You don’t have to be a straight-A student to run on a high school cross country team. But it certainly doesn’t hurt.
For Paul VI High School’s Chase Cooley, he brings the brain game to the running trails and helps the Eagles with every intangible.
“I’ve been running since I was in pre-K,” said Cooley, a junior. “It’s been a long time, and I just love the logistics of the sport. I love seeing how we compare with other teams and knowing what we have to run to beat other teams.”
Outsiders of the sport might not be familiar with the strategies that go into running a race. Beyond the speed and endurance, a race plan is a vital part of conquering the course. And although the Eagles are well-coached, Cooley usually provides some extra advice for his talented teammates.
“People text me asking what they should do,” Cooley said at the Olympic Conference Championships on Oct. 22 at DREAM Park in Logan Township. “I think about the race, and I think about their strengths, and come up with a race plan. I gave three people a race plan today and they all ran 30 second PRs. You could say it went pretty well.”
The Paul VI boys took third in the conference behind Cherokee and Cherry Hill East, while the Eagles’ girls team took first in their respective conference. The boys team is still hoping to make a few serious strides as the season reaches its pinnacle. Paul VI coach Mike Rankin is leaning on Cooley to help them reach it.
“He’ll think of things way before I think of them,” Rankin admitted with a laugh. “It’s great to have a kid that’s so motivated, and he cares so much. It’s so refreshing to coach kids like that.”
He also runs really well.
Cooley is consistently in the Eagles’ top-five at big races. He ran a respectable 16:45 at the Olympic Conference Championships despite a minor, albeit nagging hamstring injury. He complimented a talented group that day including point scorers Max Long, Jason Smith, Chris Monaghan and Caden Briggs, who all finished sub-17 minutes.
“Chase is a wonderful runner,” Rankin said. “He grinds. He’s a pure distance guy, and he’s really responsible. He owns the program in a way where he knows the history of it. If I could bottle that and give it to the rest of the team, I would. You can see he cares in a profound way. He’s the cultural cornerstone of our program.”
Cooley knows his teammates’ personalities and running styles inside and out. And he’s also heavily involved at school with student council and National Honor Society. He hopes to continue with sports in some way in the future, whether it’s coaching or possibly even reporting.
“Something in the sports field,” Cooley said. “I’d like to maybe be a journalist. I like writing about sports and reading about sports. Coaching could definitely be in the future. I’d really like to coach a Catholic school team. There’s something different about it. You have people from all different backgrounds come out here and all try to achieve a goal.”
The Eagles are hoping to check off a major box later this fall. Although the Non-Public A field is loaded with schools like Christian Brothers Academy and Union Catholic, the Eagles are still hoping to snag a spot in the biggest race in the year.
“If everything goes as planned, and we can qualify for the Meet of Champions, that would be the first time in at least 25 years this school has done that,” Rankin said. “This school has had a really illustrious cross country and track and field history, and to bring us back to the Meet of Champions would be pretty special.”
They have a special team, so why not?
“We have five guys that have the capability of doing something really good at the state meet,” Cooley said. “I think we have five of the top 25 runners in Non-Public A, so we are really trying to put something out there.”
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