MS Cross Country Preps for Championships
In the final race of their regular season last Thursday, Oct. 8, the JCMS Cross Country Hurricane teams ran strong in a quad meet hosted by Georgia Military College Prep School.
Both girls and boys faced teams from GMC, Oak Hill, and Thomson, with the girls’ team placing third overall. Jasper County’s boys raced as individuals, as they didn’t have the five required runners to field a team. On average, race times slowed by about a minute on GMC’s rugged two mile course, but the athletes’ solid performances showed in their finishing places.
Mari Jablonski and J.K. Strength were the top girl and boy runners from Jasper County. Jablonski’s time of 14:00 earned the individual first place finish in the field of 40 runners in the girls’ race. She closes the season undefeated in JCMS regular pre-state competition. J.K. Strength’s time of 18:49 earned a 27th place finish in the competitive boys’ race.
Coach Scott Cooper was also “extremely excited” about Haley Mote’s 10th place individual finish, her highest place yet of the season. Her time was 17:12.
Other notable performances in order of finishing time include: Sarah Carnes (18:49), Vivet Villanueva (19:29), Chloe Mathers (20:01), Stephania Sanchez (20:22), Ryan Henderson (20:37), McKenzie Minter (21:03), Ella Mercer (21:12), Scout Behling (21:17), Jenna Parrish (21:19), Claire Taylor (21:38), Emily Cavender (21:44), Kelsey Marat (21:48), Ashton Whitener (22:15), Aubrey Crowe (26:36), and Carly Baker (26:40).
This was probably the toughest course we’ve faced,” Coach Cooper commented. “There was a series of hills about a mile in that zapped their energy. We haven’t been able to run much in practice for the last couple of weeks due to all the rain. I am super happy with this team.”
The team is putting in some hard practices this week in preparation for traveling to Cochran on Saturday, Oct. 17, for the Georgia State Middle School Cross Country Championships hosted by Bleckley County Middle School.
Prior to last week’s quad meet, the team traveled to Madison on October 1 for a 10-school invitational, competing with Clarke. Hilsman, Lake Oconee Academy, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Putnam, Athens Academy, Malcom Bridge, and Morgan County.