Harrisburg High harrier Elders inks scholarship to RLC

HARRISBURG, Ill. (Dec. 16, 2013) – Harrisburg High School cross country runner Miranda Elders has signed a national letter of intent to run at Rend Lake College in the fall 2014 semester.

RLC Head Coach James Wooldridge joined Elders’ mother, Cassie Seagle, and Harrisburg coach Chuck Ingram at the signing engagement held in the high school’s Media Center. Elders told the Harrisburg Daily Register’s Michael Dann that she is surprised and overjoyed by the opportunity.

 

 

“I’ve always really, really wanted to run and when I got into this, I never really imagined I would amount to anything, but this is really exciting,” she told him. “It’s something I never thought I would have the opportunity to do and now I can’t wait to get started, again.”

Wooldridge said he likes the way Ingram structures the Bulldog program where Elders has helped lead the pack for the past three seasons.

“I’ve been watching Miranda since she was a sophomore,” Wooldridge told Dann. “Coach Ingram has a good program going. … He doesn’t overtrain them or kill them. A lot of kids that are good in high school have been through the gamut and worked so hard that by the time they get to college, they are just worn out with it.”

“I have friends here and I like that I can be here and continue to do what I want to do and what I need to do,” she told the newspaper. “I know I need to get my times better. That’s for sure. And I think these girls that I’m running with will help me get there.”

“We’ll travel to different states. It’s a great learning experience,” said Wooldridge. “She’ll get around some faster girls, but for me, when I look at distance runners, I look at build, desire and the baking [SIC] of her coach.”