First off, I guess I should have studied the testing calendar a little closer before I boldly predicted everyone would be running full squads at the Atlanta Classic. Another SAT weekend saw a slew of runners take the weekend off, while a few teams sent JV squads here while their varsity went to one of the big out of state meets, which threw both the team and individual races off. Saturday did bring our first real taste of fall to the cross country season, with cool temps and even colder winds making for quite a chilly start as we waited for the sun to come up. The runners were grateful to have their sweatpants and some parents were scavenging blankets in the team tent to compensate for their lack of preparation.

I know this is not many runners favorite course and having explored a bit more of the course this year than I had in the past, I kind of get it. From all the spray painted roots and big rocks jutting out on the trails to the “when in doubt, throw more sand down” approach to fixing washed out areas, it is not the best footing to run on. On the other hand, it makes some of the performances all that more impressive.

The Girls

The South ladies had themselves a day Saturday. It’s pretty impressive when the varsity girls show out with 3 PR’s and 2 season’s best performances and just some overall gritty racing. Molly Hanlon overcame a tough start and worked her way to the outside and started working her way up as they entered the woods. By mile 1 she was just outside the top 20 and by mile 2 had moved up to a pack that was battling in the 15-18 spots. From there she managed to pull away from that pack, but couldn’t quite get to the next pack as she saw an 11-second improvement over her time here last year, good for the top scoring spot for South at 15th overall. 

Meanwhile, at the mile mark Paige Harden had a 20 second lead on Danielle Schmuckal and just ahead of the 2-mile mark that gap had widened to 25 seconds. But despite the gap, Dani had been moving up throughout and she found another gear over that last mile to fully close the gap in what was easily her best race of the season. And while Paige may have held her off at the line, as they finished 40th and 41st, the smile on Dani’s face as she crossed the finish tells me she’s taking it as a win. Behind them, Susan Price continued her impressive debut season. She has taken almost 2 minutes off her opening time at Pickens and (except for Milton) has PR’d in every race so far. Saturday saw Susan finish 49th as she seems to have solidified her spot in the top 5. Pratima Yellayi was next in 81st, but it was a race, as South’s next 4 all finished within 6 spots of each other. Landon Layman made the jump to varsity for this race and took full advantage of the opportunity, taking 83rd as South’s 6th runner while knocking almost 30 seconds off her PR. Right on her heels was Ashley Wilson, another runner who has spent most of this season on the JV side, but she too showed she could fit right in with the varsity gals as she was 84th with a PR of her own. That left Ava Wright as the 8th runner for South, but more because of the strong races in front of her, as Ava’s 87th place finish came with her season’s best time.  Great job to all the varsity girls as they took 7th place as a team.

Between the JV runners that ran varsity and some SAT takers, South had a number of consistent JV scorers not in this race, but South still looked good as they took 10th as a team. It was Jules Min in the top spot, finishing 45th, with Arushi Mishra running a season’s best to take 49th. Ella Jenkins also notched a season’s best to finish 81st, with Kaitlyn Stinson right with her in 82nd. Mariana Figueroa was the final scorer for South in 93rd, just ahead of Nithya Jakinapali who took 94th with her own season’s best. South’s final two kept the pairing theme going, with Aditi Kulkarni in 102nd and Aanya Kungwani 103rd. I do want to give some acknowledgement to Aanya. She has dropped five minutes off her 5k time since the start of the season. Way to keep after it Aanya!

The Boys

Denmark was one of the few men’s teams to run at full strength and it showed as they took 3 of the top 5 spots and put all 7 in the top 25 to easily take the team title. South called on some JV boys to step up to the varsity race in order to field a full squad and they competed well in response. Rishi Nagappan led the charge for the War Eagles. He was the top runner for South at the mile, though he had Camden Coker on his heels and Aariv Gupta about ten seconds back. Josh Wilson led the next pack of South runners, with Kellen Cain, Pierson Long and Jaxson Herman all going through the mile within seconds of each other.  

Rishi and Camden stayed close throughout as they gradually worked their way up through the field and it wasn’t until the final stretch that Rishi pulled away to take the number one spot for South in 31st place. Camden held on to go under 18 minutes for the second meet in a row as he finished 37th.  Aariv took 54th and the group of 4 strung out a little over the final mile, but still managed to finish within 16 seconds of each other, with Josh in 72nd, Kellen in 79th, Pierson 84th and Jaxson 88th. Special kudos to Pierson, who managed to nab his 4th PR of the season – that’s some steady improvement. All of that added up to a respectable 8th place finish for South out of 20 teams. Well done!

On the JV side, in a ridiculous show of depth, you had runners from Walton, Denmark and Cambridge gobble up 21 of the top 25 spots as those 3 teams dominated the team standings. But even with a number of JV guys running in the varsity race, South’s remaining runners performed quite well, matching the varsity’s 8th place team finish. Leading the way for South was Yash Panchal, who wound up 44th overall. If you want to place a bet on someone, Yash may be your most reliable wager as he is putting together a remarkably consistent season. If I throw out the Milton race, in his other 5 races, his finish time has only varied by 15 seconds and outside of his two PR’s where he dipped just under 20 minutes, his other 3 races have been 20:00, 20:01, 20:01.  For any runner looking to break 20 in these last few races, my advice is to hang with Yash for 3 miles and then kick like mad.

That seems to be the strategy Anubhav Behera has adopted the past two races, as he followed Yash to his first sub-20 at Wingfoot and then was on his heels for the first two miles before falling off a bit, but still managed his 2nd fastest 5k ever as he took 46th. Ryan Gorgone and Nikil Selladurai are the next two up who need to get on the Yash train, as both have come very close to breaking 20 on a couple of occasions this season, including on Saturday as they were the next two in for South in 52nd and 58th. Christian Wiese took the final scoring spot for South in 73rd and rounding out the top 7 were John Ryan (82nd) and Kyle Yan (93rd).

We are really getting down to it now. They will run 8 in the varsity race to give runners another shot at creeping into the top 7 and coaches a final look at their teams before they have to decide which 7 to enter in the varsity race for Region, which is just 9 days away. On the plus side, it looks like favorable weather and a flat course that typically runs fast. On the negatives, McIntosh Nature Preserve in Whitesburg, GA, sits nearly 90 miles away, southwest of Atlanta and out toward the Alabama border. And with an 8:15 a.m. first race, it’s going to be another early Saturday morning.

They flip the order and run the girls first. I’ve given up trying to make any predictions based on who shows entered, but know there will be plenty of competition for all. For those that make the drive, allow plenty of time.  Not just for the distance, but once you arrive, you have a long single-file line to get back to the parking ($15/car fee, but you can pre-buy through the link on MileSplit) and once you park, you will have a long walk down the hill to get to where the races are.

It should be a fun one, so I hope to see you all in Whitesburg!