The Daily Sentinel

The Pisgah girls basketball and softball programs have been a regulars at their sport's state tournament over the past decade.

Now the Pisgah cross country program is hoping to join in the state fun.

The program, in its first year of existence, heads to the Class 3A Section 5 meet trying to qualify for next weekend's state meet at the Oakville Indian Mounds State Park. The Class 3A girls race is set for 8:30 a.m. followed by the 3A boys race at 9 at Scottsboro High School.

The top three teams and top six individual runners not on qualifying teams advance to state.

"The expectations at Pisgah are high," said coach Gus Hembree. "We are not treated as a first-year program. The school and community expect us to be competitive this year. Success breeds success. If we qualify at sectionals to go to state, more interest will be generated in our program.

"Going to state has been our goal all year. The kids have not just been giving it lip service. They have worked hard all season to position themselves to achieve this goal. Anything less is not acceptable."

Claiming a state qualifying spot won't be easy. The Eagles' will compete against Brindlee Mountain, Catholic-Huntsville, Madison Academy and Randolph.

"We have known all season we have a tough sectional with Randolph, Catholic and Madison Academy in there," Hembree said.

"They have strong programs and we have knew we'd have our work cut out for us. At times during the season we have had different girls run well against those teams. We will have to have everyone run their best race of the year to have a chance to make it to state."

Their best race seems to come with every race. The Eagles have shown marked improvement every time out, and Hembree believes this squad is ready to peak at the right time.

"We finished strong in our last three meets, running some of our best times of the year," he said. "The girls understand there will never be another first cross country team at Pisgah and they want to set the bar high for all of the runners that will follow them. They are used to being successful in the other sports and want to establish that tradition with cross country."

Corey Wheeler will also try to make some history as the Pisgah sophomore tries to qualify for state as an individual.

"Corey has put himself in position to qualify for state," Hembree said. "There are strong runners at our sectional, but most of them will be on teams. If Corey comes out and runs anything like he has in the last three races, he should not only qualify but be in contention for a top 10 finish."

Hembree said Wheeler's success could help Pisgah field a full boys team in the future.

"We have boys at Pisgah that could excel in cross county," he said. "I hope that they will see Corey be successful and want to join in."

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