NORMAN — At midnight on Saturday, while others snooze, Andrea Troupe and Bryan Daniels will begin clocking a 23-hour, cross country drive.
From the beaches in Norfolk, Va., they’ll cheer from the sidelines as six of the athletes they volunteered to coach this summer lap a track at a national running competition.
Norman Highsteppers, founded in 1999 by Troupe, is a summer track program of runners of varying ages and experience levels — from age four to high school — who run three times a week at the Norman High School track and compete at various Amateur Athletic Union competitions from May to August.
This year, six of the runners on this 33-member team advanced from the regional competition in Tulsa to the national competition.
They include Bria Leverette, Kia Leverette, Samantha Hunt, Mikayla Durham, Tre Johnson and Andrew Schovanec.
“This is the most we’ve had in the last six years,” said Daniels, the team’s coach, adding that in the last few years the team has only taken two to three.
Runners will compete in the 200 meter, 400 meter, 800 meter, 1,500 meter and 4-by-4 relay race.
Angelique Pearson’s daughter Mikayla Durham, 10, has advanced to nationals for the first time this year.
Pearson, a former track runner, said she signed up her daughter and son, who didn’t qualify for nationals this year due to a knee injury, to keep them conditioned for their sports during the school year. Mikayla plays soccer and the son plays football and runs track.
“They’re natural athletes,” Pearson said of her children. “It’s a good activity and it keeps them in shape.”
Daniels said the relay team could advance to the finals at the end of the week.
“They’ve got a pretty good shot,” said Daniels, who, along with Troupe, volunteers to coach the team, going directly from work to practice three nights a week and driving to all the meets, including previous national competitions in Detroit and Iowa.
“It’s a lot of work, but we love the kids and love the sport,” Troupe said.
When the team began more than 10 years ago, it had a strong high school-age presence, but in the last few years, these numbers have dwindled, as the team has become more saturated with elementary and middle school children.
Daniels joked that the shortage of high school runners could be credited to his far from lax practices, pointing as proof to Johnson, who was hanging over the fence “sucking wind” — as Bryan put it — after lapping the track.
“Our training is a lot more intense than what they get in high school,” Troupe said. “We’re going to push them. We’re going to yell at them.”
She’s not kidding.
Daniels and Troupe’s jeering, along with the crowd of parents, could be heard from the walk to the track as Troupe yelled to the girls during a 500 meter at Monday night’s practice to “work the curve” and stretch their legs.
“This time next week, we’ll be on the track and it’ll be hot,” Daniels said to the girls. “You’ve got one race. One time around. One.”
Besides practicing for nationals, the team has held several fundraisers to help ease the cost — estimated at $4,800 and footed entirely by the families — of traveling to the competition.
So far, through car wash fundraisers and donations, the team has raised $1,300.
If anyone would like to give to the Norman Highsteppers’ trip to nationals, donations can be mailed to P.O. Box 5864, Norman, OK 73070. Those interested also can call Troupe at 824-5973.
Nanette Light 366-3541 nlight@normantranscript.com
