Marble Falls distance runners’ new coach brings plenty

CAPTION: Cody Taylor (left) with runner Hannah Hood after the two were recognized by the Kerrville Independent School District for Hood competing in the 2022 Class 5A state meet. Courtesy photo

The Marble Falls High School cross country program and girls track and field program has a new head coach – Cody Taylor, who spent the last school year at Spring Klein High School as the cross country head coach.

Before that, he worked at Kerrville Tivy and at Lake Travis with Patrick Hinson, who is now the principal at Marble Falls High School.

“He worked with some different coordinators that I was friends with, and all of them spoke extremely highly about the job he does in the classroom but also the job he does with athletes and the desire to build a championship level cross country and track programs,” athletic director Keri Timmerman said. “We’ve been really, really lucky. We have had some great coaches here before and some really standout athletes, and we think that we’re continuing to build on that trend with a bunch of young kids that want to come up and get to work. And so I really wanted someone that is going to look at this program and try to figure out where we’re going to move in the future. What is our reality of helping to continue to move it forward? And I think he was a guy that just is excited about the opportunity.”

Timmerman said that when he and Taylor spoke, the running coach’s love of the sport was obvious.

“He just stood out about his knowledge and his depth of knowledge and continuing to grow as a coach, even after he’s had success,” he said, “and that’s one of the things I really like. I want to find coaches that want to continue to see how good they can be and how good our kids can be.”

Taylor was a head coach at Tivy, illustrating he knows how to manage meets, which was another reason why he was offered the position.

“He’s excited about being here and two, have some connection with,” Timmerman said. “Having experience with someone – that just takes a lot of the guess work out of a hire because you know you’re getting someone that’s going to work hard, you know you’re going to get someone that’s like-minded, and so that helps a lot.”

Taylor will take over two programs led by some standout athletes. The cross country program features senior Owen Martin, juniors Reese Massey, Landon Fletcher and Graham Goggans, sophomores Joaquim Edwards, Jahir Garcia, Santiago Gaytan, Logan Hargraves and J.J. Walker. The Lady Mustang track and field program has senior Madison Cuplin.

Both Cuplin and Goggans won Class 4A track and field state medals in May. Cuplin is the reigning state champion in the triple jump and the silver medalist in the long jump and Goggans took silver in the 800 meters.

“Just really excited to get him here and get started,” Timmerman said. “He’s been transitioning in from Houston and just ready to get all our coaches on campus, and he’s going to be a great addition to our staff.”