Perrin Cross Country finds success at home meet

The Perrin Cross Country team had a good warm-up for regionals on Wednesday, Oct. 3, with runners in both high school categories taking the top spot on the podium.

Coach Lloyd Tucker said this meet was a good setup for their next meet, which happens to be the district meet for Region 3 District 21-1A.

“This was a good sign for us, considering our district meet in two weeks is also going to be held here (in Perrin),” Coach Tucker said. “Everyone in our district except Newcastle was here and they didn’t have many runners last year. We consider this a prelude for that meet.”

The high school boy’s race started things off at 3 p.m. and, despite the hot temperatures and cramps near the end of the race, Perrin’s Michael Goodman finished first. It is no surprise to Coach Tucker, but what may surprise people is how little experience Goodman has in Cross Country.

“He’s a junior, but this is his first year to run cross country,” Coach Tucker said. “He ran track for us at the end of last year and ended up winning the mile and two mile, so I convinced him to try out for cross country. It has been a bit of a surprise, but he’s a natural runner and he’s been good for us.”

On the high school girl’s side, Kelli Tucker finished first to the surprise of nobody at the meet. She finished well ahead of every other runner in her category, something that student athletic manager Mary Norton has seen quite a bit.

“This event is just to let Kelli and the other girls know, ‘Hey, this is what the course looks like,’” Norton said. “This way they can prepare themselves with the ups and downs, the trials and such, but Kelli finished strong, just like she always does, and if she can do that in two weeks it’s probably going to lead to another regional berth.”

For more on this story, see the Wednesday, October 9 edition of the Jacksboro Herald-Gazette.