Taste the Rainbow

Comet middle school runners celebrate season with banquet, Skittles

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — If you had to bet on what or whom would finish first, a promised short speech by Charles City Middle School boys cross country coach Eric Hoefer or one of his runners completing a 2-mile course, choose the latter and you’ll be a winner by more than 20 minutes.

“I love this sport,” Hoefer said in one of his misty-eye moments while addressing those in attendance during an end-of-season banquet to honor CCMS’s program Monday in the high school cafeteria.

“And I love this team. Every day I was with them was a gift they gave to me.”

As tradition, select athletes attending the pot-luck banquet were suggested to leave room in their appetites for the colored-candy Skittles, which Hoefer awarded to those who attained personal-bests during the season.

Comet eighth-grader Antwone Cooper earned his right to taste the rainbow.

“I just worked hard during the summer and even when I came home from practice,” said Cooper, who owns the school’s 2-mile record (11 minutes, 11 seconds). “I created my own workout at home … just some extra running, crunches … stuff to make my legs stronger.”

A big kid for his age, Cooper looks like he can excel in most any sport including … dare we even suggest … football.

“No,” Cooper said. “I do basketball and track, but cross country is what I do best.”

A conference champion, Cooper placed fifth overall in his eighth-grade class division at last weekend’s Washburn Classic, also referred to as the state-wide middle school cross country championships. The Comets placed third as a team in the eighth-grade boys race.

In the seventh-grade race, Comet Jacob Vais was the individual champion.

As for the Comet girls at the Washburn Classic, eighth-grader Kiki Connell continued and concluded her season dominance with a 2-mile first-place time of 12:10 performed under windy conditions.

The Tuesday before at the Northeast Iowa Conference Meet in Oelwein, Connell reset her school record with a time of 11:59 — first time under 12 minutes for her.

As was the case at the Washburn Classic and NEIC Meet, Connell finished well ahead of the field.

“I push myself to go as fast as I can no matter who is behind me,” said Connell, who draws inspiration from her older brother Gavin, Charles City’s top high school runner.

Soon to be a high school runner herself, Connell is looking forward to competing at the 5K prep distance.

“I rather run that distance than two miles,” she said. “I’ve run (5K) races before.”

At the beginning of Hoefer’s speech, he mentioned that character is best exhibited in how one responds to adversity. Then he told the plight of eighth-grader Logan Luft.

Last year as a seventh-grader, Luft set the Charles City MS boys 2-mile record only to see it bested by Cooper and Vais while he was recovering from a broken foot he sustained last summer.

“I feel down some stairs,” said Luft, who didn’t think he would recover in time to run again during his eighth-grade season.

Luft managed to come back at the end of the season and — despite only participating in 10 practices — managed to get his time near 12 minutes and help the Comets win conference.

“I’m about 90 percent now,” Luft said. “Just as was getting back into shape, the season is over.

“That’s just going to motivate me even more to make varsity as a freshman next season.”