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The Shelby County cross country program is experiencing a historical surge in its numbers, fueling it towards major success and a positive outlook for the future. (Contributed/Jason Mayfield)

By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

Running, a motion that has stood at the root of nearly all branches of athletic activity throughout history, is growing rapidly on its own. If you don’t believe it, just ask the Shelby County cross country team.

The Wildcats are beginning to understand that feeling, seeing their program flourish as a result of hard work and outstanding leadership. They have not always been this way, though.

Now that his team’s roster numbers are up, head coach Jason Mayfield is excited for the new heights that the future holds for his kids, something he hoped for when he returned for his second stint at Shelby County High School.

Mayfield is in his 21st year of teaching at Columbiana Middle School, but he has been a passionate runner for much of his life. In 2009, he stepped up and coached the high school girls cross country program, where his team made it to state under his guidance. He later stepped down from the program, but still supported it as much as possible.

When 2022 came along and the opportunity arose for him to step back into command, the decision was never in question, but it did not come without its challenges.

“I had four boys in 2022 and we got together a girls team by adding a couple of middle school kids late, so we ended up with a team of nine and were not very successful,” Mayfield said. “We have 31 this year, middle and high school… We’ve been able to have some of the same kids building each year, and cross country is a lot about putting in that mileage from year to year. It’s been tremendous just to see their growth.”

A lot of the program’s rapid increase has in some way generated from the philosophies that Mayfield preaches to his runners each season.

For cross country runners, a critical determinant in how well they develop is mental and having the right mindset about what they are doing and why they are doing it.

Mayfield has made it a point to let his kids know that while this sport is competitive, their sights should always be up, because even after they stop running for teams competitively, their standards will follow them in this activity for life.

“I want them to be successful, but I also want them to be able to run for life,” Mayfield said. “Running, you can take it seriously and pour yourself into it, but you can also get a whole lot out of it that can help you become a successful person later. It’s been good to see the kids take some of those lessons to heart, find that they’re getting some success and that they’re hungry for more.”

Those messages have translated well to the race course, as the Wildcats are continually rolling out successful results from year to year since Mayfield took over.

The 2022 season presented the first trip to state for the boys team since 2008. The following year, both the boys and the girls qualified for state for the first time in the program’s history.

As his kids continue to set goals for themselves, Mayfield has seen a buy-in from them on where consistent success can take them.

“It’s been neat having that success. It’s that good problem of, ‘Okay, you met the goals that you set, so what do you do from there,’” Mayfield said. “Fortunately, I don’t think that the team as a whole is satisfied at all yet. It’s fun to get to see them at that point because we’ve got one senior, so we really have a great opportunity in the coming years.”

Knowing that his kids have learned to always push themselves tells Mayfield that true development is happening and that his kids want to get better. Being the seasoned runner that he is, the growth of individuals in that aspect has unarguably been his favorite part of coaching.

With the track that Shelby County is on, there is a lot of faith that it will continue its upward trend, sprinting toward that long-awaited goal of a state title.

“We have kids, pictures of them at their first race and pictures of them now, they’re just physically completely different,” Mayfield said. “When you’re able to see how it transforms individual’s lives and then when you’re able to see the pride that some of the former kids that you coached, the pride that they have in the program, that means quite a lot. It makes it special.”

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