What do you call a cross country newsletter written by someone who didn’t go to the meet? Brief!
Full disclosure, I was not at the meet this Saturday, so what you see below is based on what I saw in the results, info on Milesplit or things I heard about. Bottom line, this one may not go down as the most insightful meet recap you’ll see.
Alexander/ Asics Invitational
The guys and girls were missing some key runners so the team finishes were a bit off but there were some great performances across both the varsity and JV races.
The Boys
If you were not there you should certainly watch the championship boys race video, as the finish between Edward Blaha of Pace and Denmark’s Ethan Ashley was one for the ages. Congrats to fellow Forsyth County runner Ashley for the photo finish win. Nate Verska and Ben Bergey battled with the lead pack, with Nate taking the lead for South as he finished 8th overall. Ben was just behind in 12th.
Adam Zorko has had a bit of a quiet season so far, but Saturday he broke out in a big way, taking 34 seconds off his best time of the season as he set a new PR, running 17:52 and finishing 158th. Harris Garmon was next (179th) and the final scoring for South came from Wyatt Longstreth, who also nabbed a PR in 184th. Also of note was Josh Wilson, who moved up to varsity due to some missing runners and responded with a nice PR of his own.
The boys wound up 17th overall in the team standings out of 33 scoring teams.
The JV boys were 31st as a team, led by a big PR from Thomas Lichtenwalner. This race also saw PR’s from KD Vadlamani, Kellen Cain, Anubhav Behera, Zach Gold, Drew Hunt and Andy Harbinson.
The Girls
Unlike the guys, there was little drama in the girls race, as Florida’s Bolles HS stole the show, easily winning the team title and Bolles’ Jillian Candelino pulling away early to take first overall. Carmel Yonas had a nice race placing 4th, with Izzy grabbing 10th. Caroline Turner was 3rd for South in 96th, with Janisha Patil 124th and Pragna Veeravelli finished out the scoring in 202nd as South took 12th as a team.
The JV girls placed 25th in the team standings. They were led by Ava Wright, who took over a minute off her PR. Also PR’ing in this race were Sadie Morgan and Olivia Hwang. Nicely done ladies!
Up Next - Atlanta Classic
Hard to believe after all my years of high school cross country, but I think this is the first time I have ever been to Clinton Nature Preserve, site of this Saturday’s Atlanta Classic meet. With that, I don’t have any knowledge of the course or how spectator-friendly it might be. I can tell you it is another big one, with 40 teams and 10 different races. And it’s another long drive to Villa Rica, so expect an early bus call.
I’ve heard the boy’s may again run at less than full strength, but hopefully the girl’s have everyone back in action. There are a couple of girls that have broken 18:00 this year, so Carmel and Izzy will have competition at the top and a strong team from AL, along with Marist, Cambridge & Marietta should make for a tough team fight as well.
