There’s nothing greater for a high school athlete than to win a state championship, but to be the first girls team to win a state title in Marion County history makes it that much more sweeter.
That’s what the Columbia Academy Lady Cougar cross country did Oct. 23, and it meant the world to them.
“It was unreal,” freshman and team captain Natalie Ragan said. “When they called our names out, everyone was screaming and so excited. We couldn’t believe that we actually won.”
“It was the best feeling in the whole world. It’s just now sinking in. It took about a week,” sophomore Ina Claire Parker said. “I was crying I was so happy. I was jumping around for like 45 minutes after it happened.”
Parker wasn’t the only one who shed tears of joy.
“I started crying because I didn’t believe it,” freshman Hannah Rogers said. “I was so happy.”
The Lady Cougars were led by four sophomores, five freshmen, a seventh-grader and a sixth-grader, and it wasn’t easy for Ragan to lead her squad as a ninth-grader.
“It’s definitely hard because there’s older people on the team in higher grades, and they’ve been a little rude about it at times because I’m younger than them. It’s a challenge, but it was pretty good,” she said.
Sixth-grader Charlee Brees Franks, who finished second on the team during the state championship, added that she had to earn the respect of the older girls on the squad.
“It was scary at first because nobody talked to me at first. But when I started beating them, they started talking to me,” she said. “Everyone thinks it’s real cool because I’m a sixth-grader that I was second. Hopefully next year I’ll be No. 1.”
While the Lady Cougars knew they had a chance to bring a title home to the Marion County private school, it wasn’t until they were announced as champions that they believed it would happen.
“It was really unbelievable. I didn’t believe it until I got home. I knew we had a big shot, but I didn’t believe we were going to win,” Rogers said.
Brees said it was surprising, but she believes their hard work led the Lady Cougars to a championship. For Ragan, it took until the end of the season for her to think they had a chance.
“Our coach always tells us the truth and what he believes can happen. At the beginning of the season we really didn’t have a chance at all because we haven’t been running during the summer,” she said. “By the end of the year we really started picking it up and really wanted to win. That’s when we figured out when we were getting good.”
Parker added the team’s collective want-to help it seize the crown.
“I knew we were all going to have to push really hard. I think we ended up wanting it more, and that’s what got it for us,” she said.
Each of the girls said their biggest motivation for winning state was doing it for their head coach Duane Powell.
“If I had to run anywhere else, I probably wouldn’t do it. One of the main reasons why I run is because of coach,” Ragan said. “He’s always there for us whenever we need them, and he’s very loving. He actually cares for us. We have specific diets, and he cares about what we eat before we run. He cares about our health, and it’s really nice running for him.”
“We didn’t just do it to get a ring; we did it for coach,” Franks said. “He really wanted it because it was the first time Columbia Academy has even won in a girls sport.”
“I think he is 95 percent of the reason that I wanted to win,” Rogers added. “I wanted to win for him more than anything. I wanted to win for our team because we really wanted it, but I knew coach wanted it a lot.”
“It feels so good when he’s super proud of us, even after just a good day in practice or we do good at a regular meet. I knew going into state that if we won he would be that much more proud,” Parker said.
Pictured Above: State champions, from left, Ayden Gautreau, Samantha Ragan, Ina Claire Parker, Myla McLaughlin, Hannah Rogers, Emily Doane, Maggie Hammond, Natalie Ragan, Olivia Adams, Anna Price Mattox and Charlee Brees Franks show off their championship rings. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
