JCHS Cross Country Does Well

The Jasper County High School (JCHS) varsity Cross Country teams traveled to Lexington last week competing in a seven county meet hosted by Oglethorpe High School.

Neither the boys nor girls were able to gain a top three team finish, but the event was highlighted for the Hurricanes three top 10 individual finishes and several new personal record (PR) times.

Joining Jasper and Oglethorpe on what will be the AA Region 8 championship course were teams from Madison, Putnam, Wilkes, Elbert, and Taliaferro counties.

In varsity girls action, freshman Mari Jablonski scored her first overall win as a varsity runner, finishing the course in 23:09 against a field of 58 athletes. Second place also went to JCHS, with Alina Jablonski completing the course in 23:16.

Malia Moore once again took the next scored position, equaling her PR time of 30:05 for 21st place. Completing Jasper County’s top five scored positions were Riley Burton (33:40, 29th place) and Morgan Clement (35:34, 35 th place).

Rounding out the JCHS girls team were Deseray Norwood (36:03, 37th place) Vivet Villanueva (37:01, 40th place) Madelyn Piper (37:14, 41st place) Ansley Atkinson (37:44, 42nd place) Claire Taylor (37:52, 43rd place) and Emily Rose Cavender (38:02, 44th place). As a team, the JCHS girls placed 4th overall.

In the varsity boys race, senior Robert Womack earned his first top 10 finish this season, placing 5th in the field of 78 runners with a season PR time of 20:52. Next in for the JCHS boys was Andrew Schilling, with a new season PR time of 23:17 and 22nd place. Joseph Billings took the third scored position this week, also earning a season PR with a time of 24:37 for 30th place.

Completing the scored positions for the boys were Mario Garcia (24:38, 31st place) and Jovani Gonzalez (25:53, 43rd place). Rounding out the team were Niall Alhasi (26:08, 44th place) Kevin Oritz (26:13, 45th place) Ivan Sanchez (26:15, 46th place) Jack Johnston (26:52, 49th place) and Marcos Moore (31:35, 65th place).

The teams were scheduled to take on over a dozen teams, many of which they haven’t competed against yet this season, on Wednesday Sept. 21 in Macon at the First Presbyterian Day School Invitational.

Prior to last week’s meet, the cross country teams traveled to Madison to compete at the Rick Boulis Invitational, returning home with several new personal record (PR) performances and two top 10 medals.

Hosted by Morgan County, the 10 team meet brought together boys and girls varsity teams from Georgia Military College (GMC) Prep School, Greene County, Grovetown High School, Jackson High School, Jasper County, Lake Oconee Academy, Monsignor Donovan Catholic High School, Morgan County, Prince Avenue Christian School, and Woodland High School.

The JCHS varsity boys team was first to race, competing in a field of 96 runners. The team placed eighth out of nine full teams, defeating Greene County. Morgan County narrowly won the meet, edging out GMC Prep on its home course by a single point.

The top individual finisher was Womack, who completed the 3.1 mile course in 21:55 for 28th place. Sophomore Schilling earned a new PR, finishing second with a time of 24:30 for 56th place. Garcia took the third spot finishing in 24:47 for 60th place. He was followed by Billings, who earned a new PR for the season with 25:18 and 65th place.

Completing the top five (scored) positions was Johnston, finishing in 25:23 for 66th place. Rounding out the JCHS boys team were Sanchez (68th place in 25:32, a PR) Alhasi (75th place in 26:54, a PR) and Moore (95th place in 31:21).

The JCHS varsity girls team once again fell just short of gaining top three team honors, earning another 4th place for the week behind Morgan County, Grovetown and GMC, but taking wins over Jackson, Prince Avenue and Woodland.

Individually, in a field of 62 runners, junior A. Jablonski brought in a solid first place, finishing in 22:39, just over half a minute in front of the second place runner, Grovetown’s Yesenia Negron. Freshman M. Jablonski was next to finish for the Lady Canes, completing the course in 24:20 for 5th place. Moore was the third JCHS finisher, earning a new PR with 30:05 and 37th place, and Burton followed close behind with her own PR of 30:17 for 38th place.

Taylor completed the five JCHS scored finishers, placing 47th with a PR time of 32:40. Rounding out the JCHS girls were Norwood (PR of 33:09, 49th place), Clement (PR of 33:10, 50th place), Piper (PR of 36:31, 56th place), Atkinson (PR of 37:24, 58th place), and Cavender (37:52, 59th