Run At The Rock Preview

 Just across the Etowah River from Sam Smith Park in Cartersville, the site of the Atlanta Track Club's Wingfoot Classic later this month, lays the campus of Woodland High School.  Situated at the rear of the campus is an area which students and staff call "the lower 40."    The "lower 40"  is the setting for the cross country course-an area of meadows, bordered by woods and the Etowah River and an elevated area referred to as "The Rock."    The Rock rises approximately eighty feet above the main course elevation and includes a quarter mile hill encountered in the second mile of the course.  This is the venue for Saturday's Run at the Rock where 25 teams will battle it out to become kings (or queens) of the hill.   Rain in the forecast for Friday could make for some slick footing on the inclines on Saturday morning.   Here is a short meet preview.   

Olivia Terwilliger returns in 2016 to defend the girls individual title

Girls Individual:

The favorites going in are the Kell duo of Reagan Poteet and defending champion Olivia Terwilliger, who won handily in 2015.    Others to watch are 2015 runner-up Elizabeth Rice of Kennesaw Mountain, Sarika Temme-Bapat of Northview, Baylee Evans of North Paulding and Alex Whiten of North Paulding who easily won the JV race here as an eighth grader in 2014.    Also in the hunt for medals should be several runners from the host school:  freshman Carli Clymer who won last week at Ridge Ferry, Tess Cochran, Lindsay Scifers (4^th last year) and Cheyenne Spinks (8^th last year) as well as Lauren Serro of Sprayberry.

 Girls team:

It is always difficult to predict what teams will do this early in the season, but on paper this looks like a battle between schools whose districts border one another, North Paulding and pre-season AAAAA #8 Woodland.   The Lady Cats bring a very young team into the meet but have the advantage of running on home turf, while North Paulding brings a more experienced and well rested team into the meet.    Also battling for trophies should be Kennesaw Mountain, and pre-season AAAAA #10 ranked Rome.   Northview, with their recent history and tradition, cannot be counted out.

 Boys Individual:

With Rockdale County scheduled to compete Dax Willette is the favorite on paper, but could be challenged by Will Bullock of Kennesaw Mountain, Audrick Pyronneau of Hiram,  J.B. Bowling of Rome, who was near the front at Ridge Ferry last week, some of the Northview squad and a number of others.    The race should come down to who is best able to handle the mid-race hills and potential slick conditions.

 Boys Team:

With a number of teams entered that have yet to compete this season there could be a surprise or two in the team race, but the teams that  look to have the best shot to take home some hardware are  pre-season AAAAA #9 Hiram, pre-season AAAAAA #5 Sequoyah, Kennesaw Mountain, pre-season AAAAAA #8 Northview, North Paulding and Rome.

Host School: Woodland High School