Cross country preview

There’s a change in the Columbia cross country program and it can only be for the good.
There’s a new coach and a new way to train. About the only thing that stayed the same was a lack of numbers for new coach Charles Leader and assistant Don Groom.
They take over for Frank Wagner, who resigned after one season as the Tide’s coach.
“We are looking for more runners. We need runners in grades seven through 12,” Leader said.
“We had some kids that got physicals, but they haven’t been at practice,” the new coach said.
Like all sports at the high school, prospective runners have until Tuesday to get their physicals and paperwork handed in.
Members of the team, both boys and girls, are Alan Foehlinger, Derek Zercher, Tony Barton, William Meyers, Cody Danks, Cody McAllister, Brittany Knighton, Rachael Knighton and Rebecca Kuhns.
McAllister, a senior, and Brittany Knighton are the only experienced runners for the Tide at the varsity level. Leader said recently that the Tide had a full boys’ team, while they were lacking numbers on the girls’ team. Columbia needs five runners on each team to compete as a team in meets.
“We had a few runners move up from the junior high,” Leader said.
Columbia opens its 2008 season Tuesday with a quad meet at McCaskey, also involving Warwick and Lebanon.