JV Cougars Run To State Title
Piedmont Academy’s cross country program brought home its first state championship overall win last Wednesday, competing at the GISA JV end-of-season meet.
At the finish line, Mari Jablonski earned her third first-place win of the 2014 season and first state championship title.
The annual culminating event, hosted this year by Trinity Christian School in Dublin, brought together 250 middle school runners representing 21 AA and AAA independent schools from across the state.
Piedmont Academy was also represented by Gracie Black and Mallory Boyd in the AA girls JV race and Garrett King in the AA boys JV competition.
“This win was Mari’s ultimate goal all season and she worked hard toward it,” said coach Traci Brady. “She ran during her PE class, in regular after-school practice and at home, logging 25-30 miles per week to ensure she’d be in top condition for this race. This is absolutely a case of hard work and dedication paying off.”
Jablonski’s time for the two-mile course was 13:51.22, 17 seconds ahead of the second-place competitor, Brentwood’s Michael Ann Hood.
Her race strategy involved gaining an early lead and setting a hard 6:40 mile pace to wear most of her competitors down, banking on her own ability to recover in the second mile without losing too much speed. This also produced open trail in front of her for the entire race.
Teammates Black and Boyd, who have trained this season to build better endurance, worked to keep steady paces throughout the run, a difficult prospect when the course becomes more physically demanding in the second mile. Black brought in a solid performance at 17:37.36 to finish in 16th place, her highest of the season on this course. Boyd rounded out Piedmont’s girls in 21st place and a time of 18:44.47.
As the lone runner representing Piedmont’s boys, King also made his coach proud, turning in his fastest time of the season. He finished the 2-mile course in 17:11.15 and 28th place.
“Garrett made a steady improvement throughout the season, and completed this course 21 seconds faster than his previous best. It’s an encouraging way to end the year,” said his coach.
Overall it was a strong season for the JV runners.
“I’m so proud of these kids,” Brady said. “They all gave strong performances for a hot day and one of the longer courses on our schedule. Some undulations and turns through the woods add a bit of technical difficulty to this race and can make passing challenging; in other places it’s sandy and flatter and can take a bigger stride.
“Mari had to sprint hard off the starting line to break free of the pack before entering those woods, and unfortunately Gracie and Mallory were caught in it. Garrett had passing to deal with also.
But that’s always the question – how hard can you start without risking your recovery when you have a couple miles of variable terrain ahead of you? Much of the kids’ training involves learning what they’re physically capable of, maximizing it and using it to their advantage. That kind of knowledge only comes from experience.”
The Piedmont varsity runners will compete next, heading back to Monsignor Donovan in Athens for the GISA 4-AA region meet on Oct. 18.
