Boatwright making mark on Russellville track & field program

An hour before Russellville hosted its first outdoor track and field meet of the season on Feb. 27, as traveling teams made camp in the away stands, equipment was being set up on the field, and athletes were lacing up cleats or mingling with teammates, the Golden Tigers’ head coach, Chris Boatwright, wasn’t hard to pick out of the crowd. Wearing a white Russellville Track and Field t-shirt, a walkie talkie clipped to his hip, and carrying a box of forms under one arm, the first-year head coach of the program was giving directions to two volunteers at the check-in table before turning around to address the questions of two student-athletes and a local sportswriter.

Boatwright was a busy man.

“Being the head coach is not necessarily just coaching. You are the admin, you know, whether it's money, parents, the team, the facilities, everything that goes into it,” he said. “For me, the most surprising thing…at our first meet was just how busy, as the head coach, I am. Whether it’s answering questions, turning on the lights, helping kids get into the right heats. You take on a lot of responsibility and wear different hats at any time.”

To be clear, this is not Boatwright complaining. Far from it. It only takes talking to him for a few seconds to realize he cares about his athletes, the program, and the role he plays as the head coach.

“My approach to it is, first of all, to show the kids that I’m passionate and I love them. Second of all, I want them to know I’m their biggest fan. I want them to go out there and give it their all,” he said. “I let them know that everything we do is for a reason, and that reason is either going to be a negative or a positive. So if I eliminate the negative that gives them a positive reason to want to go compete.”

“These kids, they show up for practice and they want it and I’m just trying to give them a program they can be proud of,” he added.

Senior Matthew James said Boatwright brings a lot of excitement to the program and increased the interest in participation.

“He brings a lot of energy to the team,” James said. “Last year we didn’t have a whole lot of people on the team, but when people heard Coach Boatwright was going to take it over a lot more people came out and joined this year.”

Boatwright has been on staff coaching football at Russellville since 2019. Last year he added assistant track and field coach to his duties. After then-head coach Brett Voss moved over to take the Russellville Middle School head football coach job, Boatwright stepped in to grab the reins. Since then, he has added efforts to fundraise for the program, including taking over the concession stand at Russellville soccer games.

“I decided to pick up soccer’s concession stand…to help fundraise and to give our kids an opportunity to raise money for the program without having to go out and sell t-shirts or sell different things,” Boatwright said. “We have sold street tacos and really ramped this thing up, all the while we’re also doing concession stand at our track meets, as well. I’m super proud of the parents because they have really stepped up and made this happen.”

Boatwright has used the fundraised money to purchase new equipment and new gear and apparel for the student-athletes.

“I told the kids my number one thing, whether it’s coaching football or coaching basketball at the middle school level or now track, if we look like a team, we’ll play like a team,” he said. “We bought each kid a hoodie, a long sleeve dri-fit, and a new jersey. That way these kids would be proud of the things they have.”

“I told them this year ‘I don’t want you showing up to a meet in a Russellville baseball or your Russellville football shirt on. If we’re going to be a successful program, you are our walking billboard.’ We’ve got to have that outward appearance,” he added.

Even before he became the head coach, though, Boatwright was making his mark on the program. After some students approached Boatwright about Russellville’s lack of an indoor track and field team, he went straight to the top.

“I reached out to our then-head coach and (athletic director) John Ritter and asked him about it,” Boatwright said. “He called me back two days later and said ‘All right, I got you set up. If you’re going to do it, do it.’”

Boatwright did it. Admittedly, he didn’t know everything there was to know about the indoor side, but he put together a small roster of 10 athletes and it competed well for a first-year team. Nine of the 10, Boatwright said, met the minimum qualifications to compete at state and three athletes—Neyland Baker, Cash Crompton, and Keira Cruse—did.

After its initial success, Boatwright said he is going to expand the outdoor program.

“My goal was to do a limited roster just because I didn’t have a clue what to expect,” he said. “This year, after seeing the success of our three state competitors last year and those nine that qualified with the minimum…indoor will be offered to all my outdoor athletes.”

The addition of the indoor program will also serve as a way for his athletes to stay prepared for the outdoor season.

“I think that’s what’s going to make us successful going forward is our kids compete in indoor and then come out of indoor, straight into outdoor season and we are already in race shape,” Boatwright said.

With the new outdoor season now underway, the Golden Tigers are off to a good start. In its first home meet, the Russellville Classic, the RHS girls’ team placed second with 92 points and the boys’ team finished first in a field of 10 with 164 points. 

A few performances stuck out at the meet. Senior EJ King finished first in the boys’ high jump while Matthew James and Tait Barnes finished first and second, respectively, in the boys’ shot put event. Lourdes Ellis and Aleah Bonman finished second and third, respectively, in the girls’ shot put and Ari Willingham placed second in the girls’ 400 meter race.

Seventh grader Cesar Felipe also had a standout performance as he finished first in the 3200 meter race with a time of 12:27.56, just three seconds off the school record, according to Boatwright.

Boatwright is hopeful those solid performances from the first meet will only continue to improve. His goals in his first full year as head coach are to build off what the Golden Tigers did last season when 16 athletes went to sectionals and seven made it to state.

“I told the kids I want to take 45 to sectionals this year, and I would love for 30-plus to make it to state,” he said. “When I go to these other track meets, I see we have talent. We have kids that are just as competitive and can do the same thing.”

James, for one, is bought in and he said Russellville’s showing at the home meet has injected confidence.

“I expect to go to state this year, not just me but the whole team. And I expect us to win all our meets,” he said. “If we keep practicing, keep listening to what Coach Boatwright is telling us, keep working hard, it’s something we can do.”

Even though track and field events are individual events, Boatwright said he views the Golden Tigers’ ultimate goal through a team lens.

“One person can’t win a state championship all by themselves. All of us have to pull together, win each of our events to get those team points,” he said. “I feel like if we come with that approach, we put the kids in the right events and we create team points, that’s what’s going to help propel this program to be a state contender each year.”