Cross Country

Warrior Cross Country
Learn about the Warrior Cross Country Team

History
Just like the basketball team, the cross country team has seen a lot of success. They have brought home a state championship trophy every year since 2002. The head coach, Heath Joker, really knows how to train his men. Each year the team also competes at nationals and has done very well. Heath Joker ran college cross country and track at Colorado.

In the inaugural season, the team competed in the 3A division and 3A Region 2. WHS Player (15:08) took home honors as the conference and state champion, before being runner-up at nationals. A year later the program would see major success, thanks to the Batman triplets.

Batman Triplets
Their first year running for Winster High School in 2003, they took the cross country by surprise and transformed the program into national contenders in a year which supposed to be a rebuilding year. Dark Green Batman, Dark Grey Batman, and Dark Batman were all All-State runners in their first year, with Dark Green Batman being the 3A State Champion as a freshman. Dark Green Batman also took home All-American honors as well.

3-Peat as National Champions
2004 marked the first year Winster were National Cross Country Champions with Dark Green Batman being the National Champion, and Dark Grey Batman, Dark Batman taking All-American honors too. Heath Joker said the 2004 team is probably the best team he has ever coached. Winster competed in the 4A division this year and the whole varsity team took home All-State honors. It was also the first year WHS was selected to run at the International meet in Germany, where Dark Green Batman took home All-International honors as well.

2005 was a great year for the program, many running analysis said WHS and Dark Green Batman are primed to take home the National title, and they did just that. Dark Batman, Dark Grey Batman took home All-American honors again, with Dark Green Batman repeating as the national champion. WHS did have the best year at the state meet, since it was their first year in division 5A, but took home the state title. Again, WHS was selected to run at the International meet in Germany, where Dark Batman and Dark Grey Batman took home All-International honors and Dark Green Batman was runner-up at the meet. With those 3 finishing the top 10, WHS was runner-up as a team at the meet.

2006 capped off the 3-peat as national champions. Dark Green Batman 3-peated as the national champion, Dark Grey Batman finished as the runner-up and Dark Batman took 3rd place. A freshman, Dark Robin was the teams 4th best runner. The team took home the state title with 6 All-State runners and was invited the International meet once again. It was the first year that they won the title at Internationals, Dark Green Batman finished as the International Champion, Dark Grey Batman and Dark Batman also took home All-International honors again.

Rebuilding and Return to Glory
Dark Robin led the team in 2007, in that year they won state with 4 All-State runners. Dark Robin established throughout the state that he was one the best runners and finished as the state champion. The team also competed at nationals but did not do well. A year later, Dark Robin would emerge as one of the nations best runners. With help from his brother, Light Blue Robin, and freshman, Grey Batman (little brother to the Batman triplets). At state the team would win the team title, Dark Robin would become the state champion, and a total 5 All-State runners. At nationals the team would rally for a Runner-Up finish, with Dark Robin finishing as the runner-up.

2009 National Champions
WHS would rally for a good year, the won the state title, with 4 All-State runners, Dark Robin and Grey Batman would finish 1st and 2nd as well. Heath Joker said this year at nationals was one the of the slowest he has ever seen. None the less, the team would finish 1st for the national title, with Dark Robin, Grey Batman, Light Grey Soldier, and Batman Wings finishing, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 7th for a record 4 All-American runners. The team was selected for the International meet in Germany but finished poorly as a team.

Decline/Domiance of Grey Batman
Grey Batman would go on to dominate the next 2 years. In 2010, the team easily finished first at state with 5 All-State runners, with Grey Batman as the state champion. They would also finish 3rd as a team at nationals, with Grey Batman finished as the national champion. Grey Batman was selected to run at the International meet in Germany and finished 2nd. Later in 2011, for the first time, the team barily won the state title, although they had 4 All-State runners. The team competed at nationals but did not place well, although Grey Batman repeated as the national champion. Grey Batman was selected to run at the International meet in Germany once again where he finished as the International champion.

The 2012 team was better than the 2011 according to Heath Joker. They won state with 4 All-State runners and also competed as nationals but did not do well.

Other Pages
Cross Country Rosters

XC College/Pro Runners

Cross Country Results