A familiar name is taking over the cross country program at Auburn High School. Mark Carper, whose mom coached at Auburn in the 80s, is taking over a team that is coming off both the boys and girls state championships this past season.
Carper coached with current track and field throws coach Cam Akers at Floyd County High School.
He said so far, this has been a very easy group of athletes to work with.
“They want to be good, are willing to work and enjoy being together. I am also coming to a program that has had success and the athletes understand what is required. That is important and makes my job easier. I am sure we are doing some things differently and they have accepted these changes well. We do need a few more athletes to join our effort, especially on the girl’s side. Being new makes it harder to identify and reach out to possible recruits,” he said.
Carper was a member of the first cross country team at Auburn High school in 1972. He ran cross-country, and indoor and outdoor track for four years. He also ran at Ferrum (Junior College) and then Virginia Tech.
“I continued to run while in the Army and ran marathons, cross-country, and track and field teams,” he said.
Carper, who is a retired Army signal officer and a junior ROTC instructor told the team at their first meeting one of our main goals is to have fun.
“When it stops being fun I’ll go do something else. But I also believe that working hard with good people is as good as it gets. Sports teams are part of the high school education and as such I always want to develop my athletes and teach them life skills: commitment, planning, goal setting, teamwork, doing your best, learning from mistakes, making good decisions and accountability,” he said.
On the girl’s side, Auburn returns most of the group that won the state last year.
“If we keep a good team attitude, stay healthy and progress as we should then we should compete at that level again,” Carper said.
On the boy’s side, the team lost two of the best runner’s in the state and in the history of Auburn High School along with four of Auburn’s top seven runners.
“So, we are in a bit of a rebuilding year (for the boys), but not without talent. The opportunity is there for some new guys to step up and be a part of our success this year. The recipe is still pretty much the same: We need each runner to stay healthy, work and rest consistently, and race smartly. If we do that, I believe we will be back at the state meet again,” Carper said.
He also plans to coach Auburn’s track and field teams in the winter and spring.
