By Richard Polen
rpolen@joplinglobe.com
Following in Caleb Hoover’s footsteps has become an increasingly futile task.
Hoover, a junior at College Heights Christian School, is among the nation’s elite cross country runners after winning the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival on the University of Arkansas’ course Oct. 17 at Fayetteville, Ark.
The meet attracted about 3,500 runners from 50 schools and established Hoover, who easily won the Southern Stampede at Missouri Southern State University earlier this season, as one of the top high-school runners in the country, according to rankings compiled by MileSplit.us.
“Really I just plan my own workouts,” Hoover said. “After practice, I go home and run some more. Wildcat Park is my favorite place to run.”
The quest for state supremacy begins today at the Class 1 District 5 meet at College Heights’ home course on the Missouri Southern soccer fields. The state boys and girls cross country championships are scheduled for Nov. 7 at Oak Hills Golf Center in Jefferson City.
Hoover and his teammates are no strangers when it comes to state cross country meets. The defending Class 1 champion is Trenton Morris, also a junior at College Heights, whose time of 16:39 last year was nine seconds better than Hoover, who finished second.
In winning the 5,000-meter Chile Pepper Festival, Hoover’s time of 15 minutes, 1.93 seconds could place his name alongside the top runners in state history.
To put it in prospective, no Missouri high school runner has broken the 15-minute mark. In fact, the Missouri State High School Activities Association recognizes Christopher Borsa of Christian Brothers as running a state best 15:01 in a nonchampionship event in 1985.
Joshua Carter, a senior at College Heights, was fifth at the 2008 state meet with a time of 17:20. Hoover made it clear that he welcomes the competition of his fellow Cougars.
“I came to College Heights in seventh grade,” Hoover explained. “Josh Carter was an eighth grader. He was running really well but ended up breaking his foot. He was amazing.
“By track season, I was running pretty well. In my freshman year I realized I was pretty good.”
And watching Morris, as a sophomore, beat him to the finish line last year only served as an additional motivation.
“I don’t cut him any slack any more than anyone else,” Hoover said. “If anything, you want to beat your teammates first. Our positions are pretty well established.”
The in-school rivalries are relished by College Heights coach Thane Garnett, who took over the assignment from Principal Daniel Lewis in part so that Lewis could spend more time coaching the soccer team.
“As principal, it was hard for him to do both,” Garnett said. “Running alone is never easy. Having those guys to run against is a tremendous help.”
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Caleb Hoover climbs among nation’s elite cross country runners
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