Long road ahead for Bob Jones Cross Country team

Bob Jones Cross Country Coach Jim Presnell and Lindsey Martin
(RECORD PHOTO/LINDSAY VAUGHT)

MADISON- From the outside, it looked like a typical Tuesday after school crowd in the Bob Jones weight room. But inside, it was the cross country team pumping the weights.

Coach Jim Presnell has the team in the weight room as well as running.

Presnell enters his second season as cross country coach with high hopes. He is also the track and field coach.

“We had great summer workouts and we are way ahead of where we were last year,” he said. “We have runners who have decided they want to be good and want the team to be good. They have seen team members get faster and they want to.”

Bob Jones had no individual winners at any meet last season and they want that to change.

“We struggled last year with leadership,” Presnell said. “We would like to change that. Peyton Tyler and Lindsey Martin have the best chance to end that streak. We didn’t know it last year but Peyton suffered from exercise induced asthma. He has some medication for that now and he’s a better runner now than he was at any time last year.”

Girl’s team leader Lindsey Martin has looked at the schedule and her first goal is to unseat Huntsville High as champions of the Bob Jones Invitational on Sept.28.

“They are well prepared and fast but we have a good shot at beating them this year because we have a good base with our summer work. We put in well over 300 miles in summer training so we have our endurance built up.”

She expects a big season from Vanessa Cardwell and Lillie Robinson also.

“We are all just trying to move up as a pack,” Martin said.

Peyton Tyler (Jr. 6-foot-1, 145) returns to anchor the boy’s team. Tyler has been on the varsity team since his freshman year and qualified for the state cross country meet every year. He has run cross country since seventh grade.

“All the meets are on my mind. The biggest meets are sectionals and state. As long as I run my best races there that is all that matters to me.

“We have put in our miles to get ready. We have a couple guys who were on the team last season and they are trying to finish up their senior season strong,” said Tyler who is undecided if he will run in college.

The first meet is Labor Day weekend, the Memphis Twilight 5K, a first time meet for the team that has members excited.

“It’s a flat, fast course that starts and ends in a 6,000 seat soccer stadium, so it will be interesting,” Tyler said.

Bob Jones hosts the Sectional Championship Oct. 31 and the State Championship is Nov. 9 in Oakville.