Thanks to a schedule shuffle through the course of the season, Jones County won’t be running blind this Saturday with a cross country region title and spot in the next week’s state meet at stake.
Saturday morning’s GHSA state sectionals at Starr’s Mill will not only determine who from half of the state’s regions will run at the state championships, but top finishers per region will also determine region champions.
It’s there where Jones County will continuing its drive for five region titles in a row, as both the Greyhounds and Lady Greyhounds have won the last four region championships straight.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Jones County head cross country coach Geoff Moore said. “A lot of teams don’t have a chance to win five in a row, we’re looking forward to it.
As JCHS aims for five in a row, it will have as much experience as it could on Saturday’s course.
Unlike the last two years when Jones County was able to host sectionals on its home course, this year is at Starr’s Mill, where the current Hounds and Lady Hounds have not run in a meet before. That is, however, until this past weekend when Jones County entered the state JV championships. The goal there, as Moore explains, was not so much a quick time, but experience and knowing what to expect this Saturday.
“We had already raced two weekends in a row, so what we did was to use this to preview the course, because we had never been there,” Moore said. “So we went up there and they raced at the end of their fall break. I didnt want them racing at the end of fall break going to sectionals so it was basically a tempo run, about 85 percent of an effort. It was just basically workout. The goal was to preview the course, get a decent workout in and come out of there healthy, and that’s what we were able to do.”
It’s for that reason that Jones County’s varsity runners finished among each other. The girls’ race saw Makenzie Snook, Mary Barnwell, Phoebe Palmer, and Baleigh Gowen finish 33rd through 37th. The boys’ race had a similar trend. Peyton Simmons and Lane Schomber came in 46th and 49th with Tripp Arnold in 60th, Brooks Scott 65th, Dalton Russell 66th, Rhett Renner 67th, Rylan Fuller 68th, and Blake Marsh in 69th.
On this Saturday morning at Starr’s Mill, Jones County gets to apply all of its preparation toward adding to its collection of region titles.
