We are getting off to a bit of a late start with the newsletter this year, so apologies for that.  But rest assured we will get back on a regular schedule going forward, so you can look forward to (or dread, depending on your perspective) a recap of each meet for the rest of the season.

North GA Championship

Why do you call it the “prison run” was a common question for those that had not been to a cross-country race at Lamar Murphy Park prior to Saturday.  But if you made the trek up to Jefferson, GA last Saturday, the close proximity of the course to the razor-wire fence of the Jackson County Correctional Institute made the nickname abundantly clear.  

The day started with pleasant temperatures and overcast skies, so if the rain held off we were set for some prime running conditions. 

The Boys

Varsity boys started out the day and although they split the teams into three races they did not combine the results as had been done the previous week at the Cherokee County Classic, so you had 13 teams in race #1 battling for the win.  Included in our race was the powerful Denmark team that we saw take the title at Cherokee.  I’ll skip the start of the race and the blur of jerseys as even standing 300 meters away from the start, they were still in a tight enough pack that I struggled to pick out the South runners.  Any notion you may have had of runners “social distancing” at a race you can certainly throw that out.

Our first good look came as the runners exited the first prison loop and approached the mile mark. 3 runners, Andrew Jones of North Hall, Ethan Ashley of Denmark & Davis Potts of North Oconee had separated from the group, with the next 3 strung out behind them. After that was a chase pack of 12, with Nate Verska on the front end of that group and Ben Bergey hanging on the back.  Chris Wilusz was sitting just inside the top 25 and Pujith Veeravelli and Devin Schmuckal were working together a few spots behind Chris.  The remaining 5 South runners were all in close proximity to one another in the top half of the field of 113.

As they came out of the loop around the lake and started in on lap #2, the front runners had spread out a bit, with North Hall and Denmark still pushing the pace.  I’m not sure Nate had caught any of the front 6 at that point, but he was looking strong and was pulling away from the chase pack and Ben was still sitting in a pretty good spot.  Chris and Pujith also looked good coming up the hill along the prison, but it was the first sign of trouble for Devin as he had dropped off a bit and looked to be struggling.  Owen Wargo, Aadi Jain and Sam Gullo had started moving up a bit as well.

The race continued to play out that way through the second lap.  Andrew Jones built a gap over the last mile to take the victory in an impressive time of 15:43, with Ethan Ashley not far behind in 15:50.  Nate took his successful race plan from Cherokee and applied it again, steadily moving up over the final lap to land in 5th place with a season’s best 16:33.  Ben Bergey held his position and landed in 15th.  Pujith had a strong last lap to move up to 21st, while Chris Wilusz was right behind in 23rd.  Owen Wargo was the 5th runner for South, taking 32nd.  Sam Gullo, who although a senior is in his inaugural cross-country season, had a nice kick to pass several runners and land in 46th and Aadi Jain held South’s 7th spot in 51st.  Rounding out the spots for South were Adam Zorko in 56th, Harris Garmon in 58th and Devin, plagued by cramps, who still hung on for 76th place.  You’ll get them next time Devin!

As a team, South’s performance was good for 2nd place overall behind Archer, who landed 4 runners in the top 15.  Note many schools, including South, were missing runners due to SAT testing, so be careful reading too much into Denmark’s 4th place finish.

The JV races were shifted to 2-mile events, which helped speed things along in a meet that held 15 races.  Interesting note for the South team, as their 8-man squad that entered this one was entirely made up of Freshmen & Sophomore runners.  Owen Rhone got out to a good start and was among the leaders coming over the hill from the start, with a steady stream of South runners throughout the field.  After the first, shorter lap, Owen was still sitting in 10th place while freshmen Josh Wilson and Jackson Waddell were working together to move up.

Over the last lap, Owen stayed steady and was the first in for South, taking 9th place.  Josh Wilson finished in a pack of runners that were all within a second of each other as he managed to grab 20th, followed just a few seconds later by Jackson in 23rd.  Max Ressman closed strong for a spot in the top 30, taking 28th, and Kaleb Hammond closed out the scoring for South with a 42nd place finish, as the War Eagles took 4th place as a team.

The Girls

South was favored to win with Emma O’Connor running, but with her out for SAT, I was curious to see what that would do to the results.  I should have known how resilient these ladies are and that they would rise to the occasion, as South scored a solid win over North Gwinnett 61-74 in the Group 1 race.

The start of this race was much different, as Cara Joyce of Atlanta International School bolted out of the gate and opened up a gap on the field heading into the first prison loop.  Coming out of that loop, she was well in front, with an 8-second lead over 2nd place Caylee Wagner of North Hall, with the next group of runners, including Carmel Yonas, another 8 seconds back.  Among the string of runners behind them, you had Isabel Yonas, Molly Hanlon & Sienna Brennan (all new runners to this year’s team) looking good in the top 15.  But a gap had opened between them and South’s 5th runner, Janisha Patel, who was ~15 seconds behind that group.  

A lot happened as they made the loop around the lake and headed back for lap number two.  We saw the runners again as they started the second prison loop and by then, North Hall’s Wagner had caught and was passing Cara Joyce.  Carmel had ditched the runners by her and was alone in 3rd.  And following up her breakout performance at Cherokee, Izzy came bounding up the hill, passing people as she ran, and moved up to 6th place.  Molly was about 10 seconds back, but stuck running in no man’s land, and while Sienna had fallen back just a bit, she was still holding onto a top 20 spot, while Janisha had gained ground and in the top 25.  I do also want to call out the fact that our 6th and 7th runners, Ansley Rogers & Emily Barnes, were working together in lockstep, as they had been from the start - always good to see teammates pulling each other along.  

My next vantage point came just as the runners headed out for the final loop around the lake.  By then the race for first was over, with Wagner opening up an insurmountable lead.  Carmel was making the race for 2nd look more interesting, as she had closed most of the gap there and Izzy was up to 5th place.  Molly was in a 3-way battle for the final two medal spots (top 10) and Janisha had caught Sienna and, in a great teammate moment, patted her on the back to encourage her to come with her.

Not surprisingly, the win went to North Hall’s Wagner, who had nearly 20 seconds on 2nd.  Going into the final 400 meters, Carmel had closed within 5 meters of 2nd, but Cara Joyce found another gear and managed to hold her off.  Izzy maintained 5th place, while Molly settled for 11th.  Janisha’s pat must have propelled Sienna, who moved up to take 18th and Janisha closed out the scoring in 29th.

So all in all a good day for the varsity girls.  A few other things worth noting from this race.  Carmel’s finish time was 19:51, her best of the season and, looking back on last year, it was late September before Carmel broke 20, so to see her do it a month earlier is a good sign.  South also had a top 5 made up entirely of Freshman and Sophomores, which speaks to a continued bright future for the program.  Finally, hat’s off to Molly Hanlon & Neeti Jain, who had South’s only 5k PR’s of the meet.

Rain started to fall just ahead of the start of the girl’s JV 2-mile.  While I was not at the start, my guess is Megan Milstead got boxed in and was much closer to the back of the field than the front as the short prison loop began.  She moved up steadily throughout the race and was battling for top 15 as they headed toward the final loop around the lake.  Meanwhile, Madeline Braley, Shea Czajkoski & Harshitha Palakurthy stayed pretty well in a line from the start and worked together throughout the race and were sitting in the top 30.

Coming down the final straightaway, Megan had continued to hunt down runners and finished strong to take 9th overall.  Madeline also moved up significantly as she took 14th.  Shea had her typical strong kick to pass several runners for 20th and Harshitha hung on for 27th place.  Sophomore Vishaka Venkatraman rounded out the scoring with her 30th place.  In a race where we only fielded 6 runners, it was solid showing as South took 3rd as a team.

Up Next - Lions Invitational

With an off weekend for Labor Day, the next meet will be on 9/12, when South travels to the Boundary Waters Sports Complex in Douglas County.  Prepare for another early morning, as the drive will be over an hour.  South has not competed in this meet as far as I am aware and it will be an interesting mix of teams that we don’t typically see.  It does show Etowah will be there, whose girl’s team looks to be a 7A state contender and on the boys side appear a pretty even match with South.

Stay safe and enjoy the holiday weekend!