By Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Cooper Neeble, a senior cross country runner from Christiansburg High School, has announced plans to continue his career at Roanoke College.
“The campus was very beautiful and gave me a sense of home. When I took an official visit there to meet the coach and team, I knew I Roanoke College was where I wanted to go. The coach was a very personable and outgoing individual, and the members of the team were very nice. It was very easy to connect with them all. I also really liked the small campus Roanoke offers, and its diversity and uniqueness of the people,” he said earlier this week.
Neeble holds the school record in the 2000m Steeplechase, which he ran in the last 2018 outdoor track season and also shares the 4X800 indoor and outdoor school records (8:02.84 and 8:03.10 respectively with Ethan Mills, Alex Watty and Trey Wilson)
The group also won the VHSL State 4X800m relay this past outdoor season, and holds the school’s Distance Medley Relay (Distance Medley Relay) school record for outdoor with a time of 10:27.31 in winning the New Balance Nationals Outdoor Emerging Elite Section.
His goal for the upcoming indoor and outdoor track is simple.
“My goals for the upcoming indoor and outdoor track seasons are to mainly become the best runner, athlete and teammate I can. Sometime goals I have are to run 1:56 in the 800 and 4:20 in the 1600. Along with these time goals, I want to race competitively on the state and national level, and possibly place 2nd in the state for the 1600 and/or 1000 this indoor season. I also want our 4X800 relay team to win states, and for our 4X8 and DMR to qualify and compete on the national level,” he said.
Off the track, Neeble wants to push himself to become the best student-athlete that he can be, including stepping up as a leader.
“I want to be one (leader) that our future track and cross country athletes can look up to if they need help, or even just to talk to. I don’t want people to just remember me because of my times; I want my impression and the way I interacted and treated my teammates and coaches to be what I am remembered for,” he said.
Neeble admits he still has a lot of work to do in order to achieve the goals he desires, and there are many different points he needs to change or improve.
“But, I hope that I have had an overall good impression with my teammates and coaches, and I also want to make sure my grades stay in a good shape, as well.”
As a student, Neeble has been a part of FCA, BETA Club, NHS, and other clubs. He was also awarded membership of the Phi-Theta-Kappa academic Honors Society and has been on the Honor Roll since his freshman year.
He has been competing on the varsity level since his freshman year and was named co-team leader this past fall for the cross country team.
Neeble began running as a child, but it wasn’t until his sophomore year things started to change.
“As a child, I ran many different 5Ks, mile dashes and other races with my family. Running back then was just here and there in some fun races, as I was mainly playing different sports like soccer, baseball, and basketball. I even played soccer up until my sophomore year, with playing for the school soccer team up until my freshman year. But, I really got into running my sophomore Outdoor Track season, as I was a member of the 4X800 team who got fifth place at the VHSL state meet,” he said.
That summer, he became fully dedicated and committed to the sport, training harder (but also smart) for the upcoming cross and track seasons.
His junior year, he PR’d by about 45 seconds in the 5K with a time of 16:24. He also received his first individual all-state award when he placed fifth in the 1000m race that indoor track season. The hard work really paid off when we won states in the 4X800m relay and won the Emerging Elite Division of nationals in the DMR.
Along with having a 4:36.13 personal record in the 1600, he knew that his choice to dedicate more time to running was the right choice.
Neeble plans to major in health and exercise science at Roanoke College to pursue a career as a physical therapist or some other profession involving sports medicine.
