Saturday will mark the 2nd Annual North Georgia Championship @ Lamar Murphy Park hosted by East Jackson HS. The meet was created when the very successful, longtime NEGA Championships meet folded after 11 seasons. Coach Tomy Sitton of East Jackson, came up with the idea, to have a meet that was within an hour from the many Northeast Ga HS and MS in the area could compete at, instead of having to travel to Metro Atlanta and farther destinations. Last season the course proved to be somewhat short (around 3 miles, after several coaches wheeled it.) That has been remedied this season, and it is close to being a 5K now after some widening of the course curves.
Currently, 38 teams are entered, including 14 middle schools and over 1200 entries. The Championship team races will bootup the day at 8am beginning with the Boys Championship race, including programs the likes off: Flowery Branch, North Gwinnett, Jefferson, Dacula and Buford. The Girls title may come down to very strong squads: Mill Creek, Flowery Branch and Dacula.
Some top Individuals to watch for on the Boys side are: Shane Shelafoe of East Jackson, Alex Medley and Yahya Abdulkadir of Dacula, Derek Hildebrand of Jefferson from 2016 performances. On the Girls end look for some new faces up front, as Audrey Honiotes of Hart County graduated and Sue Morales has left the Sport. But, the Girls race should be very exciting featuring : 8/19 ROWs Skylar English of Dacula and Erika Plummer of Flowery Branch, veteran Camryn Petit of Mill Creek HS, Lyndsey Fowler of North Gwinnett, Maggie Dyer of Jefferson and Jaelen Alexander from White County.
Race Schedule:
8:00 championship boys
8:25 championship girls
10:00 ms boys
10:30 ms girls