Manchester’s Darnell signs to be a ‘Running Bear’

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

He won’t be a Sioux Indian chief or the subject of a Johnny Preston song, but next fall Manchester senior Connor Darnell will definitely become a “Running Bear”. In a unique ceremony held under the lights on the Manchester High School track with a crowd of nearly 50 friends and family gathered, Darnell inked his letter of intent to become a future member of the Shawnee State University cross-country and track programs.

Darnell will be moving on to the next level after an outstanding three years at Manchester, where he was captain of the squad for all three seasons. He also was a three-time Adams County champion, three-time Southern Hills Athletic Conference All-Conference, three-time All-District, three-time regional qualifier and a three-time winner of Manchester’s Big Dog Award. This past season, Darnell also broke the school’s cross-county record for time.

“The choice of Shawnee State really just came down to what the best situation was for me,” said Darnell. “It’s close to home and I was really sold when the coach told me they were ranked nationally and they have the Education program that I wanted. I’d always been a basketball player but that was pretty one-dimensional and I just wanted to try something different and a few friends told me to try cross-country and I went for it. I did decent in the two-mile for track and that kind of pushed me right into cross-country.”

“Coming into my senior year, I was really thinking hard about running at the college level and it’s just something that I love doing. It’s been awhile since Manchester really competed in cross-country and just being here and having great teammates every day, I’ve enjoyed my time here a lot. My Parents have been great inspirations for me and whenever I didn’t know much about the sport, they were there to Google it for me. Coach (Sean) Inman has been great. I don’t think some people realize that he is a great coach and really know what he is doing.”

“Connor is just a great kid, not only a great runner but a great leader for the rest of the team,” said Coach Inman. “He’s just a great role model and he has helped our program grow with a lot more runners and a lot more dedication and we’re going to miss him. I’ve coached a lot of great runners and not only is Connor the fastest boy I’ve ever coached but probably the most dedicated.”

Also on hand for the Thursday night ceremony was Shawnee State head cross-country coach Conner Flynn, whose team is currently ranked 14th in the nation in NAIA as part of the River States Conference. Flynn was accompanied to the ceremony by his assistant coach Dean Freitag.

“Connor is one of those kids that has had a lot of success in high school but he isn’t yet near where he could be in the long term,” said Coach Flynn. “He certainly has a lot of untapped potential. It’s like taking a chance on a kid that hasn’t been running that long but since he has already been successful, he should just continue to get better. To me, he has been nothing but pleasant, one of the nicest recruits I’ve ever dealt with.”