Billy Thomas felt confident Monday.
The Columbus Christian Academy cross country coach used meets against Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) members Tupelo Christian, Itawamba Agricultural High School, and South Pontotoc to help his reigning Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Class AA State champion boys team prepare for a chance to win another title.
After watching Chris Webber finish first and Glenn Misiak take third at South Pontotoc, Thomas believed his group was ready.
But a little extra motivation never hurts.
Prior to the MAIS Class AA State meet Monday at Choctaw Trails in Jackson, Thomas and the members of the CCA boys team found an article about the meet on MileSplit Mississippi, a web site that covers cross country and track and field in the state of Mississippi. Using a virtual running of the meet, MileSplit Mississippi predicted Lamar Christian School would win the title by one point. The website said the meet would come down to the sixth-place finishers on both teams.
The prediction didn’t go unnoticed.
“They didn’t like that very much,” Thomas said Monday night, hours after the CCA boys scored 43 points to earn their second-straight state title. “They took a picture of it and put it on my Facebook page and said, ‘Thanks for the motivation.’ ”
Webber (19 minutes, .41 seconds) and Misiak (19:14.91) took the top two spots to help Columbus Christian Academy outdistance Lamar Christian School, which was second with 69 points.
Nate Parker (fourth overall, 20:11.16), Jaden Bennett (17th, 22:38.37), and Jordan Meek (19th, 22:44.75) rounded out the Rams’ scorers in the 5-Kilometer race.
Thomas said all of the Rams finished with faster times on a hot day.
Thomas praised the efforts of Bennett, a senior, who worked hard and made a big difference in the team’s final score. He said an added bonus was the ability of senior Dawson Shaw, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in the football team’s season opener in August, to run the race. Shaw finished 45th (25:44.37).
“He is way ahead of his recovery, and I knew he was going to do everything in the world he could to get back and help the team,” Thomas said. “I called him about a month ago and I promised him I would let him walk the course at the state meet so he could be a part of the state championship team. His rehab has gone so well that he shows up at the starting line with a brace on his leg. I saw him standing there and I saw that look in his eye.”
Thomas said Shaw’s finish didn’t help the team in terms of points, but he felt it provided a mental boost and gave the top runners added incentive.
Last season, Webber and Elijah Carlstrom finished first and second to lead a strong pack finish that helped the boys team win the school’s first championship in MAIS competition. The school’s boys basketball team and boys track and field team went on to win Class AA State titles later in the 2015-16 school year.
This season, Webber and Misiak, who are juniors, again led the way on a day the Columbus Christian Academy girls cross country team also competed at the state meet. Thomas hopes the experience will provide the girls team, which was in its first season, with motivation to train hard in the offseason to improve its finish.
Thomas also hopes the school will be able to play host to a cross country meet next season. Work on a track in front of the school also continues, which Thomas said will continue to help that program grow.
With a strong core of runners returning for next season, Thomas has every reason to be confident about the boys team’s chances of winning a state title in 2017. Like most coaches, he won’t mind if anyone wants to provide a little extra motivation for that group prior to next year’s state meet.
“We had a lot to prove after winning the state championship last year, so we were kind of expected to do it again,” Thomas said. “Still, we had to go out and do it. To be honest, MileSplit was a blessing in disguise.”
n Aiden Willard finished second (18:37.74) to lead the Starkville Academy boys to a fourth-place finish in the Class AAA meet. Jordan Crowley was third in the Class AAA girls race to lead Starkville Academy to a third-place finish.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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