The boys’ state champion cross country team was among the Class of 2022 induction class of the Trigg County High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
On the school district’s chopping block just 10 months earlier due to a $300,000 budget shortfall, Trigg County’s smaller sports survived. And then the cross country program made history.
Mike Wright was hired to take over a team that had finished third at the state meet the previous season.
Trigg County brought home the school’s first state title for the boys’ program and did so in a dominant fashion.
Trigg County had finished in the top five at state the previous year but graduated three-time region champion Lynus Wright.
The 1986 season began without much fanfare with an 8th place finish at the Marshall County Invitational and a 4th place finish at Madisonville. The Madisonville meet in mid-September would mark the last time Trigg was defeated by a Kentucky high school of any class.
Things began to click, led by senior Eric Ezell. Never finishing worse than third place at any invitational run, the practices became more competitive and the pack of runners behind him got closer in time.
Trigg County finished second to Montgomery Bell Academy, Tenn. at the prestigious Lexington Catholic Invitational in early October. That would be the last time they were beaten.
Ezell finished in second place at the Trigg County Invitational a week after Lexington Catholic and joined Sam Love and Wright as Trigg runners to break the 16:00 barrier over a 3.1-mile course.
Trigg County easily beat Providence 24-51 in claiming the region title with Ezell Trigg County’s seventh consecutive region winner.
Frankie Boone was fourth at the region meet followed by J.R. Boddy (5th), Marc Frye (8th), Jason Barnes (11th), Chris Woodall (19th), and seventh grader Kevin Crump (30th).
A week later at the state meet, Trigg County got another strong finish at the front and consistency from the pack in claiming the state title.
Ezell finished in third place with Boone the top underclassman to finish in 14th place overall.
Boddy was 27th, followed by Barnes (32nd), Woodall (45th), Frye (56th), and Marc Terrell in 65th.
Trigg County totaled 75 points in easily outdistancing Bishop Brossart’s 134 points. The 59-point margin still ranks as the fifth largest in boys’ Class A state meet history.
The state title won by the 1986 team is still the only one by a Trigg County boys’ cross country team.
Below are some of the induction speeches either in part or whole.
ERIC EZELL
J.R. BODDY
FRANK BOONE
MARC FRYE
CHRIS WOODALL
MARC TERRELL
ERIC EZELL SPEAKING OF COACH MIKE WRIGHT
SCOTT BROWN
