A total of 12 girls and 13 boys make up the 2015 T.R. Miller Cross County team that will begin their season on Sat., Aug. 29 in Pace and TRM head coach Rob Atkinson said both teams have had great summers.
Atkinson said the girl’s team for TRM should be strong this year, but are still fairly young. There are no seniors on the girl’s team and only three juniors.
“We are led by Allie Nelson,” Atkinson said. “She is a junior this year and was an all-state runner last year. She has the potential to be the best runner in the state in class 3A this year. I am hoping she is able to do that.”
Atkinson said Tarah Townsend has had a very strong summer.
“She is much-improved from last year,” he said. “We are really looking for good things out of her this year. Then we have Sarah Byrd, Payton Baxter, Carmen Knowles and Ora Nelson. They have all had really good summers. We are expecting really good things from them this year. Our girls team should do very well.”
On the boy’s side, Atkinson said they have two seniors in Andrew Pollitte and Noah Morris.
“They both have had good summers,” he said. “We also have Travis Carlson. He is an extremely good runner along with Micah Flores.
“Also, we have picked up Tailand Mitchell. He has really had a good summer and we are looking for good things out of him. We also have Tanner and Tucker McDaniel. They have had a good summer as well.”
Atkinson said the boy’s team has put a lot of mileage in this summer and they are in better shape this year than they have been in a long time.
“I am looking for good things out of them,” he said. “They are a young team, but they have the possibility to be really good this year. The biggest thing I just want to see from both teams is maximum effort from all the runners. If they show me good effort then we will take whatever happens.
“If they do that, we will be pleased with the results.”
TRM will have three home meets counting the Friday Night Lights event this year. They have their first meet on Tues., Sept. 8.
“It will be a small meet with around 10 teams coming,” he said. “Then on Sat., Oct. 3, we will have the T.R. Miller Challenge. It will be a large event. We had 24 teams in it last year and it can go anywhere from 20-30 teams this year.
“It seems to get bigger and better every year and we are excited about that.”