Running on its home course served Jones County cross country very well on Saturday.
Pushing off from the starting line at their home course off Howard Roberts Road, both the Greyhounds and Lady Greyhounds turned in their best showing of the season as Jones County swept the Rancher’s Release The Hounds Invitational.
Neither team had an individual finisher that ran away from the rest of the field. Both did, however, have consistent showings up and down the lineup. That all resulted in both teams doing well enough to beat the remaining teams to stage the sweep.
For the Greyhounds, three finishes within the race’s top 15 set the tone. Dalton Russell with 10th as he ran 17:40.90, Rylan Fuller claimed 13th at 18:09.40, and Blake Marsh’s 18:35.00 was good for 15th.
“They put it all together.
Every one of them ran tough and for each other and competed,” Jones County head cross country coach Geoff Moore said.
“They seemed to really be comfortable; it was a good crowd and a good meet.”
But more than that was what the younger runners on the Greyhounds roster were able to accomplish on Saturday. Three of Jones County’s top seven boys’ finishers were freshmen or sophomores, one being Brooks Scott in 22nd, running 18:47.20.
Freshmen Rhett Renner and Christopher Wieters were 26th and 34th on times of 18:54.70 and 19:15.10 to help the JCHS overall score, as did Lane Schomber’s 37th-place finish at 19:19.20.
“They’re figuring it out, especially our ninth graders,” Moore said.
“Going from two to three miles (in high school), that takes more concentration.
The training is different, and they are starting to see the fruits of their labor.”
The Lady Greyhounds continued to strive ahead despite not having top runner Tanner Watts not yet ready to run. With that absence, the rest of the Lady Hounds simply stepped up on Saturday morning with five finishes in the race’s top 20.
“To win a meet like that without her, that shows their grit,” Moore said. “All of them ran outstanding races for us.”
Mary Barnwell posted the fast time for Jones County, finishing 10th (21:23.08). Behind her, the Lady Greyhounds finished in order from 16th to 19th, led by Macie White, Makenzie Snook, Phoebe Palmer, and Saylor Bell with times of 22:12.26, 22:13.29, 22:18.57, and 22:19.74.
Kennedy Marshall also supplemented the overall showing on the leaderboard for the Lady Greyhounds, finishing 33rd overall on a time of 23:25.94.
“They all came in within three or four seconds of each other,” Moore said.
“It’s hard to get beat when you do that.”
Both teams will take the weekend off before competing on an extremely fast course on Oct. 3 at the Asics Invitational in Douglasville.
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