As cross country runner Brogan Mann crossed the finish line first his coach, Amanda Jager, beamed with pride.

With growing excitement, Amanda looked on as one by one, each of Brogan’s teammates followed suit. When the dust settled, it was clear Springfield’s Innovation Academy had won the Robertson County Cross Country Championship on Sept. 19.

“They were coming in before I could even count them,” says Amanda, a kindergarten teacher at Crestview Elementary School in Springfield who is in her third year of coaching the Innovation Academy cross country team. “I mean, it was just crazy. First, sixth, seventh, eighth, and they kept coming, so I knew we had most likely won.”

Amanda didn’t know it at the time, but Innovation Academy’s cross country teams were on a roll. Not only did the boys team take home the Robertson County Championship, but they followed that up with a first-place finish at the Clarksville High School Wildcat Invitational on Sept. 22. The girls team, which Amanda also coaches, duplicated the boys' first-place showing in Clarksville and came in third at the Robertson County meet.

After two years, the program originally housed within the walls of the former Springfield Middle School is now in its first year as an established brick-and-mortar school. And its cross country program has grown immeasurably.

“Three years ago, we had only five members on the team,” Amanda notes. “This year, between the boys and girls, we have 20 team members.”

Innovation Academy is an academically rigorous, STEAM school (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math). Initially a program offered via Springfield Middle School, skyrocketing demand for spots led to the envelopment of the middle school, with admission proffered via a lottery system.

The exemplary work ethic displayed by Innovation Academy students in academics is evident in the school’s cross country runners, too.

“Not only are they great runners. but they are also wonderful human beings,”  Amanda lauds. “They have such great manners, and they never complain, even when it’s not easy. They just don’t give up.”

Amanda stresses that although winning the championship is rewarding, the lessons learned in the process are far more important.

“You can place first or last — that doesn't matter to me. The friendships and the bonds formed over the season are what’s important,” she explains.

On that note, Amanda is quick to mention Greenbrier Middle School’s cross country team and their coach, Shelby Rippie. Innovation Academy and Greenbrier Middle practice together.

“Shelby is a great friend, and the camaraderie between the teams is amazing,” says Amanda. “Our teams really work well together and push each other to run faster. At our end of the year banquet, the kids were exchanging phone numbers and email addresses so they could keep in touch.”

As for her team at Innovation Academy, Amanda sums it up by saying, “I could talk for hours about how proud I am of them.’

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