CROSS COUNTRY HOUNDS
Come November, state cross country champions will be crowned in Carrollton, so it’s no surprise that races like Saturday’s OrthoWest Invitational attracted a bevy of teams from the across the state.
In a race made up of teams from the Atlanta area and beyond, Jones County’s boys were unrattled by the specter of others, finishing sixth while beating out teams such as Archer, Brookwood, Newnan and Blessed Trinity. On top of that, four runners set program records on the course. That charge was led by Luke Thornton finishing 12th with a time of 17:05.48 and Gavin Robinson in 18th with a time of 17:15.68.
“We beat some unbelievable teams; they competed well,” Greyhounds head coach Geoff Moore said. “It’s a whole new ball game when you race there. It’s the hardest course we will run each year, and everyone knows that’s where it all matters, so it’s important to run well there and see what you have.”
A strong overall team showing takes multiple runners pulling their weight, and JCHS got that as well with Tyler Marshall timing in 40th as he ran a 17:31.65, Grady Newby in 52nd at 17:48.83 and Andrew Marshall’s 18:30.76 being good for within the top 100 of a hotly contested race.
But the final results also showed a challenge to come. Union Grove and Jones County were neck and neck on Saturday with the Wolverines, who host this year’s region meet, beating out the Greyhounds by a mere eight points.
“They’ve got a good team. They don’t usually run well there, and they ran well there,” Moore said. “There were 20 kids between our fifth place and theirs, but if it was head-to-head, we’d have beaten them by one point. It’ll be a battle.”
It’s one that Moore says the Greyhounds are already looking ahead to.
“They know that it’ll be a battle. It wouldn’t be any fun if they just gave it to you,” Moore said. “They know what they need to do.”
The current state of the Lady Greyhounds is one of the injuries. As it stands now, four of their top eight runners are out of action with Camryn Wommack, Addison Robinson, Gabrielle Childs and Emily Patat not being able to run this past weekend. Moore expects all of them to be back and ready to go for the Greyhound Invitational on Sept. 23.
“We’ve got to get healthy,” Moore said. The Lady Greyhounds were led individually in Carrollton by Lilly Palmer in 18th with a time of 20:56.34 as freshman Isabella Sanchez continued to impress, finishing 21st at 21:07.67. Addison Newby and Jordan Norman-Brown rounded things out for the Lady Hounds, running times of 25:13.58 and 27:55.56. Palmer’s time placed her in the top ten course-record times in program history.
“Isabella and Lilly ran a fantastic race,” Moore said. “What’s fun is that Isabella is catching up to the rest of (the Lady Greyhounds top runners). It’s going to be fun.”
