The 6A boys race was pretty crazy this year

Or you can go check out some of our other coverage like the most Improved Athletes from State or vote on the best performance from the state meet:

Most Improved Boys | Most Improved Girls

Boys Best Performance Vote | Girls Best Performance Vote

Ok. On to the recaps. The 6A races, as always, lived up to the hype.

6A Boys 

This was such an exciting race. It was expected to be a wild ride and it absolutely delivered. Denmark tricked me the first loop by wearing different uniforms and I can't be wonder if that made an impact on the race as well. I don't know if West Forsyth or Harrison were coached to pay attention to the normal bright blue uniforms of Denmark only for them to be in a harder to find color. But if they were, you gotta figure that played a role in Denmark's win. Anyway, because of that I spent the first mile paying attention to Harrison and West Forsyth but not knowing where Denmark was. Both teams got out in what I thought was a great strategy for their team. Harrison was up early but West's pack was perfectly positioned. And that kind of goes to the theme of this race, nobody ran poorly. These were 3 teams that all had a shot to win this thing and they all ran the best race they could to get the win. Sometimes in sports you just get beat, and there's no shame in losing to a team like Denmark who had a phenomenal performance. By the time they passed separation slope the first time I found Denmark who was sitting back just a touch but they were moving well. At halfway, it was anybody's race. By the time they hit the two mile it did appear to be down to a two team race as Harrison's 5th was starting to fade a little bit. Harrison held on well, but this ultimately just came down to who was going to close. Denmark and West were dead even and pulling away. But Denmark had the advantage because they had the front runner. And while this advantage wound up not being the big difference maker in the end as Denmark's 4th and 5th each beat West's 4th and 5th by 10 points respectively, I can't help but think it made a difference mentally for the Denmark pack knowing that they had that advantage in their back pocket. So even though West's top runner had a very good race, possibly his best of the year, to keep it close early, I assume the Denmark pack was just marking the West pack knowing all they had to do was keep it close. When they came up the final hill for the last time it was obvious who had the win, which is why it was funny when the results didn't immediately reflect that. You saw some teams finishing higher up when the flash results were posted on the board, and I was definitely thrown at first. But when I saw coach Hudson walking over to the timing tent, I knew we'd see the updated results soon. And sure enough, once we did the 3 teams were sorted out exactly the way you expected them to. What a thrilling finish with about as much drama as you can hope for. And before I move on to the individual race, I have to also point out the team who got the final podium spot. Carrollton also ran a great race, and ended up being even closer to the top 3 than I thought they would. I wonder if they used my predictions as motivation for being left out. Both them and Brookwood were closer to the top 3 than I thought anybody could be in this race. Great races from both of those programs who were probably out there trying to prove me wrong. Kudos gents, you weren't alone as my predictions fell flat on their faces more often than not this year. And you definitely proved me wrong with two great team races. 

Individually, this was an interesting race. And I think you have to hand it to Jackson Hogsed for running the perfect race and not letting anything else around him affect what he was doing. I couldn't tell if the others were just keying off Hogsed or not, but it was obvious from the way the race played out that he was just staying as relaxed as possible that first loop. The race went out quick for the leaders, but nothing insane. And Hogsed was clearly just biding his time and then when he made his move, it was all over. And you could tell. He looked the best and he just dropped the entire field, even though it was a pretty big pack together the first loop. He wound up running the 2nd fastest time of the entire weekend and looks to be very much in position to go for Footlocker or Nike Nationals. Or maybe both now that that's an option. The race behind Hogsed was interesting as it became a war of attrition once he made his big move. But it also led to what I believe was the surprise of the weekend. Dash Brackin taking 2nd place as a freshman was bonkers. We all knew he was having a stellar season and could run with these boys. But I'm absolutely shocked that he was able to beat all of them. I figured he'd beat some of them, but ALL of them? As a freshman? That was wild. There were way too many elite boys in this field for him to be able to pull that off. It is one of the most impressive performances we've seen here. Take your bow young man. In 3rd was Clint Huggins who also had a stellar race and exceeded expectations. Again he's been upfront all season, but he beat a few guys he's never beaten before, so he chose the right day to have his best race ever. So did Ethan Bridge who got kind of set the tone for the Denmark win. And Holden Cammarata rounded out the top 5 with his big race continuing the roll he's been on lately. But I feel it's important to point out the fact that Jameson Pifer and Joseph Brooks both looked like top 5 finishers for most of this race. As they headed to the playground the 2nd time, I thought for sure Pifer was going to get 2nd. He looked fine and even though Hogsed had pulled away at this point, I thought Pifer was the strongest runner remaining. so something clearly happened to him during that final kilometer, or maybe he was just tired for trying to hang with Hogsed, as the emotion of watching you biggest competitor sometimes just affects kids more than they'll realize coming in. We've certainly seen that before and it's heartbreaking. And it ultimately cost Pifer the podium. But even more heartbreaking was Brooks who fell on the final downhill. He was able to get back up and still finish on the podium in 9th, but he had 4th place wrapped up when it happened, and that was going to be his best race ever. You hate to see a kid come so close only to have that happen because they raced with that much heart. Ben Winn also appeared to struggled the 2nd loop of this race which is unfortunate, but he held on for 10th. Rounding out the podium were strong races from Riley Comstock in 6th, Haydn Hermansen in 7th, and Alexander Thompson in 8th. 

6A Girls

Why on Earth would I ever predict Marietta girls to lose? What was I thinking? I think my favorite thing about this story is the fact that as I was checking out the final results, I overheard a Marietta parent reacting to them winning the race with "I can't believe they even made it to the starting line." And I thought that was strange so I asked the girls about it and apparently one of them forgot their uniform so they had to race in the boys singlets...after the boys raced in them. What a story. But this was by no means a done deal from the gun. We've seen Marietta dominate races. On Saturday we got to see them fight and claw their way to a win. Running without their 2nd fastest girl was tough, but they found a way and an unlikely hero. As I was watching the race I was scoring it in my head as they went and it was close the whole way. Marietta obviously had the early low stick, but all of their competitors had a better 5th runner. So this thing was close the whole way. And what's funny about this is that Marietta's 5th began to fade the 2nd loop and it looked like it could be all over. Fortunately they had Bella Russell step up that 2nd loop and just mow the field down to give Marietta enough points to secure the win. If she's not able to do that, this race is much closer and could have gone another way with their competitors running so well. I spoke to Coach Coleman about her and he praised her ability to just get things rolling the 2nd half of every race. Apparently she's one that likes to start out slow but just gains momentum as she goes throughout the race, and that's the perfect type of runner to rely on to clinch it for you at Carrollton. In 2nd place was the team that surprised me the most. I obviously underestimated North Gwinnett and just how good their pack was going to move through this field. They only had a 27 second 1-5 gap which means they were the only team in the top 6 who didn't have a top 10 individual, but they had the best 5th runner of the day and that made a big difference in a deep field. Harrison also ran a strong race but ultimately came up a little short. Again there's nothing wrong with that, sometimes you just get beat by somebody who has a slightly better day. I think Harrison looked good up front and held strong with their 3-5 runners. Maybe they'll nitpick, but this was a good race and they should hold their heads up high. The final podium spot came down to Walton and Mill Creek. A two point loss is probably tough to swallow. But I think both teams had very good performances and some that didn't go their way. That happens at state, unfortunately. It's just so hard to have all 7 girls have the perfect race on the same day. That's life, and both teams had a great season, but Walton ended up getting the final trophy at the end of a very close race.

Individually, Mary Nesmith was on a mission. This was kind of the opposite race from what happened in the boys race. Nesmith got out hard and was determined to drop everybody as quickly as possible. She also ended up with the 2nd fastest performance of the weekend, and it was a pretty impressive showing as she never looked spent. She looked within herself and just ran so powerful the whole way. Really there's not much that was surprising on the individual side of things in this race. It more or less ran the way you thought it would. Both Paige Comstock and Evelyn Schlitz opened up right behind Nesmith, only to realize the pace was too hot to handle and backed off to run within themselves for a strong performance from each. Kennedy Wardle and Tess Krogman ran their own race and made their way to the top 5 as well, much like I predicted. I think the two biggest surprises, which were only mild surprises, in the top 10 were Alyssa Trevino who clearly stepped up in the absence of Maddie Jones to take 6th and Destinee Frink who showed up and ran her best XC race ever to take 10th. Rounding out the podium were Emily Autry in 7th, Ava Layson in 8th, and Mallory Old in 9th who all ran strong races that were around where you'd expect them to be.