ABS boasts top male, female runners

Sports

Discussion

December 3, 2008

By Ashley Hargrove The News Courier Wed Dec 03, 2008, 08:35 PM CST

Colby Phillips has a passion for sports. It's easy to tell.

Between training for cross country and spending time practicing soccer and baseball throughout the year, the Athens Bible School senior hardly has time for anything else. But he doesn't mind. He enjoys what he does.

As a sophomore, Phillips joined the cross country team and participated in three races that later earned him all-state honors. After seeing what he was capable of, cross country coaches Bill and Brad Murrell and last year's track coach Tom Davidson encouraged him to start his own off-season training program. It paid off. He was able to use the training to help build back-to-back successful seasons his junior and senior year.

However, in addition to his off-season training, which included participating in several races like the Killen Founder's Day 5K and Living Waters 5K in Decatur, he spent time running between 30 and 40 miles a week during the season as well.

The blood, sweat and tears put into the trails paid dividends. He completed his cross country career at Athens Bible winning five races, having 15 top five finishes, and leading his team to a 1A State Runner-Up title this season. In addition, he also helped his team to a third place finish last season and now holds the Athens Bible 5K school record with a time of 16:32 that he ran in the 2008 sections, where he finished as sectional champion for the second year in a row.

"I guess I did alright this season," Phillips said. "I wanted to do a little better at the state meet, but as long as our team did well, that's all that matters.

"My pre-season prediction was that we would finish second," Phillips added. "I was really happy the team came through. I felt like we had the potential this season."

Phillips isn't the only senior at Athens Bible who has had success on the trails in their career there. Chelsea Burgess began running cross country in ninth grade and admits that the only reason she decided to participate was because that's what all of her friends were doing.

Fortunately for Trojans coach Bill Murrell, she had a knack for posting impressive times every time she hit the trails.

Burgess hit her stride at the state meet two years ago by posting a personal best of 21:04, helping the Trojans finish fourth overall. That year, she also finished first at the sectional meet. This season, Burgess paced the Trojans all season long, helping lead the girls’ squad to a 1A State Runner-Up trophy and a fourth-place finish.

"I was very surprised," Burgess said of the girls’ runner-up finish at the state meet. "I was happy. We had a lot of younger girls step up and help us complete the team. When they came up, it made it more like a team because everybody was encouraging each other."

Now that the season is over, Burgess has switched gears and is now helping lead her team on the hardwood. As for Phillips, he's been training for the 2008 AAU National Cross Country Championship being held Saturday at the Oakville Indian Mounds.

While the two are still several months away from graduation, Burgess said she isn't sure yet if she's going to continue her athletic career after high school but said she does plan on attending UNA. And although Phillips has a passion for soccer and baseball, he said his desire at the college level is to run cross country and track while pursuing a Bible-history degree.

Text Only

Sports

Armstrong says he's happy investigation over
The stress, the waiting, the whispers about whether he doped during his stellar cycling career, all of it ended when — after nearly two years — federal prosecutors closed an investigation of him last week without bringing any charges.

February 10, 2012 1 Photo
South Alabama topples Arkansas State 74-57
Mychal Ammons scored a career-high 25 points to lead South Alabama to a 74-57 win over Arkansas State Thursday night in Sun Belt Conference play.

February 10, 2012
Right at home
February 10, 2012 1 Photo
Sports Ledger Feb. 10, 2012
Sports Ledger is a daily list of upcoming sporting events scheduled throughout Limestone County.

February 10, 2012
Right at home
When East Limestone plays Lee in the Class 5A Area 15 Tournament tonight, the Indians face an uphill task against the No. 2 team in the state. Despite being up against a handful of future college basketball players, East has something Lee does not in Jordan Gandy.

February 9, 2012 1 Photo
Univ. of ND will use Fighting Sioux nickname
The University of North Dakota resumed using its contentious Fighting Sioux nickname Wednesday even though it triggered NCAA sanctions, leaving some fans weary of the seven-year fight over a moniker that critics believe is demeaning.

February 9, 2012
Looking forward...
Soccer season cannot get here fast enough for Ramon Jurado. The Athens junior lost his home during the deadly string of tornadoes that scarred Alabama last April. Like others effected by the storms, Jurado remembers every detail of that ill-fated spring day.

February 8, 2012 1 Photo
Green leads Alabama past Auburn 68-50
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Shorthanded Alabama still managed to make a little history against rival Auburn.

JaMychal Green scored 19 points, Trevor Releford added 15 and the Crimson Tide raced to a 68-50 win on Tuesday night.

February 8, 2012 1 Photo
Mayor calls New York City 'Big Blue Apple' for Giants' win
The team was introduced with thunderous applause from the lucky 250 fans who got tickets to a ceremony at City Hall Plaza, where the Giants were honored with symbolic keys to the city.

February 7, 2012 1 Photo
Charge against ex-Alabama CB Kirkpatrick dropped
Kirkpatrick was arrested on Jan. 17 after Palmetto, Fla., police stopped a car driven by another former Alabama player, Chris Rogers, for driving on the wrong side of the road.

February 7, 2012
More Sports Headlines

Sports

Search Results

Discussion

ABS boasts top male, female runners

What is the most important issue state legislators will tackle this session?

Site Map

Contact Us