Cross Country Update - Week 10

Athletics

10/20/2021

Way to run, Wildcats!

With 3 meets in 4 days, this was a busy week for the cross country teams. This week, the boys divided into two teams, sending a JV team to a six team meet hosted by North Augusta High School. Though they were running against the other teams’ varsity runners, the Wildcat JV team finished third behind Aiken and North Augusta, and ahead of Midland Valley, Augusta Christian, and Wardlaw. The team was led by freshman, William Westmoreland (17th), and sophomore, Josh Buchanan (18th).

On Thursday, the varsity boys and girls traveled to Athens, for the Kent Kramer Classic, a 20+ team meet hosted by Athens Christian. The girls placed 3 in the top 20 including senior, Rachel Goodell (12th), sophomore, Abigail Knight (19th), and senior, Claire Peacock (20th). The team finish seventh. The boys were missing two of their top five due to injury and outdoor classroom, but the boys have plenty of strong runners to step up when needed. As a team, this was their strongest race of the year. Led by Adam Lippe’s 3rd place finish, the boys took 3 of the top 8 spots and finished second as a team, just two points behind an Athens Christian team, running on their home course.

On Saturday, the middle school teams traveled to Cochran for the Middle School State Championships, a HUGE meet featuring over 1500 boys and 1300 girls representing nearly 200 teams. The teams were divided into small, medium, and large based on the size of their high school, so the Wildcats were competing in the small school division. The boys were led by 8th grader Lucas Johnson, but an injury to one of their runners resulted in only 4 finishers, one short of the number needed for a full team. As a result, they did not receive a team score. Emma Jordan (34th), Kaylee Charles Finch (37th), and Molly Bramhall (38th) led the middle girls’ team to a ninth place finish.

Next week is a big week for both the varsity and middle schools teams. The middle school will compete for the Augusta Aiken Middle School League Championship on Tuesday. This will be the final meet for our middle school teams. The varsity teams will travel to Sandersville for the Region 4AAA championship on Wednesday and will then have just over two weeks to prepare for the state finals.