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Hello Junior Cougar Nation,
I hope you're looking forward to a beautiful night under the lights in Jasper. As we've come to expect in August, there is a chance of storms in the evening, but that's Georgia for ya. One way or another, we're in for a treat. We have 36 runners racing, so lots of Cougar jerseys to cheer for.
Yellow jerseys + blue shorts for JV.
Elite jerseys + black shorts for V.
This is a spikes course, if you have them.
We will have 4 races on Friday night.
7:00pm - Open (JV) Girls: Amelia, Angela, Ellie, Eva, Kerrigan, Kyra, Mia, Olivia
7:30pm - Open (JV) Boys: Ben, Bennett, Colin, James, Jason, Leo, Luke, Niko, Owen, Ricardo, Royce
8:00pm - Championship (Varsity) Girls: Tamar, Gabi, Rena, Caroline, Emily, Hanna, Zahra, Ezri
8:25pm - Championships (Varsity) Boys: Brady, Bryce, Caleb, Carson, Derek, Nick, Michual, Haseong
Best advice I can give as a parent: if your runner is a bus rider and they don't get home before 4:15, you may want to think about carpool pickup on Friday. You'll need to leave sooner than you think. Plan to arrive at the venue before 6. There is limited roadway into Roper, so traffic backs up on the highway and it is a 5-8 minute walk from the school where everyone parks. Parking is $10/car, and I would suggest purchasing ahead of time on GoFan (link below). Bus or car, plan to have a light dinner for them to eat in the car immediately on departure for the meet. Don't get heavy fried foods. They can always eat more after they run.
When you arrive, look for our bright orange shirts, the JRCXC tent or our flag, and come over immediately. Runners will need to check in at our tent and start getting ready. We will take the JV girls out to start warming up at 6:30. If you are an experienced parent with XC, we could use some extra help this week checking runners in. There are a lot of first-timers, and bibs, tags, lacing shoes, etc. can be hard to figure out at your first race. Coach Bethany may be helping with some of the warming up while Coach Cross continues to heal.
Facilities: Restrooms will be available.Concessions: Food and drinks will be available.
Meet T-shirts will be provided by Simax Sports
Presale store: Pickens Preview Simax Store
Spectator Admission: $10 per car fee Go Fan Link: Pickens Preview Parking GoFan
It is always hard to get a read on what competition to expect in the JV races, so very little in way of preview on these. I expect to see some competition from the usual teams: clubs - Great Strides, GA 575 Elite, Junior Hoyas, Cherokee Youth Track Club; and schools - Carrollton, Cartersville, Creekland, etc... but we don't know how deep their teams go, nor how many runners they'll be racing. It will be interesting to see some of the younger runners slot in though, and historically JRCXC has done very well with our new runners at this race. Expect to see some good runs from some new 6th graders on the girls side, and some 6th and 7th graders on the boys side.
On the Varsity girls side, we'll keep an eye on Creekland, Cartersville and Pinckneyville, as they are potential competitors at State. Our girls ran very well this past week in Canton, and are beginning to round into shape. Our top 5 have all raced together now for over a year and can read each other well; they know how to work as a team. I expect to be competitive in the team standings, with Tamar & Gabi among the leaders.
On the boys side, we've got a lot of stiff competition. Judging from last week's results across the state, this is shaping up to be a banner year for boys in this sport, perhaps the best we've seen since 2022. We will add in a couple of returning State and Nationals runners in Derek and Carson to augment our strong finish last week, but anything can happen under the lights on Friday night and this may be a fast, top-heavy race. That said, our pack of Brady, Bryce, Caleb, Carson, Derek and Nick will be tight and spacing matters in cross country. We may not top 10 anyone, but we should be competitive once the scores roll around.
Spectators: lots of great space. I've circled some of the best spots in blue on the map below. Wherever you are, you're not going to want to miss the finish area for your runners. It is INTENSE!
Looking forward to a great night this weekend. Weather will always be the wild card, but this should be a fun, fun evening!
-Coach Derek & Coach Cross
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