Tigers have three athletes in the three-day NAIA national championship

The road less traveled makes all the difference, or so the saying goes. Georgetown College men's track and field's Cody Cooper is living proof. His journey has not been conventional, but it has been the perfect trek for him to accomplish things he never thought possible.

"There have been years of high emotions that have led to this moment, and I'm so thankful for this journey," Cooper said. "My hope is that I've enabled people along the way, and that I've left the program stronger than I found it."

Following high school graduation, he went straight to the work force, spent time in the real world before deciding to go to college, watched a college close and have to choose once again and now in a month's time he will have received his diploma from Georgetown College and represent the Tigers on the national stage.

"I took a very non-traditional path," Cooper said. "I made the choice to work right after high school, but found myself feeling I wasn't reaching my full potential.

"I didn't think I would every feel this way, but I found myself craving knowledge that couldn't have been fulfilled in the work place. I also missed athletics."