The Shadow
Most high school coaches in the U.S. never coach state championship teams during their careers, much less two state championships in two sports as is the case with Alleghany High School’s Jeremy Bartley.
Bartley began running competitively while he was a student at Callahan Elementary School where he currently teaches physical education.
During his junior and senior years at Alleghany High School where he serves as head coach in both boys cross country and girls cross country, he finished in second place or first place for his team in the races he ran for the Mountaineers during his junior and senior years.
The son of Charles and Jean Bartley of Callahan, Jeremy was chosen to represent the U.S. athletes in 1995, his junior year, and he traveled to Australia to compete.
After graduating from AHS in 1996, he attended Concord University where he excelled in both cross country and track where he competed in the 800 meters, 1,500 meters and four by 400 meters to help his team win the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference three times.
At Concord University where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in psychology, Jeremy decided that he wanted to become a Navy pilot.
He recalled, “I was in the flight program, but after dealing with extreme motion sickness, I became a division officer on the USS Harry S Truman, an aircraft carrier.”
Oddly enough, Landon Ray Allen, Jeremy’s high school cross country teammate who had graduated from VMI with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 2000, landed his training jet on the USS Harry S Truman while it was on a training mission in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Allen, an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps at the time, reached the rank of Captain and flew F-18 Hornets for the U.S. Maine Corps in its Crusader Squadron and fought the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Jeremy recalled, “Our ship recorded Landon’s landing, and I was able to get a copy of his landing recorded on VHS and give it to him.”
After spending five years in the U.S. Navy where he was promoted from 02 to 03, he decided to pursue a career in education.
“I actually got out of the military in 2004 and got my Master of Secondary Education degree in 2006 from the University of Phoenix,” Jeremy remembered.
The call of coaching motivated him to return to Concord University where he assisted Mike Cox, the cross country coach, while Jeremy earned his teaching certificate in physical education and health.
After being hired to teach physical education in the Alleghany County Public Schools, Jeremy volunteered to help Nicely coach cross country.
Jeremy remarked, “I volunteered to help Howard Nicely who had been my coach.”
After Jeremy became a paid assistant coach, Nicely eventually resigned from his head coaching position.
“After Howard resigned in 2012, I was hired as head coach,” Jeremy noted.
Building the cross country programs for both boys and girls, Jeremy volunteered his time to establish a middle school program, and the “feeder system” he created paid off by the time COVID-19 brought about the closing of schools.
In fact, the 2020 season was postponed from the fall till the following spring and is now referred to as the 2020-21 season.
His boys cross country team won the first state championship in AHS’s history of athletics during the spring of 2021 with Erik Honaker, Levi Counts, Mason Honaker, Gabe Miller, Baron Leitch, Andrew Peck and Randall Deschler bringing home the first state championship trophy to AHS.
Jeremy observed, “Both of my teams that won state championships were (made up of) athletes who we coached in our middle school program.”
The 2022 girls cross country team that brought home the state championship trophy in Nov. includes Kiera Lowman, 9th grade; Gracie Barron, 12th grade; Macyn Cash, 11th grade; Meredith Minter, 9th grade; Lucy Nicely, 12th grade; Alivia Hoover, 12th grade; and Bryce Leitch, 10th grade.
Of the 18 individual state champions that are determined within the six classifications in Virginia, Kiera Lowman, Jeremy’s second cousin, became the only freshman to become state champion by finishing first overall in the cross country race in Nov.
Kiera’s mother is Alania Bartley Lowman, Jeremy’s first cousin.
Jeremy surmised, “Genes for running kind of runs in the Bartley family.”
There is evidence for his statement in that in 2014, Jeremy won a national award of $5,000 from Brooks Running Shoe Company for being an inspiring cross country coach by finishing as a finalist in a field of thousands of coaches who were nominated.
Having majored in psychology, Jeremy believes that part of his success as a cross country coach is that the study of psychology has enabled him to motivate his runners to become the best they can be.
Running has helped shape Jeremy’s life, and while at Concord University he met Erin Luzader, his wife who is from Morgantown, W.Va. The couple was married in 2009 at Niagara Falls. Their son, Levi Bartley, a 6th grader, is following in his mother and father’s footsteps as a runner.
Erin competed in outdoor track and cross country at Concord University. Currently, she is Clifton Middle School’s head cross country coach.
As for the state championship won by his girls cross country team, Jeremy concluded, “Our girls finished second in the region because several of our girls were sick at the time, and winning the state was a great achievement.”
With the consolidation of Covington City Schools and Alleghany County Public Schools having been made official on July 1, the combining of the returning boys and girls from both Covington High School and AHS cross country teams in the 2023-24 school-year should bolster both the girls and boys cross country programs as they compete as the AHS Cougars.
