To me, cross country is a great sport for several reasons and as we work our way through the season, I will elaborate further on some of my thoughts as to why I feel this way.  To start this journey, let’s talk about the crowd.  XC crowds are far different from most other crowds.  For example, it is very easy to listen to a crowd at a football game and hear rude comments hurled at the coach, the visiting team, the home team, the refs, the visiting team’s fans, the coach’s mom, the ref’s mom, etc.  To be sure, this list knows no bounds.  The crowd at a XC meet is always positive.  They are encouraging and upbeat and support all runners.  In my personal experience, I have yet to hear someone in the crowd shout out a disparaging comment.

The Zach Wansley Clash / August 17, 2019

As a reminder, our top 10 runners sat this meet out since the season is quite long and running can really take a toll on the body.  A big part of a successful state championship meet is showing up to the line free of injuries.       

Girls Varsity

For an early season race, there were some fast times posted. The winner, Sydney Lamberson of Lovett, posted the fifth fastest time in the state thus far when she crossed the finish line in 19:11.  Alexa Hoppenfeld from Riverwood International was 15 seconds behind and this impressive finish placed her 7th overall in the state.  As for the team title, Riverwood International and Lovett were quite a bit out in front of the rest of the schools.  These two schools scored 41 and 48 points respectively to take the top two spots.  The race for third place came down to four schools: LaGrange, Hebron Christian (home to the most bizarre XC course that I have ever visited), Lanier, and South Forsyth.  When the race was over, these schools were separated by a mere 16 points but unfortunately, the War Eagles finished sixth with 117 points.  Leading the way for our team was Isabelle Cadeau who finished 22nd overall. It was great to see her back on the team after she missed all last season with an injury.  Ansley Rogers was the next War Eagle across the line (24th / 23:20), followed by Amanda Edwards (26th / 23:37), Ally McGlaughlin (27th / 23:39) and Gabby Zucco (29th / 23:55). 

Boys Varsity

Overall, this race was much faster than the previous year.  For instance, the winner, Jackson Borden of Lovett, finished first with a time of 15:56.  Any time in the 15-minute range is fast, no matter the course; however, this was especially impressive as it was the first race of the season.  In fact, Borden’s time is the second fastest time in the state thus far.  His teammate, James Lewallen, currently owns the fourth fastest time in the state with his 16:09 finish on Saturday.  With four of the top ten spots, Lovett easily claimed the team title with 28 points.  Four teams, including South, were in contention for second place.  In the end, LaGrange finished second with 77 points, followed by Riverwood International with 77 (LaGrange’s number 6 runner beat Riverwood International’s number 6 runner, so LaGrange earned second place), SFHS with 89 and Lanier with 91.  Mark Martin decided to skip the heavy leg workout right before the meet and this, in part, helped him to be the first War Eagle to cross the finish line with a time of 17:38 (15th).  Chris Wilusz also battled an injury last season, but he looked strong on Saturday (16th / 17:41).  Hopefully, he will regain the form that landed him on South’s state team his freshman year.  Chris was followed closely by Sebastian Elisan (17th / 17:45), Patrick Kukucka (19th / 17:51) and Aadi Jain (22nd / 17:58).

Girls JV

The Lovett JV girls owned this meet with a perfect score of 15.  For those new to XC, this is basically a perfect score and it means that the team had the first five scoring runners across the line.  I would definitely put an asterisk next to Lovett’s score though.  There are a few sports, with XC being one of these, in Georgia where 8th graders can compete in JV meets but they cannot score for their team.  Jordan Owens from Chapel Hill is in the 8th grade and she was the 5th runner across the line, but since she is in the 8th grade, she cannot score points for her team.  Thus, the 6th runner across the line was from Lovett but instead of receiving 6 points, she received 5 and that resulted in a team score of 15 instead of 16 (16 points would still be a very impressive team score though).  The War Eagles finished in second place and were led by freshman Emily Barnes (7th / 25:14) and followed by Rachel Preston (8th / 25:27), Vishaka Ventatraman (13th / 26:51), the always personable Kate Ward (14th  / 26:54) and Caroline Elam (15th / 27:02). 

Boys JV

Lovett had 8 of the top 10 finishers and easily won the race with 23 points.  Our War Eagles landed in 4th place with 113 points.  Leading the way for our team was Charlie Szilagyi in 20th place (20:52) followed by Andrew Wilson (21st / 20:53), Aryan Battula (25th / 21:00), Brett Dunlap (41st / 22:24) and Max Reesman (58th / 23:28).

Finally, I wanted to give a big shout out to all the freshman who ran their first high school race.  You have picked a great sport and we want you to know that you will be instrumental in carrying on the legacy of one of the top XC programs in the state.

Saucony Battle of Atlanta, August 24, 2019, Nash Farms, Hampton, Georgia

This will be our team’s first experience with the XC course at Nash Farms.  It is advertised as a very spectator friendly course.  In fact, the race’s Milesplit page boasts that 90% of the race is visible to spectators.  That is quite rare in this sport.  This will be a great early season test for our teams as there are numerous schools competing and some of the top runners in the state will be in attendance.   It is also worth mentioning the historical significance of the race’s name and location.  Nash Farms was the site of the Battle of Lovejoy Station as well as some other events in the Atlanta Campaign of 1864 led by Union General William T. Sherman. 

Prior to participating in the Battle of Atlanta, our runners will be participating in another kind of battle. This would be the battle to get teenagers out of bed so that they can be at the parking lot to catch the bus at 4:45 am on Saturday morning.  Ouch!  Normally, we participate in the Marist Double Dip race this weekend, but that event has been put on hold until next year.  Saturday is also a test date for the SAT and there have traditionally been some runners who miss races on this weekend in order to take the college entrance exam.  I think that we should move the SAT to a Friday night so football players will have to choose between playing in their game or taking a college entrance exam.  Who is with me on this?

Race Schedule

7:30am Varsity Boys 5K

8:00am Varsity Girls 5K

8:35am JV Girls 5K

9:10am JV Boys 5K

10:00am Varsity and JV Awards (top 20 individuals and team trophies)

Varsity Boys

Some of the top XC runners in Georgia will be running this race and that makes this XC fan happy.  Be sure to watch for Justin Wachtel from Mary Persons, Kamari Miller from Marietta and Kyle Harkabus from East Coweta.  Wachtel won this race last year with a 15:50. He also owns the fastest time in the state this year as he came across the finish line last week with a blazing time of 14:55. This is quite incredible for the first race of the season.  Kamari Miller placed 6th in the 7A state championships last year and is almost always in the top ten at races.  Finally, Kyle Harkabus is the defending state 7A XC individual champion as well as the three-time defending 1600-meter champion.  As you can see, he is one of the most decorated runners in Georgia distance running history.  Our very own Mikey Patterson and Brennan Bower can contend for a top ten finish in this race as they will likely find other runners who can push or pull them to a strong finish.

As for the team race, our boys will absolutely be in the run for the title as our overall depth is impressive.  Other teams who can contend for the title include 7A foes Brookwood and Marietta. Pope (class 6A) is the defending state champion and seems to have a lot of strong runners back.  Finally, Marist from class 4A is always competitive.

Varsity Girls

 Like the boys, this race should be fast as there will be some incredible athletes at the starting line.  At the end of the race, some of the following girls will likely be in the top ten.  Let’s start with Sophie Boyce from Pope.  Last year she finished second at this race and fifth at the 6A state championship.  Look for June Mwaniki (4th at 7A state meet) and Hattie Rydinsky (13th at 7A state meet) from Marietta to be some of the first runners across the finish line.  Kathleen Schellman and Lucy Jewell-Watson from Marist are likely to be in the lead pack as well.  Even though the aforementioned runners are solid, I think that this race will come down to a battle between Mackenzie Walls from Veterans High School and our very own Madeline Cadeau.  In this young season, these two have the fastest times in the state thus far.  Walls is a strong 3200 runner in track and won her meet last week with an impressive state best time of 17:51. Madeline is an intense runner and it seems like she trains non-stop.  It will be great to see her run against a very talented field in the first race of the season.

It seems very likely that the three top teams should be Marist, Marietta, and South.  Marist has won 11 straight 4A championships (but remember, they are a private school which means that their team does not just come from the neighborhood and this is a huge advantage) and returns several runners from last year.  Marietta has won two straight 7A state championships and like South, seems to reload each year.  On paper, South and Marietta are almost evenly matched so it could come down to the 5th scorer.  These two teams have been the class of girls 7A XC the past two years and it looks like the 2019 season will follow the same plot line.  Let’s hope that the War Eagles come out on top in this chapter.

I hope everyone enjoys their alarm going off at some obscene hour on Saturday morning.  See you at the races!