Even though the temperatures climbed into the 90s on Saturday afternoon, conditions at the Covered Bridge Run were far better than the Battle of Atlanta. I am not sure what the actual temperature was at the start of the races, but it felt like it might have been in the high 60s to low 70s and the humidity was not stifling. Parking, on the other hand, was a mess. I was all set to turn into the parking lot at the park when a volunteer showed up with a “Lot Full†sign at 7:05. So, I had to retrace my route back to the abandoned Target where I boarded a shuttle to the races. Would this be an omen or was I just overthinking? I was excited to see West Forsyth and Pace Academy run this race but unfortunately, this was not meant to be as their actual varsity teams ended up in Carrolton where they competed in the Carrolton Orthopedic Invitational. Why, you ask, would the Wolverines travel all the way to Carrolton when Roswell was a short trip down 400? For those of you new to the team, the course in Carrolton is the site of the state championships each year so I suspect it was a chance for their team to gain some experience there.
Covered Bridge Run
Boys Varsity
Two hundred-sixty athletes from 26 different schools lined up and waited for the gun to go off for the boys varsity and when it did, the leaders quickly separated from the rest of the field. At the half mile mark, Devan Wade of Whitefield Academy and Caleb Hall of North Forsyth were already out in front and distancing themselves from Brennan Bower who was in third. Mikey Patterson was in fifth and Joe Pontrelli, Nate Verska and Ben Bergey were running as a pack in what looked like the seventh, eighth, and ninth positions. The next group of War Eagles runners that passed by were Mark Martin, Aadi Jain, Ryan Vaughn, and Owen Wargo. After this point, the runners rounded a hairpin curve, dropped down a hill, passed by the start, and then headed into the woods where they were pretty much out of sight for a good bit. As the runners hit the 1.75 mile mark, the number one and two runners continued to pull away. At this point, Brennan was in third and running in no man’s land as there was no one close by either in front or behind. Mikey had moved into fourth and he was starting to put some distance between him and the runners in fifth and sixth place. The pack (Joe, Nate, and Ben) were still running together and they looked to be running with a group of three other runners somewhere between eigth and thirteenth place. This group disappeared into the woods and this is where things got a bit interesting. Apparently, somewhere in the woods some of the runners took a wrong turn and this led to some minor controversy. Some of the group that took the wrong turn continued on while others realized this and turned around. It looks like one of our runners might have benefited from this while this cost some of our runners a bit of time. At the end of the race, Devin Wade broke the course record with a 15:43 and Caleb Hall finished second at 15:58. In the history of this race, there had only ever been one runner who was sub 16 on this course and in this race there were two. Brennan was impressive with a third place time of 16:19 and Mikey was fourth with a 16:42. Joe finished sixth at 16:52 followed by Nate in 12th place with a 17:21 and Ben who was 16th with a 17:26. Nate and Ben were two of our runners who took the wrong turn and then doubled back to get onto the correct route so their times should include an asteric. This obviously cost them some time so they likely would have finished a bit higher if not for the mix-up. The shout out for this race goes to freshman Owen Wargo who was sixth on the team with an 18:08 time that landed him 33rd overall. Great job, Owen!
The varsity boys ran away with this meet even though Harrison Siegel, our number two runner at The Battle of Atlanta, sat this race out while he was dealing with a minor injury. When all the scores were totaled, South was first with 41 points and an impressive 16:56 team average followed by Roswell with 81 and Cherokee with 140. Another great showing for the War Eagles!
Girls Varsity
I must admit that prior to the race I had no clue about Reagan Mahoney from Atlanta International School, but if I would have dug a little deeper, I would have found out that she was the defending champion. Her talent was clear at the half mile mark as she had already created a bit of space between her and Madelynne Cadeau who was running alone in second place. After Madelynne, Sophia Baker and Sydney Copeland were running in the top ten and they were in a small pack that was starting to pull away from the group. Carmel Yonas, Caroline Patterson, and Bella Rhone were all running in the larger group and I would estimate that they were anywhere between 18th and 35th place (it is really hard to estimate places at this point as the pack was still pretty large and the girls were flying by). The next War Eagles to pass the half mile mark were Katelyn McClean, Ashley Hunt, Gabby Zucco and Janisha Patil. As our runners completed lap 1 and were starting on lap 2, the field began to spread out and our team looked to be in a great position to sweep the varsity races. Three of our runners were still in the top ten and we had three more runners in what looked to be the top twenty. The runners entered the trees for their last lap and when they emerged (I am guessing that this was about 2.6 miles into the race) Madelynn was all alone in second place. Sophia was next and she had one runner who was just a few strides behind. Next came Sydney who was being closely followed by a Cherokee runner. As Carmel emerged, she was leading a pack of four tightly bunched runners and Emma was not far behind and seemed to be closing. Not much changed at the end of the race as far as the leaders were concerned. Reagan Mahoney finished first overall with a stellar 18:48 and Madelynn was second at 19:20. Once again, Sophia ran a very strong second half of the race and finished 6th at 19:46. After that, Sydney crossed the finish line at 20:14 (10th), Carmel at 20:30 (13th), and Emma at 20:41 (14th). Shout out for this race goes to Sophia Baker for her sixth-place finish. This season, she seems to get even stronger in the last half of the race. You obviously must be in great shape to pull this off but more importantly, you have to have the right mindset to push through the fatigue. Great job, Sophia!
Two hundred-seventeen girls and 22 teams lined up to start the race and when it was complete, the War Eagles came out on top with 45 points and a team average of 20:06. Our five scorers all finished in the top 15 so the battle here was really for second place. Johns Creek was second with 74 and Dunwoody finished third with 119.
JV Boys
Our JV boys lined up for the third race of the day and temperatures were beginning to warm up, but conditions were overall not bad. Five hundred thirty-nine runners from 21 schools set off when the starter fired the pistol. At the first half mile, Colin McClelland was near the front and Pujith Veeravelli was just a few seconds behind while Devin Schmuckal was in sight of the leaders. On the second lap, a lead pack of four runners, including Colin, had formed. Pujith and Devin were well positioned as they were not too far behind. The next time I saw the runners was as they exited the forest at the 2.6 mile mark and we now had two runners, Colin and Devin, in this group of four who were all within milliseconds of one another. It looked like the last stretch of the race was going to be interesting. Max Tucker of Mount Pisgah put together a great finish as he won the race with an 18:03. Devin had a strong last half mile landing him an impressive second overall at 18:18. Colin had a solid fourth place finish (18:29) and Pujith was our third runner in the top ten (9th / 18:44). Winston Rothaermel (41st / 20:05) and Harris Garmon (51st / 20:23) finished out the scoring for the War Eagles. The shout out for this race goes to Devin. I am not sure what happened in the forest but he managed to gain ground on the leaders and put in a very strong finish for a number two spot.
Three top ten finishers was not enough for first place as the Brookwood squad managed a strong 24 second split (the difference between their first and fifth runner) won the title with 54 points. The War Eagles were second with 91 points followed by Pace Academy with 95. The War Eagles had a great showing in three of three races and now it was time for the JV girls to continue this trend.
JV Girls
Three hundred eighty runners from 20 schools entered the race and when the gun sounded, Claire Shelton from Dunwoody took a commanding lead at the half mile mark. Phoebe Vaughn was well positioned as she was in the top ten and closely followed by Aly McGlaughlin and Amanda Edwards who were running together stride for stride. Ruth Ann George was the next South runner and she was followed by a Pragna Veeravelli and several other War Eagles who were running in a giant pack. At the end it was clear that Claire Shelton was in a league of her own in this race as she finished in front of the number two runner by almost two minutes. Phoebe was a strong 4th overall (23:03) and was followed by Ally in 11th (24:05), Pragna in 29th (24:50), Ruth Ann in 39th (25:06) and Emily Barnes in 47th (25:14). The shout out for this race goes to Pragna Veeravelli and her 29th place finish. Not bad at all for a freshman!
Once again, a deep Brookwood JV squad took the team title with 34 points followed by Roswell with 67 and the War Eagles with 104.
All in all, it was a great day for South as a team as we had two first place finishes, one second place, and one third place! Hopefully we can maintain this momentum as we try to retain the Eagle Cup.
Milton Invitational
South is the defending Eagle Cup champion (the school with the best overall performance at the Milton Invitational) after a strong performance on this course in 2018. Last year, the announcer told the crowd that South was the only team other than Milton to ever win this trophy. Hopefully, we can own it for another year. As always, food donations to the pasta dinner and for the meets are very appreciated so please make sure that we are spreading this responsibility out evenly. If you have not done so already, please read Coach Shaw’s email with departure and parking info.
There are several variables that contribute to the outcome of a cross country race and one of the most important ones is the course. Some courses are known to be fast and others are quite a bit more challenging. Milton’s course is not one where you are likely to see a new PR as many consider it to be one of the tougher courses in the state. To illustrate this point, there have only ever been three boys that have run sub 17 and only one girl has ever run sub 19 on the Milton course. It is basically a trail race as the majority of the course winds through the trees. The starting hill is a prominent feature on this course and runners will have to contend with it on three separate occasions. Parents might want to consider watching the race from the top of the hill for several reasons. First off, this course is not as spectator friendly as other meets such as the Battle the Atlanta and much of it runs through the trees and the hill offers a great view of the flattest, most wide-open section. You will be able to see your runners three times on the hill and it is a short easy walk to the finish. And, as an added bonus, you can easily find some shade in the trees while you are waiting for your runner to pass by. Finally, you should be aware that the race schedule is different than previous races in that varsity runs last.
Open Girls-7:45am-unlimited
Open Boys-8:30am-unlimited
JV Girls-9am-next 15 after varsity
JV Boys-9:45am-next 15 after varsity
Varsity Girls-10:15am-top 10
Varsity Boys-10:45am-top 10
Awards 11:15 AM (or as soon as possible)
The War Eagles will definitely be in contention for the girls team title along with Milton, Lambert and possibly Pope. Milton ran in a large meet in Virginia last week against some strong competition and their girls finished third. Look for Madelynne Cadeau, Sophia Baker, and Sydney Copeland from South to contend for a top ten finish along with Nyah Hernandez (Milton), Abby Rindt (Milton), Reagan Mahoney (Atlanta International School), Cara Joyce (Atlanta International School), and Maddie Wheatley (Johns Creek).
Our boys will also be serious contenders for the team title along with Lambert and possibly Milton. Runners who could possibly land a top ten finish are Brennan Bower, Mikey Patterson, Cooper Bocko (Lambert), Colin Chapman (Lambert), Sam Rich (Lakeside-Evans), Karthik Kochuparambil (Even though Karthik officially runs for Denmark, he is an honorary War Eagle as he shows up at several SFHS XC functions), Ethan Ashley (Denmark), Spencer Watry (Milton) and Hayden Marshall (Milton). I would not be at all surprised if Joe Pontrelli, Nate Verska, and Ben Bergey had a big race as they will be squaring off against Lambert. Like I mentioned when I wrote about the time trials, several of the runners from Lambert and South have known each other for quite some time as many of them ran together with Great Strides. They might be friends but I know that there is probably no other team that South would rather beat than Lambert and I am sure the Longhorns feel the same way about us.
Final Thoughts
The more I learn about cross country, the more I am impressed by the work that is put in by these athletes. In this sport there is no one to blame and races are a direct correlation to the work put in in the off season. The amount of effort that experienced runners have to put into training just to take a few seconds off their PR pace is mind blowing. The dedication that it takes to improve is yet another reason why cross country is such a great sport.
That’s it for now, see you at the races!
