Two meets into the season, Eastside’s cross county teams have found themselves at the top as they look to get back to the state meet at the end of the year.
After a historic finish to last year’s cross country season, head coach Caleb Watson spoke about the team’s outlook at Newton County Schools’ Fall Sports Media Day on Thursday.
“The season is looking really good,” Watson said. “Last year, boys and girls went to state which was the first time ever that both boys and girls have advanced to state as a team in our school’s history. This year, the intensity is great. Last year, half of our team were seniors so we graduated half the team which can reign any concern to a coach but all the younger guys have stepped up great. We have a tremendous work ethic amongst the younger guys and we aren't missing a beat.”
While the boys team will feature many new faces, Watson noted how the girls team returns many of its runners from a year ago.
“We didn't have pretty much anyone graduate from the girls so the girls are in a good position to repeat and go to state — hoping for a top 2 finish in the region,” Watson said. “The guys, our top three runners are sophomores, so we have a good future outlook for the program.”
Media day took place after the team’s first two events, and Eastside posted strong results in both.
The Eagles began the year at the LCA Invitational for a 5,000-meter run, and the Lady Eagles took home the event’s top placement.
Eastside’s girls team finished in the No. 1 spot ahead of Westminster Christian and Morgan County.
Junior Maren Poynter played a big part in the first place finish for the Lady Eagles as she finished fourth overall in the race with a time of 23:30.66.
Behind Poynter was sophomore Lei Shaw, who finished in 15th place at 26:18.62. Kathryn Strickland finished two spots behind Shaw in 17th place with a time of 26:33.44.
Other placements from the girls team at the LCA Invitational came from Kailynn Cullen(24th place/26:59.40), Chloe Icenhour(29th place/27:26.64), Addie Consuegra(35th place/28:43.22) and Madeline O’Brien(41st place/29:56.54).
The Eastside boys team posted a strong finish of their own as they claimed fourth place as a team at the LCA Invitational, behind Trinity Christian, Gainesville and Morgan County.
After a strong freshman season that saw him breakout and place high at numerous events, Chance Henderson kicked off his sophomore campaign with a third place finish with a time of 17:45.94.
Kaleb Blazina also finished in the top 10 with an eighth place finish at 18:46.62.
The other top 25 finish for Eastside’s boys team came from Hunter Land in 21st place with a time of 19:58.31.
Other finishes from the Eagles’ boys team came from Jackson Dobbs(31st place/21:06.18), Trevor Brown(36th place/22:21.53) and Alex Vargas(50th place/25:11.94).
A few days after the strong placements at LCA, the Eagles’ boys team got back into action at the Gorge to Beach XC Gathering 3K at the Farm Course in Tallulah Falls.
The team placed one spot higher than they did at LCA as the boys team earned third place, but the overall race was highlighted by an Eagle.
Following his third place finish to open the year, Henderson took it to another level with a first place finish in the 3K with a time of 9:32.81.
Land ran a time of 10:26.15 to claim eighth place in the event.
Blazina posted his second top 10 finish of the year as he claimed ninth place with a time of 10:29.95.
Other finishes in the event for Eastside came from Dobbs(20th place/11:34.40), Brown(35th place/12:21.24), Vargas(58th place/13:38.47), Calvin Meller(62nd place/13:44.62), Emerson Fry(65th place/13:55.25), Courvin Thomas(81st place/15:25.77), Aiden Korte(85th place/15:42.33), Cameron Rutberg(87th place/16:45.13) and Josh Adeoya(89th place/17:12.03).
The next event for Eastside’s cross county teams will take place in Locust Grove when they compete at the Strong Rock Patriot Cross Country Invitational on Saturday, Aug. 23.
