Cobra brothers prove their value

    This year the Industrial Cobra cross-country boys squad has a great chance of going to state this year with the coaching style of Robert Elkins and the help of brothers Leo and Kevin Baez. In the meets leading up until now, the brothers have been placing in the top five in nearly every meet, and helping the Cobra team place first or second as a whole.
    "This is the best group of kids I’ve had in about five years, it feels awesome, it's great," said Elkins. "The biggest thing we work on before a meet is just the mental game and just making sure they're relaxed. We joke around and try to stay loose so the tension doesn’t get to them so bad. Once they’re running they’re thinking about keeping their pace and what they do, but before the race they actually have to think about it and it can be nervewracking at times. We talk about everything but running," he smiled.
    Leo, the older brother, has been running since the seventh grade and he's now a junior at IHS. He also runs track and competes at rodeos in his extra time. Kevin is a freshman, competes in number sense and mathematics, is somewhat shy and tends to run faster than his older brother. They both picked up running from their older sister Crisna, an Industrial graduate in 2012 and also an athlete of Elkins. Leo said Crisna taught the brothers that one has to have a lot of heart to run cross-country and be mentally tough doing it.
    "They both got a hard-working attitude from their sister, that's for sure," Elkins said. "They lead by doing but are spoken leaders as well. Leo is more boisterous than Kevin is, but Kevin has been getting more comfortable with us as time goes on. Leo leads a lot of the stretching and getting the team in line when he has to."
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