RUNNING HOUNDS
It’s one thing to have expectations in place. It’s another to meet them. The Greyhounds took care of that task with ease on Saturday morning at their home course, running to an average time of just over 17 minutes to win the Greyhound Invitational on a day where the Lady Hounds finished a close second on a morning that started out brisk, playing into the advantage of the earlier races of the day.
“The kids were in shape; they ran some fast times,” Jones County head coach Geoff Moore said. “Part of that was because it was not a million degrees.”
Jones County will also host the region meet Oct. 22 and runs again Thursday afternoon at Bleckley County.
“The meet ran so smoothly. A big part of that was everything that the parents did and how our community and school system get behind us and help with everything with parking buses and getting the trails fixed,” Moore said. “It was truly a village effort; it was as good of show that we have had since I have been here.”
Jones County didn’t have the top overall finisher in the boys meet, but it put on a clinic on how to win as a team with its eight runners finishing in the top 21, three in the top 10. Not only that, but six of those runners set personal records on Saturday.
Kyle Whipple led the charge, finishing fourth with a personal-best time of 16:59.82. But he had plenty of company up front followed by Austin Sullivan’s seventh-place 17:07.91 and Joshua Barber’s personal-best time of 17:08.75 in eighth, ahead of Tyler Marshall’s 11th-place time of 17:18.88, also a personal record. Justus Boyd’s 17:24.41 was good for 13th followed up by three more personal bests – Luke Thornton in 18th, Grady Newby in 19th and Gavin Robinson in 21st with times of 17:34.98, 17:41.77 and 17:45.69.
“Luke Thornton ran the race of his life, Barber is having such a great season and Sully broke out and had a good race for us, he’s been waiting on that,” Moore said. “If we can keep everyone healthy and get him going, we’ll be dangerous.”
Saturday’s showing was a true testament of how deep on the Lady Hounds are. With an illness slowing Boyd down, others stepped up to pick up the slack.
“In the past when we got banged up, we didn’t have depth,” Moore said. “It’ll be fun to have the region meet here now with our kids having run the course.”
Camryn Wommack’s personal-best time of 20:39.28 was good for third in the girls race, pacing the Lady Hounds to an average time that was just 16 seconds shy of the lead and Mary Persons.
“Mary Persons is a highly- ranked team in AAAA, and they gave them fits,” Moore said.
Addison Robinson powered to an eighthplace finish with a time of 21:13.12, and Kaitlyn Malone’s 21:53.28 gave the Lady Hounds a trip of finishers in the top 13. Lilly Palmer was 16th with a time of 22:05.86 in front of Anna Hinson in 24th (22:43.55), Addison Newby in 25th (22:49.04) and Emily Patat in 29th (23:01.10). Despite being among the JCHS runners battling illnesses, Palmer toughed it out, turning in a finish that helped strengthen Jones County’s overall standing.
“She didn’t run her best, but she sure helped us with our points,” Moore said.
Overall, five Lady Hounds posted a personal best – Wommack, Robinson, Malone, Hinson and Newby.
The JV Hounds have excelled time after time this season, and Saturday was no different with JCHS winning the JV boys race by an average time of two minutes and nine runners posting personal records. In fact, Jones County swept the top five positions and eight of the top ten. Aaron England won first overall, running an 18:06.11 in front of Gunner Kent in second with an 18:24.01, Landon Steinmeyer in third with an 18:25.48, Andrew Marshall in fourth at 18:28.60 and Clay Lacy’s 18:57.89 being good for fifth. Connor Monile finished seventh as he ran a 19:05.26, Ian Borsahole came in eighth with a time of 19:02.02 and Shaun Williams was tenth as he had a 19:38.54.
Overall, personal records came via Kent, Lacy, Monile, Borsahole, Williams, RJ Bryant, Kristjan Adams, Avery Harden and Jaquez Jackson.
“Some of our JV PRs were incredible. Our course has some hills in it, but it’s about a mile going downhill, you make up some group with a short steep hill, but you also have that downhill momentum,” Moore said. “The work that our county has done to help with the footing is unbelievable. When you are running out there in the cool temperatures, that’s why times are fast.”
In the JV girls race, Raelei Roeder and Grace Bryant also posted personal records, running times of 30:17.01 and 30:28.20 to finish 18th and 21st.
