PB XC to host Barry Cody Bootheel Classic

The Poplar Bluff Mules will host the Barry Cody Bootheel Classic today at Ozark Ridge Golf Course in an early-season cross country race.

The Mules, along with Bernie, Campbell, Clearwater and Greenville, will hit the course for an intro 5K, as Poplar Bluff cross country coach Beth Lewis-Muse put it.

“Instead of doing JV and varsity, we run all of our boys together then we run all of our girls together,” Lewis-Muse said. “It’s a nice opener, not intimidating. It’s great.”

Lewis-Muse missed the person for whom the race is named after as she came to Poplar Bluff after Cody had passed away.

Cody, a longtime teacher and coach at Poplar Bluff, died in 2013 in a plane crash.

While Lewis-Muse didn’t meet her coaching predecessor, she’s learned plenty abut the figure.

“I’ve heard story after story and he just seems like the coolest, quirky coach,” she said.

Lewis-Muse knows it takes a different kind of personality to be a runner, let alone coach the sport.

“It takes a special kind of energy to keep people interested in such an activity because it is monotonous,” she said. “It’s very physical, you’re constantly going the same pace, there’s not much change to it. There’s a lot of respect toward the type of coach that can instill that love of such an activity ... In the stories I’ve heard, Coach Cody really went beyond what a typical coach would do to help different athletes. Making sure they had the proper shoes or a place to stay or just making them feel warm and special no matter what talent level they are. The stories I’ve gotten, he poured his heart and soul into distance running and we want to keep his name going.”

The race will kick off at 4 p.m. with the boys race. The girls race will start at 4:30 p.m.