In less than a month’s time, Jones County’s cross-country teams will be targeting to run their best of the season when it counts the most in the state sectionals. That meet won’t just determine qualifying for the state meet but it will also decide if both teams are able to repeat as region champions.
Both squads continued to trend toward that at Saturday’s Asics Invitational in Douglasville as their overall times continued to improve as a whole. What’s more is that the Lady Greyhounds won the race that they were slotted into with the Greyhounds placing second.
The Lady Hounds did so by having five finishers in the race’s top 13. At the forefront was Mary Barnwell, whose time of 21:07.84 claimed fifth. Phoebe Palmer was 12th at a time of 22:16.98, and Makenzie Snook’s time of 22:18.35 carried home a finish of 13th.
But the Lady Greyhounds were not done. Saylor Bell and Macie White came in 17th and 21st on times of 23:14.78 and 23.26.66, while Kennedy Marshall was 24th at 24:08.08. Rylee Bell ran 24.22.88 to finish 26th.
The Greyhounds’ second-place finish was led by Rylan Fuller’s 12th-place showing as he ran 17:50.33. Brooks Scott carried home a top-25 result at 18:28.33. Three other Greyhounds came away with sub-19-minute times with Rhett Renner, Blake Marsh, and Christopher Wieters having times of 18:40.08, 18:41.44, and 18:54.97 to finish 30th, 31st and 36th overall.
Also closing out strong to help the Greyhounds’ overall result were Cruz Hudgins and Peyton Simmons in 58th and 70th as they ran times of 19:28.88 and 19:36.23.
Both teams will hit the course again on Saturday at the Coach Wood Invitational in Whitesburg.
