I hope that everyone enjoyed the XC version of Friday Night Lights! Our team finally got to run in conditions where the heat and humidity were not factors and you can really see this in the finishing times. Numerous runners set PRs and season’s best times and some of these were by large margins. For this version of the newsletter, I am going to provide several links to the Atlanta Track Club’s website as they provide very detailed coverage for the event.  I will only briefly summarize each race since their is such extensive and detailed coverage of this event available at the links below.

Wingfoot XC Classic

Click HERE for coverage of the Varsity Championship races

Click HERE for detailed individual results from all races on Friday.  Once you are on this page, all races are listed in the left column.  Click on the race you want to see and you will be taken to the results for that race.  But wait, there’s more! Once you are on the results page, click on the name of each runner and each team as they are linked to more detailed stats.  For example, you can see how fast each runner was at various distances (1 mile, 2050 meters, 2 mile, 3550 meters, and 5000 meters) as well as what place they were in at that particular distance.  It will also show you how many places they moved up or down from one distance to the next.

Our JV boys fared well against a large field and took 4th overall with 123 points.  The following runners set new PRs (and therefore their season’s best) during this race: 

• Sebastian Elisan - 17:32
• Colin McClelland - 17:35
• Devin Schmuckal - 17:43

The following runners ran their season’s best time:

• Dylan Brennan - 18:01
• Pujith Veeravelli - 18:05
• Ryan Vaughn - 18:16
• Andrew Wilson - 19:43
• Aryan Battula - 20:38
• Charlie Szilagyi - 20:38
• Brett Dunlap - 20:06
• Travis Edwards - 23:20

Our JV girls placed 13th overall with 338 points.  Shea Czajkoski set a new PR when she crossed the line at 24:03.  The following athletes ran their season’s best time:

• Ashley Hunt - 21:04
• Katelyn McLean - 21:34
• Phoebe Vaughn - 22:53
• Ansley Rogers - 23:02
• Pragna Veeravelli - 23:53
• Emily Barnes - 23:36
• Ruth Ann George - 24:20
• Amanda Edwards - 23:36
• Vishaka Venkatraman - 25:04
  
• Kate Ward - 24:54
• Caroline Elam - 26:14

In the boys championship varsity race, 6A Harrison won the team title in impressive fashion with 129 points.  The 3rd through 6th place schools were all from class 7A and were separated by only 32 points. This will certainly make for an interesting finish at the state meet in November. The War Eagles were 4th in this group with 210 points and like earlier races, there were numerous PRs and season’s best times.  The following boys set new PRs:

• Brennan Bower - 15:47
• Nate Verska - 16:41
• Joe Pontrelli - 16:37

Season’s best times were turned in by these runners:

• Mikey Patterson - 16:23
  
• Harrison Siegel - 16:41
• Mark Martin - 17:20

The varsity championship girls race was won by a solid Marist squad with 106 points.  Our girls finished tied for 5th (204 points) with Blessed Trinity but our number six runner, Caroline Partterson, finished higher than their number 6.  With this being the case, we won the tie breaker which bumped Blessed Trinity to 6th. When looking at the results from a 7A lens, our girls were the top team followed by Hillgrove (209 points) and Marietta (250 points).  The following War Eagles turned in season's best times:

• Madelynne Cadeau - 18:25
• Sophia Baker - 19:10
• Emma O’Conner - 19:38
• Sydney Copeland - 20:08
• Carmel Yonas - 19:38
• Caroline Patterson - 20:12
• Bella Rhone - 20:16   

All in all it was a great night for the War Eagles as thirty-five of our runners ran their fastest race of the season and six team members set new PRs! It will sure be exciting to see what will happen to times if it ever cools down.

Darlington Festival

On Saturday, the War Eagles will travel north to Rome where they will run in the Darlington Festival.  As far as I know, this is the first time that our team has participated in this race, but worry not, I found a video that could help out runners and fans.  If you want to familiarize yourself with the race and get car sick at the same time, click HERE for the course preview.  Here are the times for each race:

8:45 - JV Girls

9:20 - JV Boys

9:50 - Varsity Girls

10:25 Varsity Boys

The varsity girls have a strong chance to bring home the title but will need to compete with Westminster and Walton.  Several of our varsity girls (Madelynne, Sophia, Emma and Carmel) could land in the top ten and it would not be surprising for the rest of the team to be in the top 20.

Our varsity boys team will also compete for the title along with Walton, who finished right behind our team at Wingfoot, Westminister, Brookwood, and Roswell.  Brennan and Mikey could likely contend for top ten finishes and the rest of our varsity runners have a strong chance to be in the top 20.

I do hope that your fall break is safe and enjoyable and if you are travelling, I sincerely hope that your runner can find a great hill for repeats!  That's it for now, see you at the races.