A group of seven young runners from Jackson County could be on their way to a national championship.

Members of the South Central Indiana Running Club will travel to College Station, Texas, this weekend to compete in the USA Track and Field National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships at Dale Watts Cross Country Course at Texas A&M. The club is comprised of students in elementary school through high school.

Brad Cobb, Seymour High School teacher and coach of the club, said members of his team were able to qualify after placing well at events held over the past few weeks. They competed against other similar clubs and groups from Indiana and Illinois.

The first event was the 2022 USATF Indiana Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships held Nov. 12 in Shelbyville.

With snow falling down from the sky that morning, Cobb’s runners faced tough conditions, but many still managed to place in the top 30 of their sections, moving them on the next stage of qualification.

“It snowed really bad everywhere here,” Cobb said. “That was our state race. Kids were running in snow. It was awesome.”

Those who qualified from the club, which according to Cobb was all but a few of the runners who participated, traveled to Oswego, Illinois, the next weekend to take part in the USATF Region Seven Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships where they competed against the top runners from Indiana and Illinois.

Similar to the first event, the top 30 runners in their categories got the opportunity to move on to the national championship in Texas.

The SCIRC runners continued to perform strongly on their way to qualifying for nationals in Texas.

“All of ours but one qualified there,” said Cobb.

Many of the club’s runners, who can begin competing as early as six years old, have been training for such competitions with Cobb and SCIRC from a young age.

Kelly Beavers, now a freshman in high school, has been a member of the club since she was in first grade and will be one of the member’s traveling down south to compete over the weekend.

Beavers has enjoyed competing as a runner because of the camaraderie of the sport and time she is able to spend with her teammates.

“I like the family feeling of it and how everybody’s really supportive. Everybody roots for everybody,” she said.

With many of the runners being younger, Cobb balances training them to compete a high level with creating an environment that is fun and easygoing.

“We don’t push them too hard at this especially at this age,” said Cobb. “We kind of let their own internal, ‘I want to do this.’ ‘I want to be better.’ ‘I’m gonna win.’ We let that kind of dictate how we push them.”

Preparations for this event began for some members of the club as early as June, Cobb said, though others started later.

Caleb Jablonski, eighth grade, has been a member of the club for seven years. After years of hard work, he will make the trip to Texas A&M with the club this weekend. He is looking forward to getting the opportunity to travel to a new place out of state for the event.

“I’m mainly looking forward to Texas in general,” Jablonski said. “It’s like a mini vacation.”

Runners will compete at 9 a.m. Saturday with the final race scheduled to start at 3:15 p.m.