Hensley Miller’s debut with the High Hill Hounds youth cross country team on Sept. 10 got off to a rough start.

“I ran without a shoe in my first race because it fell off when I started sprinting,” the 11-year-old said.

But that didn’t stop Miller from earning a ribbon at the Central Missouri Athletic Circuit developmental meet in Columbia. He placed third in the 11-12 boys division to receive his first ribbon in an athletic event.

“I got ribbons for other things,” Miller said. “I had ribbons for science projects and mathematics stuff.”

Miller is one of several new runners on the High Hill squad, which is in its third season. His mother influenced him to join the team.

“My mom actually signed me up for it,” Miller said. “I didn’t know that she did it until the first meet. She said, ‘We’re going to cross country tonight.’ So I went, I started doing it and I really like it.”
The Hounds have a record 31 runners on their team this year. In their first season, they had about 10 runners.

“It has grown every year,” said Miranda Ford, the coach of the High Hill Hounds. “It’s getting more fun and more competitive because the circuit that we compete in, the CMAC Circuit, is growing. I think they are up to 17 or 18 teams now.”

So far after three meets, the Hounds are enjoying a successful season. They had five runners earn medals at the CMAC meet on Sept. 10, three at the Flash Youth Cross Country Classic on Sept. 18 in Fulton and five at the Mexico Hounds meet on Sept. 24. Their 9-10 girls squad won the team title at the Fulton meet.

Hensley Miller, Silas Miller and Willow Ford – the coach’s daughter – placed in all three meets this year. Quinn Cope placed twice in the 8 and under girls division, Waylon Miller placed in the 8 and under boys division at the Mexico meet and Jaidyn Milligan placed seventh in the 9-10 girls division at the CMAC meet.

The Hounds’ next meet will be in Moberly on Oct. 9. They also have a meet at California High School on Oct. 15 and will compete in the CMAC championship meet on Oct. 23 at Lange Middle School in Columbia.

Hensley Miller said after a month, he really enjoys working with Ford, who started the Hounds in August 2020.

“She taught me so many different things,” he said.

Ford said her mission is to help young runners prepare for the middle school and high school levels.

“It seems like every year it gets harder and harder to get these kids exposed (to cross country),” Ford said. “When I was a kid, I didn’t know what cross country was. I was in high school and I had a coach approach me and he said, ‘Why don’t you run cross country for me?’ I had never heard of it.”

The Hounds hold their practices in Jonesburg and at Christy Minerals Park in High Hill. Ford said she teaches her runners how to succeed in every meet.

“You don’t have to be in front of the pack to feel like you had a successful meet because it’s really a race against yourself to improve each meet,” Ford said. “I hope they’re getting that out of it. It’s a lot for little kids to be mentally tough, to be able to push their minds to be tough enough and push their bodies to the limit and keep going. It’s an amazing thing to watch. Sometimes I watch them running and I see them struggling, but they keep going. I would get goose bumps.”

Jersey Ford, who is also the coach’s daughter and competes in the 9-10 girls division, said running for the Hounds is a good way to stay active.

“It’s really fun,” Jersey said. “It brings more people to new things. They won’t always be sitting on the couch and being lazy.”

Anna Johnson, who competes in the 11-12 girls division, joined the Hounds after her mother found out about them on Facebook.

“I did cross country a little bit in elementary school,” Johnson said. “But then that kind of fell through as we didn’t have an elementary school cross country team anymore. My mom looked around and they found the Hounds here in High Hill.”