Henry County's Dinah Winders has had a tough act to follow. Not only were her mom and dad standout runners, so are her brothers. All three of them.
First there was Javan Winders, who is now running on scholarship at the University of Southern Indiana. Then there was Titus, a junior, who has one of the best 5K times in the state this year, and was a middle school champion in 2013. And we can't forget Silas, a ninth grader, who won both the TMSAA and Knoxville Youth Athletics State Championships last.
So far so good for the seventh grader. Dinah won last year's TMSAA class A state crown and repeated as individual champion this year with a time of 12:24 for the two mile Clarksville course.
"She's doing all right for herself," said her father and coach Lance Winders. "Dinah's actually younger than the boys were in the same grade and she has a chance to become a three-time champion next year. That's pretty impressive."
Lance thinks it benefits his daughter to have older brothers.
"She's watched them do it, so she's learned some things from them," he said. "I think that's helped her."
Despite the success of her siblings, coach Winders said he hasn't pushed his daughter excessively or pressured her to succeed.
"Running has been a natural thing for all of my kids," he explained. "I bring them all along slow. I don't have them running a lot of miles when they're really young. By the time they are a junior in high school, then I will have them start running a little more. That's when I want them to make some noise so they can hopefully get the attention of some college coaches."
The Winders' plan to be in Knoxville for the KYA meet and expect to do well.
"We didn't taper for the TMSAA meet," the coach confessed. "We will for this one. The competition's going to be a lot tougher. I don't know if Dinah can win it, but she will try her best."
