GREYHOUND CROSS COUNTRY
There is no bigger stage of high school cross country than the state meet, and Jones County’s runners were well ready for the moment at Saturday’s state meet in Carrollton.
Both teams sent a message that Jones County is among the state’s top overall programs outside the Atlanta area, placing fourth in the boys meet and seventh in the girls meet. In both, Jones County was the second-best team outside the metro Atlanta area.
The Greyhounds, fresh off of smashing the competition at the region meet, picked up where they left off in Carrollton, showing that there was no feeling of being content to just be competing.
“State has been our expectation for years; we had to get over the hump to get there to do that. Now, winning region, that’s an expectation. I was worried about them being satisfied with that, but they didn’t like being disrespected and not being mentioned with programs north of Henry County,’ Jones County head coach Geoff Moore said. “For them to actually do it, they went out there and did it and surprised a lot of people.”
Kyle Whipple had the top time at 18:23 to finish 16th and Joshua Barber ran an 18:23.40 to finish 42nd. Charging to finish 47th was Gavin Robinson with a time of 18:28.54 and Luke Thornton was 53rd thanks to a time of 18:37.40. Other top times were Austin Sullivan and Tyler Marshall in 56th and 67th with times of 18:45.55 and 18:53.36.
“We’re so deep. Our freshmen and Barber stepped up and filled in for us. We talked about it this year, all you have to have to five games to have a good day,” Moore said. “They had us ranked 11th going in. They went out and battled with them. We knew if we could have four or five in the top 50, we’d be in great shape.”
Even before getting to Carrollton, obstacles had to be overcome for Jones County. Earlier in the week, two of the top seven Greyhounds runners and two of the top five girls runners were out sick with either illnesses or injuries. In fact, Grady Newby was unable to run Saturday, elevating Gavin Robinson to his spot.
He ended up thriving in the opportunity, ending up placing third overall to help deliver a podium finish.
“It was just a really gutsy performance by our freshmen. For Luke to be sick, he gutted it out,” Moore said. “Gavin wasn’t even supposed to run, and he ran the race of his life.”
Another variable was the time of the race being past 2 p.m. And with Saturday’s temperatures toward the 80s, it was hotter than the early mornings that most meets take place or many teams practice. But the Greyhounds were not rattled as all of those summer workouts and afternoons in the central Georgia heat paid off in a big way.
“I really believe that helped us, all of those tough days on dirt roads in 100 degrees,” Moore said.
Camryn Wommack’s time of 21:22.16 was good for a 15th-place finish to lead the Lady Greyhounds, and not far behind in 26th was Lilly Palmer in 26th as she ran a 21:48.06. Also pacing the finish were Addison Robinson’s time of 23:21.61 in 57th place and Kaitlin Malone running a 23:47.95 to time in 63rd.
“She went up there, didn’t let the pressure get to her and ran a great race,” Moore said of Palmer. “We have a solid five girls. They’re tough and run for each other.”
So what’s next for the Greyhounds and Lady Greyhounds? Doing it all over again and then some.
“For this group, being top-five and region champions will be the expectation,” Moore said. “The sky is the limit for this group. They’re special kids and extremely coachable. Our standards and goals will be higher, we won’t be able to sneak up on anyone.”
