Cross country: New coach, freshmen runners highlights for Indians

Don Franklin has coached Kiwanis soccer and both youth baseball and basketball.

However, piloting a cross country program will be a totally new endeavor for Franklin this coming fall.

Franklin was named new head coach during the summer, replacing Jim Vaughan, who will now solely concentrate on his athletic director duties.

In addition to serving as cross country coach, Franklin is a culinary arts teacher at the Kennett Career & Technology Center.

The Indians are coming off a season in which they had no state qualifiers.

Cole Biggs was Kennett’s most prolific runner last year, with the team’s top

finishes in the Class 3 district and Heartland Conference meets. Biggs, along with Zachary Kulin and Ethan Davis, are key losses to graduation.

Two additional athletes, Ashton Adams and James Shields, will not be running this season.

Tanner Hansen will be the leader of the squad in 2023. Hansen, a junior, also is set to be on the coed soccer team, so he’ll be pulling double duty this fall.

Freshman Kade Anderson has shown the most promise so far in training sessions, which have taken place all over the city — including a Thursday, Aug. 10, practice in the Lincoln Circle neighborhood.

“Kade logged a lot of miles this summer on his own,” Franklin explained.

The remaining members are Cash Franklin, the coach’s son, Gilberto Ramos, Dylan Yates and Gabe Checkett. All of these runners are freshmen.

Franklin said the Indians started out easy, simply running one mile. Now, they’ve extended it to three or four miles.

“They’re starting to worry about their times,” Franklin said. The coach considers that progress, and that running is becoming something important to them.

Cross country has been a tough sell in Kennett. There is no middle school program. Girls athletes are stretched thin across tennis and volleyball, which have been glamour sports here for decades.

Franklin said his hope is to have some girls out for cross country in 2024.

Like last season, Kennett will participate in the Heartland Conference, which is just exclusive to cross country.

The conference is filled with a mix of schools from several classes, with powerhouse Oak Ridge among them. Campbell and Senath-Hornersville also will be part of the conference.

Kennett opens the season on Sept. 6 at the Second Annual Clearwater Meet in Piedmont. Three days later, the Indians venture north again to the Arcadia Valley Invitational in Ironton.

In recent years, the Arcadia Valley course has been the site of district meets, and the course traditionally serves as a litmus test for runners.

Other regular-season schedule highlights include the Notre Dame Invitational on Sept. 30, which takes place on school grounds and is a fan-friendly event, and the Farmington Invitational at Engler Park on Oct. 14.

Franklin said he’s been varying practice times in effort to prepare for meets, which take place from morning to evening.

This year’s Heartland Conference meet be on Oct. 17. Chaffee High School is serving as host, but it will take place at Cape Girardeau County Park North.