You always have that moment of fear when the boss is waiting for you.
 
But last week, it turned out to be a good thing for Bridgeport cross country coach Nathaniel Lutyens that athletic director Tom Sears stopped by practice.
 
"He looked like he wanted to talk to me, so I stopped running," Lutyens said. "He said, 'Congratulations!' I said, 'For what?'"
 
The answer: Lutyens is the first Harrison County girls cross country coach to earn the West Virginia NFHS Coach of the Year award for the sport, following Bridgeport's first state title last fall.
 
"I emailed back to the SSAC and my first thought was, 'Wow'. It's not something that I expected," Lutyens said. "My second thought was, it's a really cool 'last' award for the girls team last year. I came back over to our hub at practice and waited for all of the girls who won last year to come back and said, 'Hey, girls, I've got an announcement that I think is cool and speaks well of you.'"
 
Lutyens will pick up his award at this year's state cross country meet at Cabell Midland, hopefully one of many prizes claimed by the Tribe over the course of the day.
 
"I'm here to do my part to build up some teenagers, help develop some runners and help them take their next steps in life, whatever those look like," Lutyens said.