CROSS COUNTRY HOUNDS
It may have been indoors and void of the outdoor elements usually reserved for cross country competition, but it was not hard for Greyhounds head cross country coach Geoff Moore to express the pride and excitement.
The occasion was for two runners – Katlin Malone and Austin Sullivan – to sign respective letters of intent to continue their running careers in college, Malone with Augusta University and Sullivan with Young Harris.
“If you want to run in college and have the grades, you can. These kids did the legwork,” Moore said. “I get excited and emotional with this. These kids have run thousands and thousands of miles, especially in the summer.
It’s an honor to have a day like this.”
The destination of running in college may be similar for both, but the start of their cross country careers differed a bit.
Malone began running with the Lady Hounds as a seventh grader and would overcome the adversity of having to undergo major surgery as a freshman.
“She basically had to have her hip socket removed and repaired.
That’s a major surgery,” Moore said. “You want to talk about adversity? That’s big-time adversity.”
Malone will graduate with accolades, including four earned letters in both track and cross country to go with three all-region selections and has been part of three state top-10 teams and three region runners-up and one region title team.
Sullivan will also graduate with eight combined varsity letters, coming within one second twice of breaking the county cross country record. He has finished second in the region individually and also set the school record for fastest time in the 3,200 meters.
“I had never seen him run. Here’s this wiry kid coming to practice that I had never seen before,” Moore said. “He just competed and competed.
He focused on this, and look what happened.”
