The Clarke Central High School varsity boys cross country team poses for a photo on Sept. 1 while attending a race in Jekyll Island. According to head cross country coach and physical education teacher Steven Holmes, the varsity boys have worked hard this season, but not as a team. “The girls team are very close. They like to run together, they do things together. The boys are not there. We’re trying to get them there, but for some reason, last year what made us so successful was they ran together and they supported each other and picked each other up. This year I’m not seeing that,” Holmes said. Photo by Krista Shumaker
According to head cross country coach and physical education teacher Steven Holmes, the Clarke Central High School varsity boys cross country team faces adversity because of their lack of ‘togetherness’.
Since the beginning of the 2018 cross country season, the Clarke Central High School varsity boys cross country runners have not had as much success in comparison to the varsity girls and their performance last year. This lack of success is due to their independent mindsets, according to head cross country coach and physical education teacher Steven Holmes.
“We’ve had some issues with the team being together, if you will. The girls team are very close. They like to run together, they do things together,” Holmes said. “The boys are not there, we’re trying to get them there, but for some reason last year what made us so successful was they ran together and they supported each other and picked each other up. This year I’m not seeing that.”
According to CCHS varsity boys cross country runner Braden DeLameter, a junior, the girls’ team has been more successful than the boys’ team.
“The girls are doing insane. The girls are winning a lot of meets and we have three girls that are finishing first, second and third in a lot of meets. So, they are doing better comparatively to the guys this year,” DeLameter said.
Holmes believes that teamwork is the best way to be successful and the lack of effort from boys varsity runners to work together has hindered this season’s success.
“It’s frustrating as a coach because that’s my philosophy, that’s what I believe in. So, that’s where we are. Do I think we can get to where we need to be? Yes, but we have five weeks to do it, so we gotta keep working hard,” Holmes said.
Colby Meeks, junior and the number one runner for the CCHS varsity team feels that the boys have chemistry, but do not work together as much as they could.
“Everytime the girls go out to practice, they go as a group, work as hard as they can. We have some people who occasionally slack off and do their own thing,” Meeks said.
According DeLameter, the loss of one senior from last year in particular has caused a shift in success.
“Last year we had Gabriel Mantione-Holmes (2018 CCHS graduate), who was a really good number one. He would get a high place in the meets and that’s really helpful. The girls have three people who can get first, second and third. If you have that then you get a lot more points,” DeLameter said. “We don’t have a solid number one runner that will just go out and win a meet, so we just need to work together.”
Holmes agrees that the loss of Mantione-Holmes set the varsity boys back in terms of leadership.
“Losing Gabriel Mantione-Holmes from last year, from a talent standpoint it’s been tough to replace him, but it’s also leadership. He was a very good leader and I didn’t realize it was going to be that big of a loss from the leadership standpoint,” Holmes said. “It’s been a big loss and it’s been tough for us because we’ve got so many guys just trying to do different things. So, I have been the last couple weeks, really stressing, ‘Guys, get together, be (a) team, be what you were last year.’”
Holmes believes there are certain strategies that can bring the boys’ team together.
“Specifically at practice, on Mondays and Tuesdays are kind of our days where we’re at the intramural fields and they kind of get out on their own and run on their own on the trails,” Holmes said. “My encouragement to them is to run together, stay together, make each other work. If you’re the number seven runner try to do your best to stay with the top guys as long as you possibly can and if you have to leave them at some point, so be it. But, until that time comes, try to stay together and push each other and be there for each other.”
Meeks has hope that the team will work together and compete at the same level they did last year.
“The girls team is really good this year, they have all really stepped up. We’re a little behind, but we’ll catch up, I feel it. I like our mindset, we’re all friends. As a team we could take more steps to be as tight as other teams, if we do that I think we can compete as well as we did last year,” Meeks said.
