Raiders XCuse veteransto pace team – Richmond County Daily Journal
Raiders XCuse veteransto pace team Richmond County Daily Journal
ROCKINGHAM —Those that approach the campus of Richmond Senior High in the late afternoons during the week are sure to spot a group of wiry teenagers …
Miller
Donnell Coley| Richmond County Daily Journal Members of the Richmond Senior cross country team jog uphill during a preseason practice. The Raiders start the season on Monday at Purnell Swett.ROCKINGHAM —Those that approach the campus of Richmond Senior High in the late afternoons during the week are sure to spot a group of wiry teenagers sprinting on the track, pacing around the soccer field, or even jogging up and down the curvaceous hills lining the football team’s practice fields.
These long-distance athletes are members of the school’s cross country team, who coach Reggie Miller says have been training this way for the larger part of the summer.
Miller is in his 11th season leading the program and admits to being a stickler for making the weekly sessions leading up to actual competitions feel authentic. He contends that creating conditions close to or even harder than what the team faces in real races, helps them succeed.
“If we can improve and be competitive within ourselves in practice, when we get to a meet, we’ll be hard to beat,” said Miller.
Miller feels the key to being formidable will be staying balanced, while remaining injury-free because of how small his group is.
Seniors Carson Jordan and Joey Nicholson are veterans that look to set the tone for the seven members of the boys team this season. Last year, Jordan led the pack with his best time coming in the Sandhills Athletic Championship meet, while Nicholson headed the charge earlier in the year, pacing them in the first two meets of the season.
As a whole, they placed second in the opening meet against Purnell Swett, Richmond, Scotland and Seventy-First. They finished 17th at the NCHSAA 4A Regional Championships.
For the second straight season, Miller will have the assistance of a secondary coach, Jessie Covington, to lead the girls group. He says that lifts a heavy burden off his shoulders, while she couldn’t agree more.
“We’re excited about coaching together,” said Covington. “He’s going to teach me a lot.”
The girls team features 12 players, four of whom are seniors, led by Ariel Brown who paced them at every meet last season. She helped the Raiders win the first race of the year with a second-place finish and helped them to a 14th place finish at regionals with a time of 23:41.27.
In her first year with the program, Covington says she is trying to push the group and have them realize how racing is a “mental game.” She was quick to highlight Brown for her ability to master that approach as well as her leadership qualities.
“We’re going to miss her, for sure,” Covington said about the standout senior. “She leads them in everything, even stretching —it’s so nice to have those leaders.”
With Brown setting the example, Covington feels good about a mixture of young talent including Maylyn Wallace, Sheccid Heaton and Rylie Bohman who are among the new runners that she says were standouts at the middle school level.
Both boys and girls runners are put through various workouts that test endurance and speed at a variety of locations within the county limits, including trekking the trails of Hinson Lake.
Each day brings a different task, the most common of which involves running the 800-meter dash multiple times. Tuesdays are usually set aside for timed workouts that replicate how they have to perform in the standard 5K races.
Between now and the Raiders’ first meet at Purnell Swett on Tuesday, both coaches say improving on times is the main goal. Tuesday’s race is scheduled or 5 p.m.
Donnell Coley can be reached at 910-817-2671 or by email at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter: @Sportsinmyveins.