After taking on hundreds of talented runners and competing in almost a dozen Cross Country meets, the Waldron Bulldogs kept a firm grip on greatness as they ended District leading the pack. The Sr High Lady Bulldogs walked away District Champions and the Sr High and Jr High Bulldogs each earned District Runner-Up. To top things off, Coach Angie Bailey was awarded the 3A-1 conference Girls Coach of the Year.
“I’ve been teaching for 21 years in the Waldron School District but have only been coaching for 10 of those years,” explains Coach Bailey. “This season I had 50 athletes in grades 7-12, my biggest group yet. The entire team really motivated each other which in turn made them more competitive. My senior high girls have been running as a team since 7th grade and they have a lot of experience as juniors who make up the majority of my team.”
“I am most proud of this groups’ willingness to want to get better. Their work ethic is by far their strength. The whole team will be coming back to compete in track. I’ll be gaining my field event kids, where we are also strong so they just slide right in. My cross country girls always motivate the rest of the girls because they are the heart of the team. Not all of my cross country girls will run distance in track though. I have hurdlers, 400 and 800 runners, and a high jumper so that leadership will run into many events.” This year, State will be held in Hot Springs for the top nine varsity runners on November 9 with boys starting at 2 p.m. and girls starting at 2:45 p.m.
