As three Republic runners compete in their state cross country races this afternoon, some of their teammates will be there cheering them on. One of those teammates is Cooper Davis.
Davis didn’t qualify for the state meet when he ran his district race last Saturday. But by competing, he won one of the personal victories that makes high school athletics so worthwhile.
This is the second season in a row that has been hampered by injuries for Davis, who is a senior. Davis had been out this season since the very first race in Bolivar. He hadn’t run competitively for nearly two months. He could have packed it in, but he wanted one more chance to compete.
“Having two whole seasons out, I really wanted to get one thing in before I end the season,” he said at the district race in Nixa.
For most of the season, Davis’s injury limited running to about three miles a week. He had increased that workload recently, but that didn’t alleviate his doubts before the district race began.
“I was really nervous about even being able to finish,” Davis said. And although he wishes he’d finished with a better time, Davis proved something by following through.
“I don’t feel great about how I ran, but I’m really happy that I finished the race, and I’m really happy I had the motivation and the mindset to be here and actually run it.”
Davis will be running along the course in Columbia today, cheering on his three state-qualifying teammates: Brady Purcell, Gracie Troester, and Kristin Probst.