History and Inception of the MS State XC Championships by Coach Shelly Cranford
The Middle School state cross country championship meet was started in 2006. It was a meet that I had dreamed of starting for years but never got the nerve up to actually try it. Our superintendent at the time, Dr. L.C.(Buster) Evans, who is now the Forsyth County superintendent, was very much in favor of this idea and gave me the go ahead and support for giving it a shot. We had about 12 or so schools that first year, and it has steadily grown every year since then, with almost 1000 kids competing last year. Middle school cross country was continuing to grow here in Bleckley County back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and I thought it would be a neat idea to try to stage a state middle school meet since there really wasn’t anything like it already in place. I wanted to start something that would showcase the middle school kids, who hopefully will be our future high school runners one day.
I love being the meet host, mainly because I just love putting on cross country meets and trying to put on meets that kids/coaches/parents/spectators will enjoy and will hopefully want to come back to the next year. I have a great support crew of parents/current high school runners/former runners/parents of former runners and other community people who volunteer their time to help make this meet what it is each year. They do a great job, and without them we wouldn’t be where we are today with this meet. The Bleckley County school system administration, led by Dr. Charlotte Pipkin/superintendent, is very supportive of this meet and allows us to use our school buildings and facilities to host this meet. I realize that you are not going to make everybody happy with how things are done, but I feel like 99% of the people who come to this meet each year enjoy it and look forward to coming back the next year.
In regards to trophies, I always envisioned a huge trophy going along with a state title, with the bigness of the trophy paralleling the huge accomplishment of winning a state title, either as a team or as an individual. I want the kids and coaches to know that middle school cross country is important and to know that almost all of the entry fee money goes back into the awards. We spent over $2000.00 last year on awards and will do the same again this year. This meet is that important to me, and I want teams and individuals to want to come back each year. We look forward to watching some great racing action this Saturday in Cochran , Georgia .
The Competition
This meet has had some of the top runners in Georgia HS Cross Country today compete in it and every year it seems to get better. Its difficult to gauge who the team favorites and Individuals are due to the 3 primary distances MS runners compete at including the 3K, 3200m and 2 Mile Run. Along with a couple of the courses races have been contested at possibly not being real close to distance they are billed as, no accusations here but a reality along with a few definitely being tougher than others. Perhaps the 2 top courses were Athens Academy, though a 3K course, may be the best challenge around for Middle Schoolers along with Nash Farms Battlefield. Darlington was one of the faster courses at 3200 meters along with the 3K layout NEGA at ACS and Stratford Academy which had to be very short so I'm not taking into account races held there.
On the Boys side the top runners this season with results reported who are Registered at this time are the dynamic trio of Jenkins brothers including Joseph, Jon and Joey along with Nick Corsaniti. North Cherokee's Wolfpack has a strong trio including Sean Parker Nick Wooten and Zac Cantrell, Thomas Moore of Malcom Bridge, Rob Clements of Athens Academy, Jonathan Butler from Edwards MS will be running unattached as well as Harper Sigler of Oconee County MS. Beck Muse of First Presbyterian Day brings a strong resume also.
The top girls competitors will have a few unattached runners vying for that huge 1st place trophy including
Kathryn Foreman of Landmark Christian School, Savannah Carnahan of Forsyth Flyers, Ellen Powell of Bleckley MS, Brittany Samples of Walnut Grove, Jana Morning of Cass MS, Madison Honeycutt (Hunter Honeycutt's lil' sister) from Tift County MS, Charity Williams and Kristen Westbrook of ACS, Mary Glassman from St. Joseph's, Kira Stanley of the Junior Hoyas, Madison Graham of Pace Academy, Sarah Foreman of Landmark, Sophie Singletary of Pace Academy and Rachel Sigler.
We will add more runners to this list as Registration still has 2 days remaining. As of Tuesday 6pm, 690 runners and 40 Teams. More on Team competition Thursday morning.
Course Map and Description
Top Performers---------School-----------------Year----------Time----------HS 5K PR
Boys
Nathan Vassey---------Woodward------------2006---------11:38----------15:24.11
Cameron Thornton-----Whitefield-------------2007---------11:31----------15:44.50
Ray Warner--------------Holy Innocents------2008---------11:30----------16:25.72
Bailey Roth---------------Inman MS------------2009---------10:49----------15:52.11
Alex Murphee------------Woodward-----------2010----------11:02----------16:40.32
Girls
Sarah Pray---------------Griffin-------------------2006----------13:14----------20:06.20
Sarah Pray---------------Griffin-------------------2007----------12:46----------20:06.20
Sahara Fletcher----------N.Clayton-------------2008----------12:15----------17:52.59
Maddie Wetterhall-------Chamblee-------------2009----------12:24----------18:53.71
Morgan Ilse---------------Marist------------------2010----------12:26----------19:00.80
Team Champs
Boys
2006---North Hall
2007---North Hall
2008---Woodward Academy
2009---Toombs County (Individual Team)
2009---Woodward Academy (Championship Team)
2010---Woodward Academy (Large School)
2010---Bleckley County (Small School)
Girls
2006---Bleckley County
2007---Kennesaw Mountain
2008---Woodland
2009---Athens Christian (Individual Team)
2009---Marist (Championship Team)
2010---Marist (Large School)
2010---Holy Innocents (Small School)