalton came in eleventh place, Spud Flatt in twelfth Neal Jackson in eighteenth, Justin Proctor in 26th, Aaron Fields in 27th, and Wesley Flatt in 29th. With a total score of 68, the team came in third place, with Tullahoma in first and Oakland in second.

The girls also took home a third place victory with a score of 71. Each ran her ultimate best. Finishing in fourth place was Emily Earles. Rachael Crook, Sarah Kmet, and Karen McBroom stayed close throughout the race and finished thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth, respectively. Ashley Brady came in 25th, Marie Lee in 26th, and Anastasia Schinbeckler finished off Cookeville’s top seven, putting her in 31st place. Crook points out, “The team this year was mostly made up of girls who have never run cross country before. It totally blew me away about how good they were.”

Runners in the boys’ B-Team also did extremely well. James Ivey and Rob Miller both took home first and second place medals, respectively. John Allison, Brandon Paramore, Ben Anderson, Colin Gentry, Stephen Bush, and Ian Jassitt all ran their season’s best.
The girls’ team, made up of Mary Bowen, Andie Bowman, Kayla Bean, Megan Franklin, Priya Mahajan, and Hayley Proctor, did just the same.

Congratulations, Cookeville High cross country.

Article prepared for web by J. Wheeler