As Jones County’s crosscountry teams headed to Whitesburg last Saturday for the Bob Blastow Invitational, the question was how the Greyhounds and Lady Greyhounds would fare in setting high personal marks in an event that also included runners from powerhouse programs in the Atlanta area.
JCHS didn’t melt in the heat of competition, seeing a total of 13 runners set personal bests. Not only that, but the Greyhounds placed tenth out of 55 teams with the Lady Hounds being 15th of the 39 girls teams entered. All told, eight of the ten Greyhound runners set a personal record with five of seven Lady Hounds also doing so.
Four Greyhounds ran times of under 18 minutes. Last season, none did so, a testament to the offseason work put in that is paying dividends.
“For us that’s really good,” Greyhounds head coach Geoff Moore said. “We didn’t have anyone run under 18:00 last year, so that’s huge.”
Both teams are set to compete again Sept. 10 in the Carrollton Orthopedic Invitational which will precede the South Georgia Championships on Sept. 15 in Hazelhurst prior to hosting the Greyhound Invitational on Sept. 24.
“The rubber will meet the road in Carrolton, everyone will be there,” Moore said. “You’ll be going head-to-head and it’ll be on the course where it matters.”
Going up against intense competition this past Saturday, JCHS placed a pair of Lady Greyhounds in the top 40 with Lilly Palmer’s 23rd-place 20:43.86 and Camryn Wommack being 38th as she ran a 21:13.26.
Palmer is currently rated among the state’s top ten runners and top freshman based off the times she has run so far.
Not far behind on Saturday was Addison Robinson, whose 22:04.77 was good for 53rd.
“She took such a big jump this week. With (Palmer and Wommack) and Robinson, she may be the best third girl I have had since I have been coaching,” Moore said. “She has made a big jump this year.”
That was followed by Katlin Malone in 86th (23:03.90), Anna Hinson in 92nd (23:14.52), Addison Newby in 102nd, (23:30.64) and Gabrielle Childs in 138th (23:30.64). It was another step on a season that now has Lady Greyhound runners as having posted the quickest seven times in the region.
The Greyhounds had a similarly strong day. Led by Justus Boyd, Kyle Whipple and Joshua Barber, three Greyhound runners placed in the top 50 with each of them finishing 39th, 43rd and 46th with times of 16:58.08, 17:03.50 and 17:11.48.
Boyd nearly set a county record, coming up a mere 13 seconds short.
“That’s a heck of a day,” Moore said of Boyd, who on the basis of his times so far this year is ranked first in the region and tenth in GHSA Class AAAAA. He’s part of an overall strong start for the Greyhounds, who have ten of the region’s top 15 times so far this year.
Tyler Marshall timed in 84th (17:58.32), two spots ahead of Austin Sullivan and a time of 18:00.26. Just behind them at 90th overall was Gavin Robinson (18:05.40), Landon Steinmeyer in 96th (18:12.40), Luke Thornton in 97th (18:14.31) and Grady Newby in 109th (18:25.83) “They’re doing great. The big thing is we’re healthy right now,” Moore said. “It was a good weekend, I’m excited about what is coming, they’ve just got to stay healthy.”
