Sophomore Jerry Draper advanced to state and will compete on November 5 at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, Texas in the UIL Conference 3A Cross Country State Meet.  

“I’m pretty excited about Big Poppa (Draper) advancing to state,” head cross country coach Tarsha Graves said. “There’s a lot of excitement to get any kid to advance, but to know that he is the first guy in 10 years is pretty awesome.”

Draper has run cross country for the past four years starting from his 7th grade year at Fairfield Junior High. 

“I used to run with my grandfather, I still do,” Draper said. “I started running with my grandfather. I am happy and rather surprised [to make it to state]. I really can’t believe it.”

 Draper qualified for state at Regionals on October 25 at Kate Barr Ross Memorial Park in Huntsville, TX. 

“It really makes me excited if you know Jerry, the kind of worker he is, he’s dedicated to his team, he always inspired others,” assistant coach Dani German said. “ A lot of times we’ll discuss different workouts especially now with Jerry looking at the other regions times we’re kind of seeing where he needs to drop and the mile times he ran at the past meet you know what part of the race he needs to work on.”

Draper runs in special, long compression socks that aid him as he’s running. 

“No, they’re not a fashion statement,” Draper said. “They actually help me run better.”