Oct 17, 2025

Well here we are at the end of the regular season. How does it always go by so fast? The Coach Wood Invitational has long been seen as the big finale among coaches. It's often referred to as the All Class State meet, but that's been more true in some years than others. It kind of depends on the makeup of the state. The reality is that not everybody has their best day at Coach Wood, as they're getting in a final bit of hard training before the state meet. Some kids come in fresher than others and it truly depends on how they're prepping for state. But still, at the end of the day, it doesn't hurt to come race here even if you're not 100%. So it still serves as the most competitive race in the state year in and year out. And it's been that way for a long time now.

This meet is also one of the most historic meets in the state, having started back in 2003, technically. And it's produced some blazing fast PR's in recent years. So it's worth looking at the history of the meet before diving into this year's edition:

Coach Wood Top 500 performances

Now I probably sound like a broken record here, but it's incredibly hard to know how a team will perform in a field like this. It's really cool that this year we don't have to worry about any out of state teams stealing the show, and we can just focus on our Georgia teams. I just have no idea how this thing will play out. I have no idea who is hitting their stride and who has a bug going around the team. But still, it's worth checking out the virtual meet anyway:

Coach Wood Virtual Meet

So how will the teams stack up? I'm not sure. But I'll give it a go this time now that we've seen basically everybody have experience in 1. At least one blazing fast course and 2. At least one really deep field. So there's not much to hide behind anymore and the virtual meet is at least BETTER at predicting things than it was before Asics and it was borderline worthless before wingfoot. Obviously part of this will depend on how teams perform as some do better than others while some won't be at full strength. But for the most part the virtual meet is a solid indicator of what we're about to see.

The girls team battle is probably still a race for 2nd place behind Pope, who yet again continues to dominate the state. That's not an easy feat to keep up for two consecutive years so kudos to those ladies. Behind them the most likely battle is Marietta versus Harrison in what could be a state meet preview for class 6A. Race dynamics are different, but those two squads continue to be the cream of the crop in class 6A for...alot of years. The other interesting battle is the 4A girls team battle between Harris Co., Blessed Trinity, and Marist. If I had to guess, this will come down to whoever is healthiest on the day. They've all run fast courses though and there's still not much separating them. Harris County might have an advantage with the front runners in a field like this as long as their 4-5 don't fade. But so much can happen in that pack and I'd just consider this an appetizer for state.

The boys team race is the one to keep an eye on though. We've got almost all of the podium contenders in both 6A and 4A. So definitely keep an eye on those battles to see who comes away with an advantage heading towards Carrollton. The favorite is definitely West Forsyth, but it's closer than I thought it would be. Harrison has returned just as strong as they were last year. That's not a surprise. But the real surprise is that there are legitimately 4 other teams who could knock off West for the win in 3 weeks, and 3 of them are racing here with North Gwinnett, Brookwood, and Denmark (Carrollton is the only one missing). So this just feels like the warm up for the real thing in November, and I'll be interested to see if anybody ends up playing any mind games here with PR's on the line. For the 4A race Jones County established themselves as the favorite, but I'm not quite ready to write off Pace Academy or Westminster (who already beat Jones County once this year). I see this as a potential 3 team race unless Jones county is lights out, and even then there are plenty of other 4A squads who could be looking to break into the top 3 as well. And if the last two paragraphs felt more like a state meet preview than a Coach Wood meet preview, well, that's kind of my point.

Individually there's plenty to look for but the race I've got my eye on the most is Jameson Pifer versus the clock. Pifer has been saying for years now that he wants to break the 4 minute mile while in high school. And while that's a conversation for the spring, it's not unreasonable to think Pifer can come away with a meet record on Saturday. Because in order to get one, he will need to beat Georgia's only sub 4 minute miler ever, not at all an easy task. But after clocking 14:37 at Asics, it's not impossible either. I'll be curious to see if he goes for the time or sits back to just race for the win. Because let's not forget he's got to beat out 3 other sub 15 minute runners in order to get this win. I still think Malachi Burnett is his biggest competitor, even if he's not at the top of that list on the virtual meet. Burnett is a national qualifier and I gotta believe he's going to be stronger later in the season than he was earlier in the year. But, Cameron Collier and Carson Dobur deserve their flowers as well, and definitely have the chops to take home the win. Riley Comstock also has the pedigree to be considered a contender here, and I'm sure he will win a big one at some point. Clint Huggins is starting to get back into tip top shape as well, and could be a factor. And the "dark horse" here is probably Kristopher Strong, who I hope wasn't trying to fly under the radar here and gets mad at me for pointing out that he should be in the mix. He's not quite shown that top level talent yet this year, but I've seen the potential for a while form him and it would not surprise me if he comes away with a top finish. I know, I know, I'm leaving off several runners. There are probably 15 other guys who have a chance at a top 10 finish here tomorrow and I'm not going to do them a disservice by just listing them out. Instead go check out the virtual meet and feel free to criticize me on Saturday when your guy steps up and proves me wrong. I welcome all trash talk after the fact!

On the girls side your guess is as good as mine in terms of who wins this thing. There are AT LEAST 7 girls who could win this thing and would not surprise me at all if they did. It's almost certainly going to be a tight pack up front with lots of contenders right there from the beginning and the winner will just be whoever feels the best on race morning. I'm not at all making a prediction here so I'll run down the list. Liliana Beemer had her breakthrough race at Asics and is technically the favorite after finishing 3rd there. But she was only barely ahead of Josie Hutchinson and Aislynn Dunn who have both won races this year so they know how to compete for the win. Side note, how impressive is it for Pope to have two front runners like that? Kudos, ladies. Moving on from them it's also worth noting that Harris Co. also has a pair of girls who could compete for the win with Melanie Anderson and Effie Ward. This meet actually kind of has a history of teammates doing well, which kind of makes sense at this point in the season with the training. If one girl is firing on all cylinders, her teammate probably is too. So it would not surprise me at all to see the Pope or Harris Co. girls go 1-2 or 1-3 or something similar. Paige Comstock and Ella Alberici are also no strangers to winning races. They will definitely be in the mix and could come away with the win. For the girls I'll go ahead and pick Harriet Blaha as my "dark horse" for this one. Call it a gut feeling, but this could be her breakthrough race, and she has a history of being tough when she wants to be. And also just like the boys, I know there are girls who I'm leaving out. But there's just too many contenders to include them all. If you feel slighted, use it as fuel for the fire tomorrow morning and go prove me wrong.

Featured Meets

23rd Annual Coach Wood Invitational

McIntosh Nature Preserve Whitesburg, GA

Oct 18, 2025

Last Year's Meet

Venue Records: McIntosh Nature Preserve

Meet Records

Virtual Meets

Using 2025 Stats: High School Girls High School Boys
Using 2024 Stats: High School Girls High School Boys

Teams Entered

Alexander
Allatoona HS
Alpharetta
Archer HS
Atlanta Classical Academy
Berkmar High School
Blessed Trinity
Bremen High School
Brookwood
Cambridge HS
Cherokee High School
Collins Hill High School
Creekview
Dacula
Dawson County
Decatur High School
Denmark High School
Duluth High School
East Coweta
Etowah
Evans High School
Fellowship Christian School
Galloway
Grayson High School
Harris Co. High School
Harrison High School
Hebron Christian
Heritage Prep
Homewood HS
Jefferson High School
Johns Creek HS
Jones County High School
Lakeside HS DeKalb
Lambert HS
Landmark Christian School
Locust Grove High School
Marietta High School
Marist
Maynard H. Jackson High School
McIntosh High School
Meadowcreek HS
Midtown
Mill Creek High School
Mount Pisgah Christian School
Newnan High School
Norcross High School
North Cobb High School
North Forsyth
North Gwinnett
North Paulding HS
Northgate
Pace Academy
Parkview High School
Paulding County
Peachtree Ridge High School
Pope High School
Roswell High School
Shiloh High School
South Forsyth High School
South Paulding HS
St. Pius X
Starrs Mill High School
Stockbridge High School
The Mount Vernon School
Walton High School
Wesleyan School
West Forsyth High School
Westminster School
Whitefield Academy
Whitewater High School
Woodward Academy

Venue Records: McIntosh Nature Preserve

Meet Records

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Pole Green Park (Upper Course)

Meet Records

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: John Hunt Running Park

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Cook HS

Meet Records

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Crisp County HS XC Course

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Horizon Christian Academy

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Grovetown HS

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Richmond Hill HS

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Long County High School

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: College of Coastal Georgia

Meet Records

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Franklin County High School

Meet Records

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Augusta Prep

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Huntington MS

Meet Records

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: College of Coastal Georgia

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Georgia Premier Cross Country Course

Meet Records

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Skidaway Island State Park

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Banks County XC Course

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Oconee Community Cross Country Course

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Lafayette Christian School

Meet Records

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: Athens Christian

Meet Records

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered

Venue Records: GMC Practice Field/Oconee River Greenway

Virtual Meets

Teams Entered