COVINGTON, Ga. — Over 2,000 people participated in the 40th annual Covington Fuzz Run Saturday, Sept. 9. At the end of the Fuzz Run 5K, only one person walked away with the first place trophy. 

For the second straight year, that person was Grayson Poynter. 

Winning it all back-to-back times was special for Poynter. 

“It felt amazing being able to win the Fuzz Run for a second year in a row and I had a whole lot of fun with it,” Poynter said. “I’m glad that Oliver Campbell was at the race, too, because he was great competition and we really pushed each other until the very end until I pulled away.” 

Poynter is a senior cross country runner at Eastside High School where he has run for the past four years. 

Before running as a freshman, though, Poynter “wasn’t a huge fan” of the sport. So, after he initially tried cross country in seventh grade at Cousins Middle School, he stopped in eighth grade. 

Four years later, Poynter is glad he returned. 

“Some other guys were on the team when I was going into freshman year and it was during COVID,” Poynter said. “They all invited me to come out and decided to and started loving it again.” 

Poynter has finished in the top five in each of the first two meets of his senior season. 

At the Jefferson Season Opener on Aug. 16 at Jefferson High School, Poynter finished fourth overall in the boys varsity 5K. His final time was 17:29.96. 

The Eagles won the Strong Rock Invitational on Aug. 26 at Strong Rock Christian School. Poynter’s 17:49.05 finish placed him third, which contributed to the team’s first place trophy. 

Poynter was happy to experience that feeling with his teammates. 

“That was awesome. I don’t know the last time that Eastside took first place at a cross country meet. It was before I was here,” Poynter said. “So, being able to have that big trophy was a great feeling. There was a lot of pride for our team, school and coaches.”  

Throughout his time as an Eagle, Poynter has seen changes in the cross country program. One of the top things Poynter has noticed is the growth of the team’s size. 

In his freshman year, the Eagles barely had enough participants to compete in region play. At present, Eastside had a full varsity, junior varsity and a girls squad all in the same season. 

Being a part of such progression makes this season bittersweet for the senior runner. 

“[There’s] a little bit of pride with how successful our team has been so far this season and how much better we’ve been getting throughout the years,” Poynter said. “And a little bit of sadness about the fact that I’m not going to have this team next year.” 

The entire team has taken it up a notch in preparation for each meet, too. 

Head coach Caleb Watson proposed having 6 a.m. practices before school starts to get a workout in before the heat ramps up in the afternoon. 

Watson introduced the idea, but the players embraced it from day one, according to Watson. Poynter has seen the benefits himself, too. 

“As much as being at school at 6 a.m. is a pain, I feel like it’s been great because we’re able to get in the hard workouts that we need while avoiding the sun and the heat,” Poynter said. “It’s also been improving our team bonding with just spending more time with each other. That’s brought us closer together.”  

Building team camaraderie has been one of the biggest things Poynter learned about the sport early in his career. 

“I didn’t know how much you had to rely on your teammates,” Poynter said. “Even though you’re the only one running for yourself, the whole team matters.” 

There are four cross country matches left for Poynter’s high school career. 

On Sept. 13, the Eagles will travel to compete in the Morgan County Home Meet in Madison, Georgia. A week later, Eastside will take part in the Redskins Invitational hosted by Social Circle High School. 

The Eagles will be one of the teams participating in the Mountain Invitational on Sept. 28 as well. 

To close out the meets, Eastside will return to Jefferson High School for the Jefferson Invitational on Oct. 6. 

Poynter is not sure how he’s going to feel when that Oct. 6 meet arrives. Everything up to this point, though, Poynter has labeled as surreal. 

“It’s really weird thinking I’ve been doing this my whole time in high school,” Poynter said. “Now, I’m going to have one race this year and it’s going to be my very last.”