Jones County’s boys cross country runners have already carved themselves a spot as the best group of runners in school history. This weekend, they’ll get to run together as a group one more time in the cross country ranks, and it’ll be among rarefied air.
When runners breakaway from the starting line at Saturday’s New Balance Running Lane Championships, an assembly of teams from across the country will include the Greyhounds. This weekend’s meet is one of three, and JCHS was invited to the one set for Huntsville, Alabama.
So this weekend, in a place made famous by NASA and its rockets blasting into space, the Greyhounds will launch from the starting line on a super-fast course with teams coming from states such as Kentucky, Ohio, Florida, and Arkansas.
“It’s a really cool meet. Teams from all over America come to it because the course is really fast,” Greyhounds head coach Geoff Moore said.
Jones County’s run of success as a group earned it a previous invite to Saturday’s meet. So even after a disappointing thirdplace finish in the state, the Greyhounds have adapted their training to get ready.
“The hard part is training, especially after how the season didn’t end how we wanted it,” Moore said. “All they do is look at your average time and go from there. They’re excited about it. It’ll be their last cross country meet, so it’ll be a little emotional. But they’re committed to doing it and decided to do it a long time ago. This group, when they say they’re going to do something, they go out and do it.”
