Dragons shine under the lights at Victor Ashe
Clinton’s Piper Bostrom competes in the East Tennessee Classic x Pace House night race Saturday, Sept. 26, at Victor Ashe Park. Bostrom and the other Lady Dragons used headlamps to navigate the dark course. She finished in 28 minutes, 22.4 seconds. (photo:Tony Cox )
Senior Cooper Bostrom led the Dragons, finishing 63rd in 18 minutes, 21.60 seconds. He was followed by senior Tylin Cook, who crossed the finish line in 21:12.60, and freshman Joe Patton, who finished in 33:38.10.
Cook has been a late-season addition to the Clinton lineup, but Coach Tim Kumes believes he could have a bright future with the program.
“He just kind of showed up a little bit late in the season, to be honest with you. It wasn’t like he came at the very beginning,” Kumes said. “He just showed up and said he wanted to run cross country. And the very first practice we went out on, he was staying with Lillian (West), which, you know, Lillian’s our top runner, and he was running pretty comfortably.
“I think he’s a young man that has some talent.”
Kumes said Cook still needs time to adjust to the demands of high school cross country.
“Tylin’s a young kid, just has to have the depth of training and kind of figure out what it’s like to run at the high school level,” Kumes said. “But if he stays with it, I think that he will be a talented runner for us and probably one of the leaders moving forward because, you know, we’re not a very big team to begin with.”
Sophomore Lillian West paced the Lady Dragons, finishing 72nd in 23:45.70.
Freshman Caroline Jones finished 110th, followed by sophomore Piper Bostrom in 164th and freshman Adah Freels in 169th.
For Bostrom, racing under the lights made the challenging Victor Ashe Park course a little easier to tackle.
“I feel like the nighttime races are a lot easier, mental-wise,” Bostrom said. “Personally, this isn’t my favorite course, but having it at night really helped out, and I felt like it helped me push myself more.”
Bostrom also said she is pleased with the progress she has made this season.
“I really like it,” she said of her season. “Considering that I started off with a knee injury and I wasn’t able to run for a while, I think I’m doing pretty well, and I’m happy with it.”
