STEENS — Chris Webber and Glenn Misiak are excited to see how they stack up against some of the nation’s top runner.
The opportunity to miss the first day of school at Columbus Christian Academy is just one of the perks they will enjoy when they travel to Texas to compete in the 50th anniversary of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Junior Olympic Games.
The games, which started July 30, will run through Saturday, when Webber and Misiak, who are juniors at CCA, will compete in 3,000 meters. They advanced to the meet by finishing in the top six at the Region 11 Qualifier last month in Covington, Louisiana. Misiak took third in the 17- to 18-year-old age group with a time of 10 minutes, 35.13 seconds, while Webber was fifth in the 15-16 age group with a time of 10:33.34.
This will be the second time Webber will compete at the Junior Olympic Games. He said he participated in the event last year and finished around 50th, but he said he wants to do a lot better this year.
“I liked it a lot,” Webber said of his experience last year. “It is at a stadium and they have an announcer the whole race. It is the only race I have been to where they had an announcer. I remember racing and having chill bumps. It was that big of a thing.”
Webber said the competition was “insane” and that he got his “butt whupped.” This year, he plans to get out to a better start so he won’t get caught in the middle of the pack and not be able to make a move.
Webber and Misiak have been staying active with soccer or running to keep in shape. Webber said Misiak has a lot of good hills in the neighborhood where he lives, so they have done some training there. Misiak, who plays club soccer in Tupelo, has been playing pickup games and training with Webber to stay sharp.
“It will be a good experience,” Misiak said. “I think it will be good to test myself against some of the best competition.”
In May, the Columbus Christian Academy boys track and field team won the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AA State title. The Rams used a team of seven competitors to win the program’s first championship. Columbus Christian scored 86 points to make history. It outdistanced Tallulah Academy, which finished second with 77 points, and Central Holmes and Canton Academy, which tied for third (71).
Misiak won the 1,600 (5:06.71) and was third in the 800 (2:13.74), while Webber was second in the 1,600 (5:08.56) and first in the 3,200 (11:28.62).
Webber also played an integral role in helping the CCA boys cross country team win the Class AA State title in 2015 in its first year. Webber won the 5-Kilometer race with a time of 19:27.86. He led a pack that included strong finishes by the team’s third through fifth runners (Dawson Shaw, Dakota Shaw, and Nate Parker) to claim the title with 32 points in the seven-team field.
Billy Thomas coached the CCA boys cross country team. He knows Webber has a passion for running because he talked to him one day at the Riverwalk in Columbus and told him he wants to run in college and become a coach. He said running in the AAU event will help him build a resume move toward his goal of competing in college and moving on to helping others realize those goals, too.
“It is a big thing for these guys to go and for our school,” Thomas said. “We like to see our kids excel and be able to accomplish what they want to accomplish. For cross country, it has been able to give some guys who don’t play football — and we have some football guys who run — avenues to be able to get plugged in and get involved and help with school spirit. We’re glad they’re missing the first day of school for this.”
Webber and Misiak will miss Friday’s first day of school so they can prepare for their races Saturday. That could be the first step both of them take to helping them attract the attention of college coaches who are looking for student-athletes who are passionate about running. That passion has been infectious at CCA, where the school continues work on a red clay, dirt track in the front of its school building. Thomas said the school also will add a girls cross country team this season. He said Burns Dirt Construction, of Columbus, is donating its time to make the track, so he isn’t sure when it will be completed. He said the lights will be erected as soon as the track portion is finished.
Whenever it is ready, Webber and Misiak will be raring to go so they can set the pace for the rest of the Rams. They hope to do that same thing Saturday running with some of the nation’s top runners.
“I have been thinking about this all summer,” Webber said. “I really want to do good this meet.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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