Wright making strides with Cross athletic program

By David Shelton

Staff Writer

Cross – As he begins his second year as the athletic director and head football coach at Cross High School, Shaun Wright feels the athletic program is making positive strides in their efforts to be competitive across the board.

Participation is the key ingredient in any program but at a small Class A school, getting the numbers out is vital to success. Wright and his coaching staff are working hard to get more students to participate in athletics, especially in girl’s sports.

“We have a lot of female athletes here that are not participating and we have to do a better job of getting them out,” said Wright. “We are working hard everyday to encourage them to come out and get involved and we’re doing some things in terms of coaching that might help in that area.

“Overall we get decent participation but we’re always looking for more kids. We talk everyday to the kids about athletics and about being a part of a team. I think we’re definitely moving in the right direction.”

Wright is a 1995 graduate of Cross High and played football at Charleston Southern, graduating in 1999. He returned as an assistant to Cross for one year before moving over to Timberland from 2007-07. After two years as an assistant at Kingstree, Wright returned home to take over the Cross program.

“It’s home and I really want to help bring this program back to a competitive level,” said Wright.

Wright will have a new assistant coach on the football staff this fall as former all-state running back Trevin Smith joins the staff. Smith played at Berkeley High School and was most recently an assistant coach at Winston Salem State. He will coach outside linebackers and running backs.

Antonio Simmons will return to Wright’s staff as the defensive coordinator with Paul Herman returning as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. Simmons also coaches track while Herman is the school’s wrestling coach.

William Wrighten is the team’s defensive line coach and also serves as the associate head coach. Eric Murrell returns as the receivers coach. Murrell also coaches the varsity boy’s basketball team and works with girl’s track in the spring.

Stanley Hickson is the head coach of the junior varsity football team.

The head girl’s track coach is Robert Smith. Damian Johno is the school’s baseball coach and Miriam Smith is the softball coach.

Returning as the athletic secretary is Claressa Shepherd and the school’s athletic trainer is Ryan Davis.