West Lincoln cross- country coach Jay Case had a large crew of junior high and high school runners going through a warmup routine in the parking lot beside Jack Case Gymnasium on Tuesday morning.

When Case released them to run the trail that loops around the school for their main workout, he knew exactly which student-athlete would finish the run first, senior Hayden Skates.

Skates is a longtime leader within the program and as his senior season quickly approaches, he’s pushing himself and his teammates to finish the summer break in strong fashion.

Like many area cross-country programs, West Lincoln is scheduled to begin its season on Thursday, August 15 by running at Hansel King Sports Complex in the annual Ole Brook Invitational hosted by Brookhaven High.

Last year in a field of 99 varsity runners, Skates finished 14th overall at the Ole Brook meet. At the MHSAA 2A state championship meet in Jackson, he was the 13th runner to cross the finish line.

West Lincoln has a proud tradition in cross-country, one that Skates takes seriously as he had a pack of younger, junior high aged runners on his heels at practice.

“When I started running, I had Chase Spring as an older guy on the team that I looked up to and who showed me the ropes,” said Skates as he cooled down from his practice run. “I’m just trying to do that for the younger runners in our program because this is it for me.”

Spring graduated from WL in 2022 and has run the last two seasons on the cross-country team at Millsaps College.

Skates isn’t sure what he wants to do after high school. He plans on possibly working at first, but he knows at some point he wants to attend seminary and become trained in ministry.

This summer he did most of his workouts independent of the team, as he worked as a counselor at Twins Lakes Camp located in Florence.

“It was a 24/7 job,” said Skates. “We’d get a couple breaks each week and I’d put in my miles when I was on break. There are a lot of hills at the camp, and I used them to do some hill work. It was such an active camp, with everything scheduled throughout the day, so there was a lot of running around from one place to the other. God and running are my two favorite things and it felt like I got lots of both this summer.”

As he shook out his legs following his workout on Tuesday, Skates told Case he felt a little tight, as he’d run eight miles the day before independent of the team.

“Hayden Skates is a jam-up kid,” said Case of his senior leader. “He’s been a leader for us and puts a lot of time in on his own.”

Other seniors running this season for the Bears include Kylie Suchy, Yedith Uribe, Anna McKenzie, and Anna Jones.

Case expects to have approximately 15 girls running varsity this season with 10-12 boys on the roster. Skates is the only senior boy who competes. The junior varsity program has close to 20 athletes running as well.

Skates didn’t come to cross-country until he was a freshman. He enjoyed running track and thought that competing in cross-country would help his cardio for other sports, such as soccer.

He now loves the sport and is looking forward to pushing himself and his teammates in his final season as a Running Bear.

“The roar of the crowd when the starting gun goes off is something that always gets your adrenaline pumping, but then when you’re out on the course in a race, it’s really just about you competing against yourself, which is what I think I love the most about this sport,” said Skates. “I like running track and playing other sports, but for me, there’s nothing like the feeling I get from running cross-country.”