Berry College Clara Bowl Invitational 2014

2A 'Runners of the Week' ending 8-30 were Darlington's Spencer Fields and Greater Atlanta Christian's Abby Kettle. Fields challenged top runners in the state at Berry and Kettle ran well at the 12th Annual Fall Run Away meet  

Michael Hans from Oconee County HS and Sue Anne Moralis of East Jackson were named the 3A 'Runners of the Week' after great races this past weekend. Moralis is just a freshman....  

5A ROWs for week ending 8-30 (as well as 1A-4A) got delayed a bit by food poisoning, but they are coming...Dunwoody's Ansley Heavern and Allatoona's Colton Page were selected this week after their performances at Berry and Saucony Battle of Atlanta.  

The 6A Week Ending 8-30 'Runners of the Week' both came from the Berry Clara Bowl Invitational including Ashley Kehoe of Pope and Sam Costa of Mill Creek. 

The All-Class ROW's for Week Ending 8-30 came from 2 Northeast Ga runners at meets that the courses couldn't be more different.  Jenna Gearing from White County toiled on the War Eagle course at Chestatee and North Hall's Quintin Miles won the Boys overall at Berry Clara Bowl. 

Final weekend of August and third week of cross country action in 2014 season. MileSplit US will be on-site with Brandon Miles and Jimmy Stevenson at the Marcus I Invitational with 2,220 athletes featuring some of the top runners and programs in the state of Texas.    

The Berry Invitational had some interesting twists and turns to it today.  A wrong turn in the HS Girls race shortened the course by approximately 300 meters, but otherwise things went smooth. Times seemed slower than normal, but it's hard to say for sure. The large start was not an issue at all and it never seemed crowded. The St.Pius Boys won their 2nd invite in a row besting a strong Auburn team and North Hall. Quintin Miles of NH (pictured) took the overall win in 16:18. Harrison's Girls were too fast for the field taking the team title. Ashley Kehoe of Pope was top individual in 17:58.

HS Boys, Girls, & Awards

The Berry Meet is trying out a new format this season due to adding 2 Collegiate races early. The high school division includes three heats of girls and three heats of boys seeded according to coaches entries. Accurate individual predicted times will allow all runners to race with comparable skilled runners. Team scoring will merge the three heats recognizing the top 5 individuals from each team for points and the 6-7 individuals for point displacement. If a school enters more than 7 runners the fastest seven to finish will be counted for the team scoring. High School girls at 9:30, High School boys at 10:15.

Long a traditional staple of early season Cross Country in Georgia with a festival like atmosphere, Berry College is changing the event to be ran in heats. Rather than divide races by school size, it will divide races by individual seed times. In effect it will be one large race with one set of complete results. The complete results will include one winner, one second place, one third place, etc. This has been a hot button topic on the Discussion Board and MD Coach Paul Deaton has responded here in the article.