Cross Country Update - Week 6

Athletics

9/21/2021

Wildcats win another meet!

The varsity Wildcats ventured back into middle Georgia this week to Sandersville for the Brentwood Invitational, a meet featuring 20 private and smaller public schools. Both teams run well on this course. The girls won this meet last year and the boys finished third. This was also the course where both teams claimed region championships in 2020, so both teams were looking to finish near the top at this meet.

With storms on the way, race officials decided at the last minute to run the boys’ and the girls’ races together. Despite their efforts to get the race completed before the storms, a hard rain moved in during the second mile of the race and the course’s red Georgia clay turned into a sloppy slippery mud pit. One of the things discussed before the season was to “accept the things you can’t control” and this was definitely one of those days. The Wildcats were un-phased and pushed through with many turning in their fastest times of the season despite being soaked, muddy, and cold.

Senior, Brad Joiner, claimed his first overall win of the season, edging the second place runner by less than a second. Eighth grader, Lucas Johnson (4th), senior, Eli Scott (6th), and freshman, Patrick Joiner (10th), all finished in the top 10 to lead the boys to a big win.

The girls were even more dominant, claiming 5 of the top 11 spots to win by more than 50 points and with an average finish time nearly 2.5 minutes faster than the second place team. The girls were led by Senior, Claire Peacock (4th), and sophomore, Abigail Knight (5th). Rachel Goodell (7th), Alli Roseman (10th), and Hannah Case (11th) each posted season best times despite less than ideal conditions.

The middle school teams were scheduled to return to league competition at Augusta Prep this week after a couple of weeks running in some larger meets around the state, but the meet was rained out. 

The next varsity meet is Saturday, September 25 at the Augusta Prep Invitational while the middle school runs next week at Wildwood Park at a meet hosted by Greenbrier Middle School.