The Eupora High School cross-country team hosted the inaugural Eagle Claw Invitational meet on Saturday, Oct. 5.
When we first tossed around the idea of hosting our own cross-country run, we thought, how hard can it be? Mark off 3.1 miles and roll with it. Little did we know exactly how much work it would require.
Coach Randee Jernigan and her husband, Bubba, took on the brunt of the work and created this beautiful trail ... around our city ballpark, through the woods, up the Whites Creek Lake levee, around the lake track and back to Gary Park
It took many weeks and lots of blood, sweat and tears to get this done. We had nine teams that registered to race Saturday, 140 runners, and it all went off without a hitch but we have so many people to thank.
First and foremost we owe a big thanks to Park Director Rusty Bowen and the city of Eupora for the use of this beautiful trail. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to host anything.
We also had so many donations — our parents and grandparents for the timekeeper; Nabors, Hawkins Home and Auto, Hemphill Farms, Murphy Medical Supply, Mitchell’s Lawn Service, Johnson Farm, Ballard’s Lawn Service, and Amir and Susan Hunt for supplies; and many others for monetary donations.
So many volunteered their time Saturday morning: all of our parents and runners who manned posts; Chad Winter and Mitch Mitchell, who led and followed on four-wheelers; Richard Love with Ballshotz Photography; and Eddie Busby, Becky Johnson, Reba Thompson, Tracy Palmer, Cody Robertson, Gretchen and Mary Purtee, Madison Goodrum, Teresa Whitaker, Amanda Edwards, John Herring, Bubba and Cliff Jernigan, Jane Johnston, Angela Gray, Angela, Mattie and Alana Reed, Lisa Orr, Eliza Boatman, Avery McCluskey and Keefer Murrell, who all served in different capacities.
We also had a great concession stand. Diane Tomlinson, Salley McCall and Kristi Tedder did a fantastic job keeping everybody fed and hydrated.
Thanks to Coach Amir Hunt and our softball girls who cheered us on while we set up as they left for their game early Saturday morning. Thanks to our principal, Adam Dillinger; our athletic director, Coach Alex Rawls; and our basketball coach, Jonathan Childs, for coming out to the race to support our student athletes.
We would like to thank the other teams who chose our race. We hope they all enjoyed the morning and our trail as much as we did.
And lastly, to Coach Jernigan. Thank you for your vision, your leadership and your love of these kids. It is all noticed and it is all greatly appreciated.
