The expectations are for Jones County’s crosscountry teams to finish near the front of the pack this season. Both the Greyhounds and Lady Greyhounds did precisely that in their seasonopening meet on Saturday at the Midstate Cross Country Classic hosted by Perry in an event held at Camp John Hope, near Fort Valley.
The Greyhounds won first place overall, taking the top spot with an average time that was approximately 40 seconds quicker than any other team while the Lady Greyhounds clocked in second. Both teams will compete again Aug. 27 at the Bob Blastow Early Bird Invitational in Whitesburg.
“It’s a fast course. We’ve got a chance to have four guys break the county record,” JCHS head coach Geoff Moore said of the next meet on the schedule. “If it all works out and they run smart, some of them have the ability to do that. This isn’t a meet where you go to win because there are so many teams there, but you are going to a place where every second matters and you see how good you are individually.”
The Greyhounds didn’t just win this past Saturday. They dominated the top of the leaderboard with four of the top six finishers being JCHS runners, led by Justus Boyd’s second-place time of 17:35.59. Just behind him in third was Kyle Whipple in third at 17:39.50, Austin Sullivan in fifth place as he ran an 18:03.09 with Joshua Barber’s 18:07.81 being good for sixth.
“Those were some good teams that we went out there and beat,” Moore said. “The course was harder this year, so times were not as great. We had four guys that finished in front of Veterans, and their top runner was second in that event last year. For opening weekends, it was a home run. It was a great way to start the year.”
Helping the overall effort as well was the 18:40.81 by Grady Newby in 11th and Gavin Robinson’s 18:46.18, bringing him home 14th. Tyler Marshall timed in 15th thanks to a time of 19:09.31 with Luke Thornton, Landon Steinmeyer and Andrew Marshall finishing 18th, 19th and 22nd with times of 19:09.31, 19:09.72 and 19:21.91.
The Lady Hounds were led to their second-place finish by way of two runners finishing third and fourth. Camryn Womack was third, running a 21:47.50. Lilly Palmer’s 21:52.62 timed her in fourth overall.
“We haven’t had a 1-2 punch like this since we had Erin Leonard and Laney (Doster),” Moore said. “So it’s fun to have two that work so well together and are really talented with their abilities. They ran really good times.”
More notable, the Lady Hounds got their finish near the top in spite of one of their top runners, Katlin Malone, being unable to compete.
“Our No. 3 didn’t run, and we still had five in the top 25,” Moore said. “Last year, we lost by 60 points, and this year, it was by only 11 without her.”
Running a 23:37.69, Addison Robinson was 12th, Addison Newby was 14th with 23:55.25 and Emily Patat ended up in 16th place with a time of 24:11.25. Anna Hinson timed in 21st as she ran a 25:07.24.
JCHS thrived in the JV events, too, posting the top overall cumulative boys time and having a perfect score as a team. Gunner Kent was third among boys JV runners with a time of 19:25.25, followed in the next three positions by Aaron England, Clay Lacy and Hunter Pittman with times of 19:43.50, 19:44.47 and 20:24.59. Kendall Stewart (21:06.53) was eighth, and Jacob Brennaman (21:26.18) was tenth.
Gabrielle Childs finished second in the JV girls race with a time of 27:33.97, and Raelei Roeder was seventh as she ran a 30:36.78.
The Greyhounds rose to the occasion to begin the season on Saturday, winning _rst overall as a team.
