The purple and gold carpet of Jones County hospitality was rolled out Saturday morning off of Howard Roberts Road as cross country teams descended upon the Greyhounds’ and Lady Greyhounds’ home course for the Rancher’s Release The Hounds Invitational.
That hospitality, however, had its limitations once runners got the starting line as the Greyhounds and Lady Greyhounds took first place in both of the day’s varsity races.
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“It’s been a long time since we’ve won both the boys and girls races together,” Jones County head coach Geoff Moore said of Saturday’s performance.
The field was larger and more competitive than usual home meets for Jones County. Teams from Augusta, such as Greenbrier, and from near Athens, such as North Oconee, were among the teams on the course since Jones County will host the GHSA sectionals for AAAA and AAA Nov. 2.
The Lady Greyhounds breezed ahead of North Oconee to easily win first, beating them by 54 points with an average time that was about 90 seconds better than the next-closest team. That was largely due to having four finishers among the race’s fastest six runners, led by Lilly Palmer’s first-place finish of 19:39.04.
Just behind her in the order was Isabella Sanchez in second with a season-best time of 19:44.77. Addison Robinson timed in fourth by running a 20:08.34, and Camryn Wommack’s 20:40.49 was good for sixth. Freshman Tanner Watts came in 12thwith a run of 21:43.18. Thanks to having five runners in the top 12, the Lady Hounds easily took first place.
“They put it all together. We had a few things we can do better on,” Moore said. “They executed the plan. I told them I that wanted to take it out hard on our home course, and they took over the race and won it pretty easily.”
The Greyhounds were plenty motivated when the boys race began with the starting gun being fired. That was because of running in honor of Gavin Robinson, who is out for the season with a non-running injury.
“Most teams, when they lose their second or third guy, it’s bad,” Moore said. “But this is just such a tight group. We ran that race for Gavin on Saturday, and they responded well to it.”
JCHS didn’t wilt under pressure. Instead, they stepped up.
Few stepped up more than Shaun Williams. In cross country, each team’s top five finishers earn points. On Saturday, Williams, usually the sixth or seventh runner in a majority of meets, was Jones County’s third-best runner. His ninth-place finish of 16:47.99 wasn’t just a season-best time but also about two minutes better than his showing in last year’s Greyhound Invitational.
That run helped the Greyhounds win first overall, beating Greenbrier, one of the state’s top AAAAA finishers last year, by 17 points.
“We’re a man down right now.
It’s next-man up, and Shaun Williams really stepped up for us. He’s been our sixth or seventh man all year and was our third one on Saturday,” Moore said.
“He’s really developed into a really good runner for us. It’s exciting to see.”
Williams was one of three JCHS runners in the top 10 on Saturday. Luke Thornton was third with a run of 16:07.08, just in front of Tyler Marshall’s fourth-place 16:22.70. Grady Newby and Andrew Marshall rounded out a showing of five runners in the top 20 with times of 16:52.98 and 17:05.10 to finish 13th and 16th.
Unlike previous years, this past Saturday was not Jones County’s final race on its home course. That’s because the sectionals for both AAAA and AAA will be hosted by JCHS on Nov. 2. Between now and then, upcoming meets for the Greyhounds included this Thursday’s two-mile event in Bleckley County and next week’s Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, N.C.
