HISTORY

In 1981, Roger Beals, now retired educator, athletic director, and coach at Chrisman High School, wanted to create a cross-country meet where all runners could race against each other in their own level of runners. To do this, he created the flighted races in which all #1 runners run against each other in their own race, all #2 runners run against each other, and so on. Coach Beals also wanted to host this meet early in the season in order to motivate runners to train over the summer months to be prepared for the Cow Chip Classic, which is traditionally held on the first Saturday in September. Our meet is called the Cow Chip Classic because of Chrisman High School’s cross-country course being located in a cow pasture adjacent to the junior high school grounds. After many years of successful boys’ flighted races, the girls’ flighted races began in 1994. Popular among racers and their fans in East-Central Illinois because of its unique flighted races and because it is held early in the season, the Cow Chip Classic is the only cross-country meet of its kind in the State of Illinois.