CROSS COUNTRY: Hounds, Lady Hounds make history, win region titles again
The region’s cross country supremacy still belongs to Jones County.
The course may have been different, but the results were the same as a year ago – a clean sweep of the region cross country titles for the Greyhounds and Lady Greyhounds, this time coming on Locust Grove’s home course. It’s the first time in program history that both teams have won backto- back region titles.
In a race where every position mattered, the Greyhounds inched in front of Union Grove to win. There was little margin for error with the Wolverines placing five runners in the top 12, including the top overall finisher, Johnny McCarthy.
“That McCarthy kid, that’s a Division I Power 5 runner. Luke (Thornton) made him nervous,” Moore said.
The Greyhounds had to both match those top performances and also offset with strong showings of their own.
“The whole race was a like a TV drama,” Moore said.
Jones County was at another disadvantage. The Locust Grove course is one that every Henry County team in the region has the chance to often run on. Union Grove, for instance, is able to practice on it once a week, meaning that intricate details such as turns and terrains are more familiar than to visiting teams such as JCHS.
“All of those teams work out on that course, it’s a huge advantage for them,” Moore said.
The Greyhounds and Lady Greyhounds didn’t let that deter them, running their way into history on Saturday.
The Greyhounds notched five finishes inside the race’s top 13 and seven inside the top 16, led by Thornton’s second-place run of 16:25.08 and Tyler Marshall in fourth at 16:42.20. With those finishes, Union Grove was unable to gain a points advantage since their top two finishes were first and fifth. Tyler Marshall and Grady Newby came away from the day with personal record times.
“Tyler ran the race of his life,” Moore said. “That was the difference, our 2,3 and 4.”
Even outside the top two finishes, Jones County had to rise to the occasion. A sixth-place finish with a time of 16:44.63 by Gavin Robinson and Grady Newby’s 17:02.82 in eighth place kept the pressure on, giving the Hounds a slight edge with Union Grove’s third and fourth-place times being seventh and 10th overall.
That gave JCHS enough of a cushion as Landon Steinmeyer came in 13th with a time of 17:48.94 to also help clinch the close win.
“Union Grove needed to have the worst day they could have, and we had to have the best day we could, and we beat them,” Moore said. “We couldn’t make any mistakes. They made a few minor mistakes, and we didn’t. That’s a top-five team in the state, and we beat them. We were at a disadvantage, not having our full team.”
Steinmeyer, who was 13th overall, stepped up for the Greyhounds. With Clay Lacy unable to run with an illness, Steinmeyer was the Greyhounds’ fifth-best runner, one spot ahead of Andrew Marshall with a time of 17:49.99. Shaun Williams was the third Greyhound runner to set a personal record Saturday, timing in as Jones County’s seventh runner with a time of 18:19.16, finishing 16th.
“They just show up. They do the little things and the extra things. It was amazing to watch,” Moore said. “They were confident, they said, ‘coach, we’re going to do it.’ I can’t be prouder of them.”
For the Lady Greyhounds, Saturday was an illustration of how good a team could be when healthy. Most of the season, the story of the JCHS girls cross country runners has been battling injuries and ailments. But with all of their top runners healthy Saturday, the result was setting the pace on the way to a region title with four of the race’s top five finishers.
Lilly Palmer blazed the trail for JCHS, finishing second with a time of 20:30.13. Just behind her in third with a time of 20:42.64 was Isabella Sanchez. Less than a minute back was Addison Robinson’s 21:27.64 to claim fourth with Camryn Wommack completing the dominance of the top five with a time of 21:46.34. Addison Newby closed out the run for the Lady Hounds top five with a time of 23:23.82 in 15th place. Other top finishes came from Jordan Norman-Brown’s time of 24:26.93 to come in 26th and the 25:00.59 showing by Emily Patat in 29th.
“We knew that if we ran everybody, that we’d be fine. They overcame a lot of adversity this year, they did great,” Moore said.
A strong statement on the future of the Greyhounds cross country program was also put forward in the JV boys event with JCHS boys taking seven of the top 10 spots with Ian Borsahole winning first with a time of 18:41.00. Gunner Kent, Chase Hamm and RJ Bryant were third, fourth and fifth with times of 19:10.97, 19:19.56 and 19:31.18. A run of 19:35.82 earned sixth for Connor Peterson with other top-10s for JCHS being Connor Monile and Rylan Fuller in eighth and 10th as they ran times of 19:39.58 and 19:46.73.
