Welcome back to the latest edition of the SFHS XC newsletter. Generally speaking, my plan is to release the newsletter the Thursday before the next meet. That way, I can work pre-meet reminders from Coach Shaw into the finished product and also so I have a chance to review results from other races that our upcoming opponents were a part of. Before I provide a recap of the Battle of Atlanta, I need to make one correction from the last newsletter. In the last edition I stated that we were competing in The Battle of Atlanta since the Marist Double Dip had been postponed for the year. For the last several years, the War Eagles have completed in the Lambert River Run at Chattahoochee Pointe Park on the third weekend of August. In the last several months, there have been additions to Chattahoochee Pointe that would make it difficult to host a large meet. For example, the wide-open field where the runners traditionally started now contains several trees as well as a disc golf course. To be sure, this would not be wise to start a XC race with these obstacles in place. This upcoming weekend would generally be when we would run the Double Dip, but since it has been postponed for the year, we will be at the Covered Bridge Run.
The Saucony Battle of Atlanta
The Battle of Atlanta was by far the largest meet in Georgia on this weekend. From what I can estimate, there were nearly 50 teams that lined up at the starting line. In addition to there being a large quantity of teams, there were also a number of quality teams and individuals entered. The course was billed as moderate in difficulty but I think that some of our runners would tell you that it ran more like a challenging course as the uphills seemed to be very long. Plus, the humidity, combined with lack of shade, seemed to make the conditions more difficult as each race progressed.
After the first half mile, Brennan Bower was off to a strong start, in fact, he was leading the entire race. Mikey Patterson was a few seconds behind and he was followed by a pack of War Eagles (Harrision Siegel, Joe Pontrelli, Nate Verska, and Ben Bergey) who were almost running together stride for stride. At the halfway point, the order of our top six runners was basically unchanged. As the race neared the end, Justin Wachtel of Mary Persons, last year’s winner, had opened up a solid lead and ended up first overall with a 14 second margin of victory. The battle for second and third was very close as Kamari Miller barely edged out Sam Rich of Lakeside Evans. Brennan finished 7th with a strong time of 16:13. Harrison displayed his signature strong kick in the last quarter mile and was second across for our team and 23rd overall with a time of 16:58. Ben’s first ever high school race was memorable as he was third on the team and 24th overall at 17:01. Joe came in four seconds after that (27th overall) followed by Mikey who was 31st with a 17:13.
In the team standings, our War Eagles conquered the field as they finished first with 112 points. A tough Marietta squad was second with 122 points and Brookwood was third with 125. If you look at the stats a little closer, you can see how our depth allowed us to win the meet. More specifically, our first scorer finished 7th and our fifth scorer was 31st. This is quite impressive in a race where 345 runners took off at the gun. I should also mention that our first non-scorer (the number 6 finisher) came in 36th so this really gives us a competitive advantage as a team if someone has a bad race or one of our runners gets injured. By way of comparison, Marietta’s top runner was 2nd and their number five was 45th. Brookwood managed to land their top runner in 12th place and their number 5 came in 46th. All in all, this was a great early season win for South as many of these teams have a strong chance of stepping on the podium at the state championships in their respective classes.
After the boys finished, 270 varsity girls stepped to the line to battle each other, the course, and the rapidly increasing heat and humidity. Unlike the boys race, the girls thinned out fairly quick as the top runners separated themselves from the pack much faster. In the first half mile, Madeline Cadeau was running in the top ten and Sophia Baker and Sydney Copeland were just a few seconds behind in a larger pack of runners. From there, Emma O’Connor, Caroline Patterson, Carmel Yonas, and Katelyn McLean were all running in the top 50. As the race progressed to the halfway point, the leaders began to separate from the pack even more, but one thing was for sure, the course and the humidity were taking a toll on everyone. A closer look at the stats certainly shows this as the last mile for all the girls on our team (and all the girls in the race I suspect) were significantly slower than miles one and two. To illustrate this point, Carmel ran her first mile in 6:47 and her last mile in 7:14. This 27 second difference between mile 1 and 3 was the smallest on the team as all of our other girls’ differences were much larger (way to go Carmel!). The end of the race also showed how brutal the conditions had become as numerous girls, including many of the leaders, could barely stand or walk once they crossed the finish line. To illustrate this point even further, these were not a bunch of weekend warriors running a local 5K, these were some of the top runners in the state at a major XC race. The first runner across the line was Marist’s Emily Little with an impressive 18:52. Madelyn was the first South Forsyth runner to cross and was 15th overall with a time of 20:16. Sophia was next on the team with a 20:32 (21st overall), followed by Sydney at 20:58 (29th overall), Emma at 21:03 (34th overall), and Carmel at 21:12 (37th overall).
Marist was the dominant team by far (63 points) in this race as they had three runners cross the line before our first and all five of their runners had crossed by the time our number two was finished. The race for second was incredibly close and it was truly a battle between Marietta and South. The Blue Devils finished with 132 points and we had 133. Based on the scores of the number 6 and 7 runners, we could be a little deeper but a Marietta coach told me that one of their runners just came out of a walking boot and was not running this race. On the topic of injuries, it is worth mentioning that Paige Sobczak is sidelined for us and she would certainly provide some depth for our team if she were able to run right now. All in all, it was a strong showing for our girls. The competition between the War Eagles and the Blue Devils will continue to be fierce as these two teams have been the most dominant squads in class 7A for the past two years and it looks like both teams have the athletes to step onto the podium in November.
Our JV girls were up next and the conditions were just getting worse. Two hundred ninety-four girls stepped to the line, waited for the starter to fire the pistol and began their three plus mile swim through the humidity. The much slower third mile than first mile pattern was definitely evident in this race as well. A purely unscientific look at these numbers seemed to show that each mile run was at least 30 to 40 seconds slower than the previous. At the end of this grueling race, Madison Kennedy of Evans walked away victorious with a time of 20:26, an impressive 1:22 seconds in front of the next runner. For the War Eagles, Janisha Patil was first with a 24:44 (41st overall) followed by Emily Barnes at 25:24 (57th overall), Shea Czajkoski at 25:43 (70th overall), Ansley Rogers at 26:00 (77th overall) and Pragna Veeravelli at 26:10 (84th overall). I think Shea has earned a shout out for her time on this course compared to her time at the flat and fast Chattahoochee Pointe time trials (26:30). Way to go Shea!
The final race of the day saw 573 JV boys line up under sweltering conditions and the aforementioned pattern would certainly be evident in this race as well. This was one of the largest high school races I have ever seen, and to make things even more interesting, there was really not a whole lot of area for the runners to thin out before the course funneled down. A good start would be essential or runners would run the risk of getting boxed in / stuck behind the crowd. Fortunately, several War Eagles did get off to a strong start but this was definitely not the case for Patrick Kukucka. After the first half mile, it seemed like he was in about 150th place. Throughout the race, he continually dodged his way around other runners and fought hard to improve his position. At the end, Dylan Shust of Brookwood won the race by four seconds with a time of 18:33. Pujith Veeravelli was first for our team with a 19:22 (10th overall) followed by Patrick Kukucka at 19:40 (20th overall), Colin McClelland at 20:15 (55th overall), Harris Garmon at 21:24 (123rd overall) and Andrew Wilson at 21:47 (146th overall). Patrick certainly deserves a shout out for improving his position from 150ish early in the race to 20th at the end. He definitely looked like that person running through the airport to board a flight that was leaving in a few short minutes. It should be noted that the meet organizers stated in advance that they would not be scoring the race for JV teams; hence, I will not be providing commentary on team scores for the JV races.
Covered Bridge Run
As a parent, one of the things I most enjoy about the XC team is the pasta dinners as this gives my child the chance to socialize with a great group of kids on a Friday night before a race. I really appreciate those parents that open their houses to the team and those parents who provide food for these dinners and meets. As a reminder, we are still in need of food items for this week’s, and future pasta dinners and meets. In order to keep our kids fueled before and during races, each family is expected to contribute 5-6 items over the course of the season. Thanks to everyone who has already generously donated! Sign-ups are on the team website.
If you have not already seen coach Shaw’s email with the meet specifics, I highly suggest you read it so that you can be in the know relative to parking and admission (you might be in for a parking surprise on Saturday if you don’t read Coach Shaw’s email). The start times for each race are as follows:
7:50 am Varsity Boys 5K (top 10 runners)
8:15 am Varsity Girls 5K (top 10 runners)
8:50 am JV Boys 5K
9:25 am JV Girls 5K
In a 28-team field, the varsity boys race will likely boil down to West Forsyth, Pace Academy, Brookwood, Alpharetta and South Forsyth. Since courses can vary so much, predictions can be difficult as we have only run head to head with one of these teams (Brookwood) this year.
On the individual side of things, Devin Wade of Whitefield Academy is a runner to watch. Last week, he soundly defeated Kyle Harkabus, the defending state 7A XC amd 1600M champ, by 22 seconds at the AT&T Starrs Mill Panther Meet with a time of 15:24. I would also keep an eye on Edward and George Blaha from Pace Academy, and Barrett McAree from Centennial. Forsyth County is a hot bed of XC talent so I would be remiss if I did not mention some local runners who could place in the top ten: Caleb Hall (NFHS), Reece Cato (WFHS) and our very own Brennan Bower.
Like the boys varsity, 28 teams will line up to try to claim the girls varsity team title. The top teams in this race will likely be West Forsyth, Pace Academy, and South Forsyth.
Among the varsity girls runners to watch are Madelyn Cadeau, Alexa Hoppenfeld of Riverwood International, Isabel Ptacek and Ava Krogman from WFHS, Maddie Wheatley of Johns Creek, and Reese Saddler from Brookwood.
Final Thoughts
I wanted to continue my thoughts on why XC is such a great sport. It is one of the only sports where everyone gets a chance to compete. No matter what, every single athlete will need to wash their uniform after the race on Saturday. The same cannot be said for almost every other sport as you can show up to practice all week and you might not ever get a chance to participate on game day.
Once again, the weather looks to be toasty on Saturday, but hopefully, the humidity will be more conducive for PRs. I know this course will provide at least some shade for the runners as they will be flying through the trees that border the Chattahoochee River. I would think that the team is excited about the 6 am departure this week as opposed to 4:45 am for the Battle of Atlanta. You know that you are probably a XC parent when your teenage kid is fussing at you to be quiet at 8 pm on Friday night so that they can get to sleep.
That’s it for now, see you at the races!
