North GA XC Championships - Review
How do you know cross-country season has officially begun? In my book, I know when the first Saturday arrives on which I have to wake up hours before dawn, drive to the meet location, have the tent set up and begin checking in runners before the sun even crests the horizon. And usually, somewhere along the way, I forget my coffee. That was last Saturday. Complete with the absence of a caffeine fix. We had our first full-team meet on August 29th at the North Georgia Cross Country Championships. Fifty-six teams from across the northern portion of our state- comprising both middle schools and high schools- pitched their tents on the campus of East Jackson High School and tackled a course that was, well, let's just say not an easy run. We put forth 48 runners in the two middle school racers, of whom 20 were running their first ever XC race while another 5 made their 2026 season debuts!
The boys toed the line first, and due to the nature of the course and a building in our way on the return from warm-ups, we moved almost straight from warming up into the race. We knew the competition would be fierce as it included our first look at a Buford squad that will challenge us at State. We were resting several top runners to manage load in this part of the season, but the boys still managed a top 3 finish, missing a second place finish by one (1!!!) point. I have no doubt that at full strength we challenge for the top position, but we were not interested in August success. Our definition for success on Saturday lay instead with the runners who got to experience their first ever races and helping everyone complete the course and Chase Their Greatest Race.
Every runner crossed the line! The 8th grade squad of Caleb, Brady, Derek C and Nick welcomed Patrick S to 2026 with a fantastic pack finish of 18, 19, 20, 21, and 25. Ben continued his season-long streak of improvements with a new PR at a 14:14 equivalent 2-mile, followed closely by Luke G to round out our scoring. Derek L had a great first ever race, coming in 67th and announcing his arrival with an 8th place finish for the team. Haseong, Royce, and Owen were next, joined by Leo Gill and Colin and Bennett (Leo in his 2026 debut). Then it was a slew of new runners and debuts as Kaden, Leo Gr, Niko, Patrick F, Vihaan, Ricardo, Preston, Aadit, Brody, Kaiden and Jackson kept the yellow jersey train a-rollin'! One single spot higher from any of the front 7 and we walk home with a trophy. However, notice was served that JRCXC will not be outworked this season on the boys' side.
A different type of notice was served on the girls' side. Despite sitting 4 of our top 7 runners, the ladies of JRCXC went home with a 1st place trophy in a very tough top-4 crowd, edging out Tallulah Falls by tiebreaker, Buford by 2 points and Hebron Christian by 5. Thanks in no small part to a fantastic 6th & 7th place set of runs by Ellie and Mia, we scored an 89. Tamar led the way, finally finding her finishing kick this season and chased down a runner in the chutes for 2nd place overall! Rena and Emily ran great veteran races to finish in spots 12 and 18, while 6th graders Ezri and Zahra continued to show our strength in our young runners. Payton had a great debut race, finishing just over 16 minutes, while 8th graders Jiyu and Kyra followed up under 17:00. Kerrigan broke 18:00, and Carsyn exploded onto the scene having just joined the team on Tuesday with an 18:12. Olivia, Elin, Angela, Kamila, Ayra and Amelia kept the crowd going, while Ryleigh and Sofia competed with each other down the stretch to see who would finish first. And Emma never gave up, pushing herself in the heat and hills to complete her first race and earn the JRCXC patch.
Despite the heat and humidity sapping at least 5% off everyone's reserves, 20 runners set PRs in their first races, while Ben (0:36), Patrick S (0:47) and Ricardo (0:55) set equivalent PRs, and Jiyu came in a whopping 1:51 ahead of her previous PR. That's 24 runners who earned PR wristbands this week!
Afterwards, we had a great time cheering on the CHS teams who raced afterwards, and if your family was anything like mine, devoured some Waffle House or Chick-fil-a on the way home.
Thank you to everyone who made it that early for the race. We will have another Cougar Nation run this coming weekend at Starr's Mill in Fayetteville, but roles are reversed this week: it's the high schoolers who will have to answer the rooster's crows before dawn.
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