By Ken Hansard
After spending the summer meeting every morning with teammates to run, Field Kindley junior cross country runner Bennett Thompson entered the season with a bit more swagger, “I think I am in the best shape I’ve ever been in, and I believe I can qualify individually for state this year.”
As a sophomore last season, Thompson qualified for state with the entire team, because the Golden Tornado featured a host of talented runners. Now, as a junior, he would like to be one of the runners that helps to drive the entire team to greatness, “I see myself as one of the leaders on the team, and we plan to set an example for the underclassmen for how hard we should work.”
As a unit last season, Bennett and his teammates finished strong in nearly all of their meets, and especially during “championship season.” “I’m proud to be part of the cross country team. Last year, we were runner-up at League (SEK), at regionals, and we qualified for state as a team.”
This year, Thompson has even bigger goals in mind. Not only does he want the team to equal or better last season’s performances, but he would like to qualify for state on his own and hopes to medal in every race that he runs. To that end, he spent his offseason, “Trying new workouts to see if I could get different results. Also, our entire group of runners became more disciplined. We held each other accountable for those early morning workouts. Having a new coach this year has really given me and the team a different point of view. He’s taught us to take care of our bodies and about the importance of recovery. Coach Larson Hoggatt has a new style of training that I believe will help the team progress.”
To this point in the young season, those efforts seem to be working. Field Kindley has run in three races thus far, and Thompson has had strong showings in all of them, placing fifth at Labette and Parsons and ninth at Fort Scott.
As an added bonus, that group of youngsters that Bennet talked about mentoring includes his younger brother, “We have a strong group of freshmen who are producing consistent times, and with more experience, I think we will be in a good spot. My dad ran in high school. That made me want to try it out, and then I fell in love with cross country. Now my brother is on the team, and it has been fun sharing the experience with him.”
Bennett has lots of diverse interests outside of cross country. He also plays baseball, and he is a member of FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes), and is additionally the President of our Field Kindley’s FFA chapter.
After high school Bennett plans to attend K-State to major in Agribusiness and Management. After earning his degree, he has designs to return to Coffeyville to work in his family’s business.
