Hurricane Runners Head to State

Jasper County High School (JCHS) varsity Cross Country teams completed their last regular season meet and competed at the 8AA Region Championship last week.

The top four teams and top six individual runners in girls and boys varsity will advance to the state championship on Saturday, Nov. 4.

The teams traveled to Morgan County with both squads ending the regular season on a high note, boasting new personal records (PRs) almost across the board, individual medals for both girls and boys, and a third place team finish for the girls.

Team captain Alina Jablonski took a strong early lead leaving younger sister Mari Jablonski to battle it out with Appalachee top runner Molly Silva. Alina finished first with a time of 21:20.68. Mari pulled away from Silva in the last mile, leading her by 35 seconds to finish in 21:36.18 and second place.

Emily Cavender shed 1.5 minutes off her previous best time of the season, finishing in 25th place with a time of 28:33.88 (PR). Not far behind was Viviana Villanueva, taking 26th place in 28:52.19 (PR). Claire Taylor took the fifth JCHS scored position finishing in 29th place in 30:51.14 (PR). She was followed by Elyse Crotts-Ewing (31st place, 30:53.87–PR) and Ansley Atkinson (33rd place, 31:58.58– PR).

Not to be outdone, the boys raced next, gaining new PRs and bringing home individual boys’ medals for the first time this season. Drew Schilling and Justin Fields ran their fastest cross country races to date, earning seventh and eleventh place individual medals, respectively. Schilling finished in a time of 19:15.84 while Fields followed with 19:51.72.

Team captain Jack Johnston in 27th place with a season PR of 21:42.53. He was followed by Zack Key (38th place, 23:52.04-PR) Ethan Proctor (42nd place, 25:12.91) Carter Pitts (45th place, 25:56.61 – PR) Antwan Urquiza (48th place, 27:45.08 – PR) and Tristin Reid (53rd place, 30:16.74 – PR).