At the urging of Magazine native Joshua Scott in 1998 when he was still in high school and dominating every other sport that the district had to offer, Magazine solidified their footing into Cross Country. That first season ended with four young men running their best at the State Championship on George Jones’ farm in Pottsville. Over the next 22 years, the Rattlers would be home to two State Champions, 4 State Runners-Up, and 18 District Championships including the 2020 Senior Boys led by Individual 2A-4 Champion, Connor Ryan.
Ryan, along with other All-Conference runners, AJ Malouf and Cameron Mattson, plus letterman Joeseph Posey and Jackson Oliver, ran their best races of the season to add to the Rattler lore. Although the Jr Girls were bested by rival Mansfield by a mere five points, the Lady Rattlers had slowly been closing the gap all season, and led by massive PRs at District, were almost able to pull off the upset.
The Lady Rattlers were led by All-Conference runner Callie Nicholas, who medaled at every meet this season. All-Conference runner Carissa Webster, who improved 5 minutes over the course of the season. All-Conference runner Phoebe Hopper, who improved an amazing 7 minutes during the season. And All-Conference runner Ainslee Chappell. All four girls are 7th graders who began training in June.
The team was bolstered by athletes Gracee Franklin (8th grader and 13th place) who finished out the Rattler top five. Jailynn Sims (8th), Destiny Corley (9th), Haley Myers (7th), Mattie Terry (7th), and Alyssa Bates (7th) finished out the scoring and displacement for the junior girls’ team. JV runners Elizabeth Merritt and Peyton Huschka ran great on the JV squad with Merritt finishing with Top 10 times at each meet.
The junior boys were led by All-Conference runners Dakotah Stafford and medalist Rhett Neitert followed by Aiden Carter and Casey Carter. Connor Droemer was the 5th runner. The boys finished third behind Mansfield and Lavaca. The senior girls were led by senior All-Conference runner and medalist Trinity Bull for a runner-up plaque. Coach Randy Bryan added, “Great things are on the horizon for the Rattlers!”
