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Plant High's cross country guru gives up classes, not running

 
Roy Harrison, the girls cross country coach at Plant High, was given a retirement party after he decided to stop teaching health classes. He’s still coaching the team after winning 10 state titles.
Roy Harrison, the girls cross country coach at Plant High, was given a retirement party after he decided to stop teaching health classes. He’s still coaching the team after winning 10 state titles.
Published June 1, 2016

TAMPA — Plant High School girls cross country coach Roy Harrison is retiring …

Well, not exactly.

Harrison, 60, is retiring from teaching his health classes, which is part of the reason dozens of his former runners and teaching colleagues threw him a retirement party a few weeks ago.

But, fact is, after 34 years at Plant he's not stepping down from coaching, meaning just about every day you can still see him running with dozens of his Plant athletes down Bayshore Boulevard.

Afterward, he will meet with them to discuss their ongoing training regimen, then he will go home and map out future tweaks in training.

He will do this through the entire summer and into the fall, where he will carefully craft a training and racing schedule for each of his athletes. By the time the state meet comes around, he most likely will coach them to their personal-best performances at the event.

He will also do this for no money.

Zero.

"I never did this for the money anyway," said Harrison, who was told he will not get paid through the season because state rules dictate that after a teacher/coach goes through DROP (Deferred Retirement Option Program), he cannot get paid his supplement for several months.

"I'm doing it because I still love it," Harrison said.

Pay or no pay, you can pretty much bet that Harrison will have his team at the state meet.

Why think otherwise?

In 28 of the previous 29 years, including 27 years in a row (from 1987 to 2014), Plant's girls cross country team qualified for the state meet. In that span, the Panthers also racked up 19 district titles and 18 region victories.

Perhaps most impressively, Harrison's Panthers have won a record 10 state titles, and a record-tying seven of his athletes have won individual state titles.

Would he like more? You bet. Because if he achieved that it would mean he's doing what makes him most proud: consistently getting the most out of his team.

"I'm a competitive person and I want to win, but that's only part of it," Harrison said. "We're not going to win the state title this year but we will work hard and we will get better."

And that goes for each and every person on the team.

One of the most satisfying ongoing moments for Harrison is when he runs down Bayshore and sees a former runner, perhaps someone who never even made it past his junior varsity squad, and the former runner stops for a moment to say hello and thanks.

"They are sometimes 30, 40 years old and they are out there running and staying in shape," Harrison said. "That makes me feel great."

He thought back to when he started coaching cross country in 1982. He had four girls out for the team and had to recruit a cheerleader to get a complete team score at meets.

By the 1990s he had more than 50 girls out for the team each year and had to cut it down to 30 with time trials.

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In 2016, the pack of Plant runners going down Bayshore continues to be huge.

"We'll be out there," Harrison said. "We'll keep running."