The crowd roared as the individual state champions of the past two
seasons came by the grandstands in an early battle on Saturday
It was exactly one year ago that I last spoke with members of the Liberty Center cross country team. I blogged about the Tigers here after they had just won their second consecutive Ohio High School D-III state championship. This past weekend at the 2013 state meet in Hebron the results were once again the same as Liberty Center had just captured another state title. For an added bonus, their #1 runner, junior Brittany Atkinson, returned to the top of the podium as the individual champion, a title she also won her freshman year.
I was anxious to talk to the team on Saturday because I knew their story. Six years ago the school almost didn't have cross country. The team consisted of just one girl that year. The next season current head coach Tim Atkinson took over and the sport is now flourishing. I chatted with two Liberty Center fans outside of National Trail Raceway on Saturday and asked how their program could go from rags to riches in such a short period of time? One gentleman said matter-of-factly, "It's because of Coach Atkinson. Don't let him fool you." He went on to explain that it's a common sight in Liberty Center to see the girls team out running at 6:00am on Friday mornings when most kids aren't even up for school yet. Cross country fever in the small town has even trickled down to 60 elementary kids who gather behind the school and run just for fun. Much like the fan said too, Coach Atkinson might fool you. When I met up with the coach after Saturday's race he deflected all the praise to his girls. I asked if he had anticipated his daughter Brittany's win that day, especially since she had finished 3rd at the regional meet the week before behind Coldwater's top two runners. The coach looked me right in the eye and said seriously, "Craig, she's such a gamer." I took that to mean Brittany runs her best when it matters most. She was certainly a gamer on Saturday. I also asked Coach what his thoughts were on the last race for his only senior, Paige Chamberlain, his second best runner that day and for most of the season. He beamed and described how much she's meant to their program. Coach Atkinson doesn't come across as the drill sergeant type you might expect from a three-time state champion, but perhaps that's what makes him so successful.
I was also glad to get a few words with Paige, the Tiger's lone senior, and I asked about the magic carpet ride she's been on for the last three years. Her smile explained most of what I wanted to know and although she'll miss her team and one of her best friends in Brittany, she couldn't think of a better way to end it. Finally, I caught up with Brittany, who has certainly secured her place in OHSAA state championship history as one of the best ever. With three team titles, two individual titles, and one individual runner-up, it's hard to find many others who have done as much. Did I mention she's still a junior? I asked Brittany about the individual battle early in the race with last year's state champ, Sarah Kanney of Coldwater. Brittany first acknowledged how good Sarah and her team were, then explained her strategy, talking about how she wanted get out faster than she did at the regional meet and how she threw a surge in at the mile mark to increase her lead even more. I also brought up the interesting fact that in the previous two seasons Coldwater had always beaten Liberty Center at the regional meet only to have Liberty Center beat Coldwater the following week at state. This year however, Liberty Center finally beat Coldwater at the regional and I wanted to know if that gave the Tigers confidence heading into state? Brittany said, if anything, it probably put a little more pressure on her team to win again. A quick check of history shows that Liberty Center does just fine being the underdog. In each of the past three seasons they've yet to be ranked #1 in the final state cross country coaches poll. Apparently the only coaches that matter to the Liberty Center runners are their own. Coach Atkinson will probably be just fine too if the Tiger's aren't ranked #1 again next year. He just needs a daughter who's a gamer!
Brittany was on top of the podium again while Paige sat below
enjoying the All-Ohio recognition and one last state championship
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