Hurricane Cross Country Region Champs Qualify for State During Sectionals Meet

The Jasper County High School cross-country teams made the three hour trek to Toombs County High School last weekend, in hopes of clenching their spots at the upcoming state race in Carrollton, Georgia.

The GHSA 1A Division 1 (Regions 1, 2, 3, and 4) Sectional Race was originally slated to take place at Jeff Davis High, however due to the hurricane, their course was destroyed and the location moved. This sectional race, to exclude private schools due to new GHSA alignments, included a total of 28 possible schools in attendance.

The Canes, who claimed the Region Championship titles for both the boys and girls teams, showed up well-prepared, and ready to run. The course however, was extremely flat, and fully exposed to the sun, leading to a more challenging race given the noon and 12:45 p.m. start times in mid-80 degree weather down south.

In order to qualify for state, the teams needed to place in the top 12, or an individual would need to place in the top 20 in their respective race.

The boys team raced first against 22 other schools at sectionals. Powell Goolsby crossed the line first for the Canes team and 26th overall out of 149 runners with a time of 19:00.88. He was followed quickly by 43rd overall finisher Andrew Smith. Aiden Bramlett, secured the 45th spot, Francisco Lopez 46th overall, and Carson Clark 49th overall.

Mason Smith was quick behind for a 6th place Canes finish and a 52nd overall place followed by Michael Lopez with a time of 21:14.49 and an 82nd overall placement. The five runners who scored points for the Canes were extremely impressive with their pack running times of 19:00.88 (Goolsby), 19:46.91 (Smith), 19:51.17 (Bramlett), 19:53.01 (Lopez, F.) and 20:02.33 (Clark), giving the team a one minute and two second spread from their one to five spots. Tension was high as the team points were totaled, but everyone cheered when they placed an impressive fifth overall out of 22 total teams.

Bleckley’s team won with a total of 26 points, followed by Vidalia with 100, Jeff Davis with 127, Toombs with 156, and Jasper with 204 team points. All 12 boys, seven runners and five alternates, will advance to state on November 8.

The Lady Canes runners hit the trail with the sun beaming down on the fully exposed course. Over the course of the past few weeks, the girls have been monitoring injuries to include shin splints and tight IT bands, which caused some unsureness about what could be expected of their times this week.

Junior Colbie Ramsey led her team as she crossed the line 18th overall out of 113 total runners, making her the only individual to advance based on her placement.

Runners had to either qualify as a team, or place in the top 20 in their race, which Ramsey did with a time of 23:12.92. This time is minutes off her lifetime PR, but due to an unfortunate early season injury, she was forced to miss multiple weeks of imperative training and meets. The time however, still secured her spot at states.

Ramsey was followed by senior teammate Chloe Key with a time of 25:17.22, freshman Kiley Robinson who crossed at 26:48.49, followed by fourth place team member Allison Gonzalez with a time of 26:54.58, and Rocio Sanchez-Hernandez with a time of 27:34.98, a lifetime personal record for Sanchez.

These five runners scored the points for the Lady Canes, and were followed by sixth place team runner Taryn McCart and seventh place runner Danyellie McCoy. Key placed 25th overall, Robinson 35th, Gonzalez 37th, Sanchez 43rd, McCart 56th, and McCoy 79th.

Nervously awaiting the results, the ladies prayed for a good final team score. After several long minutes, the results came in and all cheered when they secured a spot even better than predicted, fourth overall.

Bleckley took home first again with a total team score of 21, Jeff Davis second with 56, Vidalia third with 135 and the Canes with a team score of 150.

Both the boys and girls will advance to state tomorrow, Nov. 8 Not only did both teams qualify for state, but both teams also beat all region teams yet again this week at the sectional race, proving that they are region champs and state qualifiers!

Coaches Ashley Clegg, Karen Hays, and Ryan Warnock felt their training program to get the runners here will definitely see some tweaks for next year, but overall, it got the job done.