JCMS Cross Country Competes in Gray
By KAREN JABLONSKI
Jasper County Middle School’s cross country team kicked off its season in a big way, traveling to Gray on Saturday, Sept. 19 for the annual Greyhound Invitational hosted by Jones County High School.
The day was a great success, with most of the team members improving their personal best times from practice or previous seasons, and eighth grader Mari Jablonski bringing home an individual overall first place trophy for the girls in her first cross country race as a JCMS Hurricane.
Of the 49 schools competing, 20 were middle schools, bringing hundreds of runners to compete in the MS boys and girls races. If that wasn’t daunting enough for a mostly young team, issues with their team bus caused them to arrive with literally no time to spare before the girls’ race, and their competition already lined up, forcing Jasper’s girls to scramble for bibs, stretch and run to the starting line just minutes before the gun.
Head coach Scott Cooper was pleased with his team’s poise and determination under such difficult circumstances, especially at a major venue.
“I am super proud of the team for being able to have our first meet at a big invitational, and for their ability to shrug off the nerves that come from a race of that caliber,” said Cooper.
JCMS brought 21 runners to Gray, 11 of whom were racing for the first time in a cross country meet.
In the MS girls race, Jablonski’s winning time for the 3200m course was 13:51. Seventh grader Haley Mote finished next for the Lady Canes with a new personal best time of 17:25 for 72nd place. She was followed by Sarah Carnes, Claire Taylor and Vivet Villanueva, all completing the course in under 20 minutes.
In the MS boys race, seventh grader J.K. Strength led the way for JCMS with a time of 19:24, followed by teammates Tarek Ahmad (20:19) and Ryan Henderson (22:51).
Coach Cooper is excited about the team’s prospects. “We are improving every day,” he said. “Our next step is to get the entire team to run for two miles without stopping to walk.”
The team competes again this week at Putnam Co. at the Uncle Remus Golf Course.