RUNNING HOUNDS
Since early August, the season has been building toward this weekend for Jones County on the cross country course. On Saturday morning, both the Greyhounds and Lady Greyhounds will look to repeat as region champions. Their likely adversary will be Union Grove.
The Wolverines, typically one of the region’s top teams, have put up strong numbers most of this season. They finished second at last year’s region meet hosted by Jones County. This year, Locust Grove gets a homecourse advantage as the host. It won’t be the Greyhounds first time on that course this season with them having won the Into The Trail Invitational there in the first meet of the season with the Lady Hounds finishing second.
Despite being in the same region, Jones County and Union Grove have rarely gone headto- head this year, leaving both to compare times as the season goes on as to who may have the upper hand.
That comparison ends Saturday for both the Greyhounds and Lady Greyhounds. Despite last week’s rain, both teams soldiered on in preparation, even during Thursday afternoon’s torrential downpours.
Both teams also got the closest thing to what other sports would call an intrasquad scrimmage with both teams having a timed race among themselves on Friday over a course of 3,200 meters. The Lady Greyhounds, who have battled injuries all year long, were led – as they have been most of the year – by Lilly Palmer and Isabella Sanchez’s times of 11:48.94 and 12:33.12 with Addison Robinson, Addison Newby and Jordan Norman-Brown turning in times below the 14:55.28 mark. The Greyhounds’ usual suspects challenged themselves as well. Luke Thornton’s time of 10:05.53 led all boys runners with Tyler Marshall, Gavin Robinson, Grady Newby and Andrew Marshall surging to times below the 10:44.94 mark.
