Former track standout and Covington resident Chris Woods is passing along his knowledge at the collegiate level. Woods, who went to Newton High School before transferring to Benjamin Mays, is the head cross country and assistant track coach at Abilene Christian University in Texas.
Woods has helped turn around the cross country program in just his first year as head coach. The Abilene boys qualified for the Division II national meet after missing the meet a year ago. The Wildcats finished second at the Division II South Central Region championship.
Woods also helped lead the track team to the Division II indoor national championship over the weekend. Abilene's championship was more impressive considering four athletes (scored 49 points) represented the Wildcats where second place finisher Ashland needed 22 athletes to score 42 points.
Woods was a standout in high school before attending Mississippi State University. He graduated from Mississippi State in 2008 with a bachelor's in clinical exercise physiology. While with the Bulldogs, Woods was a four-time NCAA Division I national qualifier, a two-time all-America, four-time All-SEC and a four-time all-Mideast Region. He competed in the 800-meter run and the 4-by-400-meter relay, earning all-America status in the latter.