Triangle schools run ahead of the pack

1998 Cross Country Menu | Main Menu

Original Source: http://www.news-observer.com/daily/1998/08/19/fallpreps27.html

The Triangle area very quietly has become the hub of cross country running in North Carolina. Last year, for instance, high schools located in the region dominated the boys 4-A championship. Bradsher Wilkins of Orange won the individual title, and six area runners finished among the top 10. Leesville Road took the team championship with Apex, Southern Pines Pinecrest, Chapel Hill, Cary and Wake Forest-Rolesville finishing among the top seven. Cary won the girls 4-A crown, with Enloe and Leesville Road taking top-five finishes. Four area girls finished among the top 10. Fuquay-Varina's Jesse Norman won the boys 3-A individual title, and Fuquay-Varina twins Melanie and Michelle Cooper finished among the top 10 in the girls meet. "I think that if you will look back to the early '90s, when Millbrook won the state, you will see that area runners have done extremely well in the state meet," Apex coach Roy Cooper said. Leesville Road coach Brian Winham said he couldn't put his finger on anything that the area is doing right other than attracting a lot of athletes to the sport. "We have close to 100 kids in our program," Winham said. "There are probably some conferences that don't have 100 kids." Winham and Cooper said the area's mushrooming population has been a factor. "We are getting more and more kids in school, so we ought to be attracting more runners," Winham said. College scholarship committees have played a role, as well. "The college people are telling the counselors, who are telling the kids, that the colleges want students who are involved," Winham said. "I've got several runners, many of whom work very hard, who are running to help that college application jump out a little bit." That's how two of his top runners got started. "Basically, my dad said I was going to be involved in a sport," said Patrick Frost, who recently scored a 1,590 of a possible 1,600 on the SAT. "I said. 'I'm no good.' He said, 'Why not run? That doesn't take a lot of talent.' " When he started, Frost couldn't run a mile without stopping. "Now I feel guilty if I don't run," he said. "I feel like I'm missing out on something." Teammate Carlos Vidales, who scored a 1,600 on the SAT, started running track because he wanted to stay in shape for soccer. He discovered that he preferred running. "I really like going places on my own two feet," he said. "I like the feeling of it just being you -- no machines -- just you running along." Cooper, a former state mile champion at Broughton, said one of the biggest changes he has seen is the influx of coaches who make running a top priority. "You've got people like Jerry Dotson at Cary and Brian Winham at Leesville coming in and forcing everybody else to get better," Cooper said. Many area coaches encourage their runners to work out with runners from other schools. "It is very common to see a bunch of runners from Leesville, Apex, Cary, Millbrook and Fuquay all running together," Cooper said. "That's makes everybody better." Winham said it may be too early to say that the Triangle has established itself as a hotbed of cross country. "Running can be very cyclical," he said. "The teams that are going great today may not be so good next year."

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