COLUMBUS — Among the myriad of hallways at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center is a room just for wrestling coaches.

At the 86th annual OHSAA Wrestling Championships this past weekend at OSU, Cindy Running walks the halls just like any other coach.

When she goes into the coaching room, though, she is faced with a double-take.

“When I walk into the coaching room back here, they always stop me,” said Running. She then looks at the guy posted at the doorway and says cheerfully, “I know I’m a really old woman but I am coaching … I just laugh it off. It’s fine. It’s all good.”

Cindy Running and her son Spencer are believed to be the first mother-son coaching combo to coach at the state wrestling tournament. The two shared the chairs for Clinton-Massie boys and girls wrestling this past weekend.

“I just look at it as I’m coaching but sometimes when I sit and think about it, I guess it’s kinda cool,” Cindy said. “It’s fun to be on the cutting edge, fun to be on the cusp. It’s fun to lead the way.”

For Spencer, it’s business as usual with someone, his mom, who just happens to have grown up with wrestling then worked with a trio of her own boys (Spencer, Wyatt, Corby) as youth wrestlers.

“It’s just kind of normal to us,” Spencer said. “Cindy is a wrestling lady. She’s raised three really good wrestlers. She’s been about the wrestling life for a really, really long time. This is exciting for both of us. It’s a really exciting time for women’s wrestling especially in Ohio.”

Cindy’s father, Al Larson, is a member of the North Dakota High School Wrestling Hall of Fame.

“I started at 10 years old taking stats for my dad,” she said. “Then worked with my husband (Randy), brought him along as my assistant with the youth program. Now I’m working with my son. How exciting is that? It’s been great.”

Cindy coached youth wrestling for eight or nine years at Clinton-Massie and helped varsity coach Dan McSurley with paperwork and behind-the-scenes aspects of the program.

“When I was a youth, I had to go to Waynesville to wrestle,” Spencer said. “Cindy helped organize and put together our (Clinton-Massie) youth (wrestling) program.”

Cindy has coached numerous sports over the years and was the first full-time female athletic director in Clinton County high school history.

“I’m not afraid to be a trailblazer,” she said.

And while some mothers take it easy on their athletic children, choosing to treat them with kid gloves regardless of the situation, Cindy was not that way.

“Some moms are coddling their kids … they can do no wrong … and then there’s me,” Cindy said with a hearty chuckle. “I don’t think I was ever mean but I critiqued them (in wrestling) because I know the sport.”

Said Spencer, “She runs a pretty tight ship. She’s going to be a little tougher on her own boys obviously because there’s expectations there. But she does a good job of keeping everybody in line, doing what it takes to run a solid program.”

The Runnings have another opportunity for an Ohio wrestling first. Janelle Running, Spencer’s wife, is an assistant coach for the girls program. When she takes a seat in one of the chairs in Columbus she could be side by side with her husband or her mother-in-law.

“That’s a pretty interesting trio to say the least,” Cindy said.