As a Sophomore, Cody joined us from the track team. Cody brings a
lot to the team. His teammates have commented on how impressed
they
are with how hard he works in practice and that he brings a positive
attitude with him to our tough workouts. Cody opened up his first
high school cross country race at the Charleston Invitational.
Cody finished strong with a 28:48. Cody had an amazing race at
the Springfield Invitational. He had over a 6 minute improvement
to run a 22:43. His time earned him
the 10th spot on our team's most improved over a career list. We
look
at a runner's first high school race compared to their fastest 3 mile
high
school race. Cody improved 6 minutes and 5 seconds. Cody's
time was fast enough to earn him a spot on the News Gazette's prep
cross
country leaders list in September. Cody ran another solid race at
the
Peoria Notre Dame Invitational with a 23:20. He showed an amazing
amount
of intensity in his mid season workouts as he was determined to
improve. While the tougher workouts made even our fastest runners
drop out of workout reps, Cody dug down and finished them all. He
really showed how strong of a character he is. Cody ran in the
23s again at the East Peoria
Invitational with a 23:25. His team won the invitational.
Cody
had a great run at the Metamora Invitational where he had another break
through. He ran a 20:27 as he skipped over the 21's
entirely. Cody's time was fast enough to earn him a spot on our
team's fastest sophomore list for
the Metamora Invitational. Cody ran an amazing run at the
Conference
meet. Despite the very slow course Cody managed to run a lifetime
personal best of 21:42. He was only one of three runners from our
team able to run a best at this race. Cody improved 1 minute and
1
second from his previous 3 mile best. This improvement moved him
up
to the #6 spot on our most improved over a career list with a 7 minute
and
6 second overall improvement.
As a junior, Cody came into the season with a new
sense of mental and physical strength from the start. His early
practices showed that he was starting off minutes and minutes ahead of
where he was just one short year ago. He opened up his junior
year with a 21:50. This was an amazing 6 minute and 58 second
improvement from his last year's Charleston Invitational time.
This was by far the largest improvement on the team. It is truly
impressive if a runner improves 1 minute in a year from meet to meet,
but to improve nearly 7 minutes is an unheard of feat. It reveals
Cody's inner strength and drive to be his best. He definitely
leads the team with this example. Cody ran a 24:23 at the
Springfield Invitational. He helped his team win the open race
team title for the second year in a row. Cody ran right at his
season best with a time of 22:03 at the Peoria Notre Dame
Invitational. This was a 1 minute and 17 second improvement from
his last year's PND invitational time. Cody's love for his
teammates and loyalty to his team really help drive us. Cody
earned our team's team spirit of the week award after running an
incredible 800s repeat workout and giving one of the most passionate
speeches ever given to his teammates. Cody drives his team to be
one of the best in the State and nation. Cody ran right at his
season best at the East Peoria Invitational. His time of 22:00
was a 1 minute and 25 second improvement from the time he ran just 1
year earlier in this invite. This clearly shows how much he has
developed as a runner both physically and mentally in just one
year. Cody had the largest improvement of the day by any runner
at our team at the Metamora Invitational with a season improvement of 1
minute and 16 seconds. He ran a season best time of 20:34 despite
being sick. He was so sick that we sent him home early from
practice on Friday and cut his warm down to a minimum on race day in
order to conserve his energy. Somehow through sheer will power
Cody not only improved, but drastically improved. This really
reveals his inner strength that few people possesses. Cody's time
was fast enough to earn him a spot on our team's fastest times list at
the Metamora Invitational. Cody ran a 22:44 at the Conference
meet. This was a 47 second improvement from his time just one
year earlier at the Conference meet. Cody ended his senior year
by winning our team's Brent Johnson True Grit award. This award
is given to the runner that shows great determination in workouts and
meets. He was chosen by his teammates due to their great respect
for him.
As a senior, Cody worked through some early season
injuries. Cody opened up his season at the East Peoria
Invitational. Cody ran a 26:27 on this challenging course.
His practices continued to get stronger after coming off his
injury. Cody made a big jump in his second race at the Metamora
Invitational. He cut off 53 seconds to run a 25:34. Cody
showed great support of his teammates by being a great vocal leader to
the runners in the State series. Cody
and his teammates earned at medal at the State meet for placing 2nd.
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