There are some great meets on tap for this weekend and the action is sure to be....soggy and unpredictable according the the latest forecast. The chance for continuous precipitation is very high at this time and threatens to turn venues hosting meets this Saturday into a bowl of muddy soup which could be very interesting. Here are the BIG Meets for this weekend.
Gwinnett- This will be the most competitive meet out there with the best of the best duking it out at the fast and flat River Green Parkway. A very anticipated race will be on the Girls side with North Gwinnett and Collins Hill finally going head to head. The Boys race will pit #1 Brookwood against Collins Hill, Parkview and a strong Mill Creek squad. Top Individuals to keep an eye out for are Nicky Akande and Vicky Winslow of The Hill, Laura Serres and Rose Howell of N.Gwinnett. Kirubel Erassa of Grayson will have a target on his back and that's all the Field may see in this race that includes Tommy George of Brookwood, Stephen Spevasek and Alek Klassen of Parkview along with C'Hill's Carlos Galindo and Nganda Gatei.
Cobb- The Meet Director has vowed this Championship will go on and to bring your rainboots to the Cobb County Corps Property in Acworth. This promises to be another intense meet as Cobb is nearly as strong as Gwinnett every season. The Girls race will feature #3 Harrison and Walton. The Boys race should comedown to a trifecta involving Walton, Lassiter and Harrison, but watch out for Kell also. Vying for top honors individually for the Girls could be Allison Brackin of Wheeler, Molly Schenk of Pope, Ali Waterson of Harrison and Sally Kirklewski from Roswell. The battle for the Boys Individual title should be very close featuring veteran harrier Alec Clifford of North Cobb, Zach Tupper of Pope, the Walton duo of Phillip Laskey and Michael Ayres, and Andrew Nelson of Marietta.
UGA- This meet is being held at a new venue at the UGA Equestrian Complex and will include nearly all of the Athens Area teams . There is also a Division I Collegiate race that gets the racing off to a fast start. I have no start listing of teams for this meet at press time though the following teams have added this meet to their Team Pages including these strong programs: Alexander, Athens Christian, Chapel Hill, Greenbrier, Lakeside-Evans, Lambert, North Oconee, Oconee County and Whitewater.
Milton- Ranked schools Alpharetta, Milton, Marist, Riverwood and Holy Innocents’ should vie for the win with South Forsyth and Chattahoochee also in the mix.
The individual race will be the highlight of the meet as the 2008 AAAAA state cross country runner-up Sydney Marshall (Chattahoochee) will tackle the tough, hilly and demanding Milton home course facinf off against Fulton County rival and reigning AAA state cross country champion Brett McDaniel .
The boy’s team race will be up for grabs with many teams rebuilding this year. South Forsyth, Chattahoochee and Marist should battle for the title. Marist had strong performances’ at the Kosh Classic, Mercy Invitational and their own invitational, while Chattahoochee and South Forsyth were neck-and-neck at the Berry Invitational, separated by only one point in team scores.
The race for the individual win could be any of four runners with equal shot to grab the title. South Forsyth’s Dylan Walker looks to be the favorite after his strong 2nd place finish at Berry, although Chattahoochee’s Austin Ulich will want to get the better of him, having finished just five seconds behind Walker in the race at Berry. Other strong contenders are Milton’s Tyler Tomy (course record holder) and Riverwood’s Conner McDaniel.