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CHS
Cross Country Finishes Strong
“We’ve
had some races that we’ve been very successful
in. The big issue is that we haven’t always
had seven healthy runners at any one given
time.” Centralia Cross Country coach J.J.
Demattei described how the Orphans have fared in
2007 season.
Coach
Demattei has been coaching since 1978. He has
coached football, basketball, track, and cross
country. He has been head coach of both the
cross country and track teams for the last five
years.
While
the 2007 version of Centralia Cross Country has
not been as successful as it has been in the
past, it has created a reason to be optimistic
about the future. Coach Demattei looks forward
to the upcoming years, explaining “I think the
future looks pretty good right now; our top
seven runners right now are all underclassmen.
We have two freshmen in the mix and our number
one runner is a sophomore, so I think the future
is looking very good for us.”
Shane
Campbell has been the team’s number one runner
this year, despite battling injury and illness
problems. Derrick Schnake has been the team’s
most consistent number two runner. Freshman
Dillon Neudecker has been number three. Kenny
Cullum and Corey Meyer have gone back and forth
as the number four and five runners, while
Taylor Orberg, Brandon Gebke, and Travis
Westbrook have all run the number six and seven
positions.
While
not as successful as in the past,
Centralia
has enjoyed a good year. “We haven’t been
quite as good as we have been in the past, but
we lost three people last year and had the two
top runners in Southern Illinois, so that
obviously hurt us. Most of our team is
underclass and that kind of concerns
rebuilding.”
As
the season comes to a close, Demattei
anticipates a successful sectional. “Well,
it’s a tough field. It’s hard to say this
year because this is the first year of the three
class system. Some of the schools we’re
familiar with and we see, and a portion of the
schools we’ve never even seen or heard of.
We’re kind of hoping to finish in the top ten
and that would be good for us.”
Click
here to read Stile's interview with Coach Ryan
Blaha
Click
here to read Stile's interview with Golf Coach
John Sallee
Click
here to read Stile's interview with Football Coach Phil
Watson
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