ROCKINGHAM — Completing the program sweep, the Richmond Senior High School cross country program highlights both selections of The Richmond Observer’s weekly feature series.
James Coicou, a member of the Raider long distance squad, has been named the Official Richmond County Male Student-Athlete of the Week presented by Rockingham NC Self Storage.
Representing the Raiders during the team’s first of two home Sandhills Athletic Conference meets this season, Coicou finished first on the team and near the top of the field.
Back on the team for the first time since his sophomore season, Coicou earned his first career recognition.
Athletic Profile: James Coicou
Year: Senior
Fall sport: Cross Country
Position: No. 1 Runner
Varsity experience: 2 Seasons
Other sports: Track and Field
“CLASSROOM CREDITS” WITH JAMES COICOU
Students began their third week in the classroom at Richmond Monday, and Coicou shared he understands the necessity to do well in school in conjunction with playing sports.
An honors student, Coicou is taking Math 4, Weight Training Honors, Spanish I Honors and JROTC Raider Team this semester.
A four-year student of the JROTC program, Coicou is the Raider Battalion’s executive officer. Ranked second in the battalion, Coicou has also won the JROTC Iron Man competition the past three years.
“My favorite class is definitely JROTC,” Coicou, who has a 3.10 weighted GPA, said. “I’ve been in it all four years and it’s really built up my confidence for after high school. It’s taught me a lot of life skills.”
“ON COURSE” WITH JAMES COICOU
During Richmond’s home meet last Tuesday, Coicou led the team with a time of 21:22 in the 3.2-mile race.
He placed fourth overall and was within 29 seconds of finishing in second place. Winning the meet was Eli Harrison (18:24).
Coicou’s time went up from his first meet but explained that a couple of Hoke County runners boxed in him as a strategy to control part of the race.
His goal this season is to get back to his race times from his sophomore season, which were the high 17s and low 18s.
The Raiders will run in their third meet of the season Tuesday at Dragon Park in Laurinburg.
Note: Official team scores were not available from last week’s SAC meet at the time of publication.
“RAPID RESPONSE” VIDEO WITH JAMES COICOU
The Richmond Observer will publish two more Official Richmond County Student-Athletes of the Week next week.
