Newton County-area cross country teams are gearing up for the season as each group looks to hit the ground running on their way to their respective state meets.
This past Wednesday, each team’s coach sat alongside an athlete or two to discuss the upcoming season as Newton County’s Fall Sports Media Day.
It provided each team the chance to preview the upcoming season with topics such as returning production, new athletes, preparation and what makes their groups special.
Alcovy Tigers
The Tigers’ cross country program is heading into a new chapter as the team works around new head coach Wymon Kelley Jr.
With Kelley still being fairly new to the school and the program, the first-year head coach is still working on getting to know his athletes along with a few Covington staples.
“Besides you getting started first, the first thing to do is know everyone,” Kelley said. “Know what their dreams are [and] build relationships with everybody. Right now, one of the first things me and [Jayden] Nesbitt talked about was JJ’s [Fish & Chicken]. I’m new to the community so he told me about JJ’s and looked at me crazy, ‘You don’t know what JJ’s is?’”
Nesbitt sat alongside Kelley at the media day as the Tigers’ top boys finisher from the Region 3-AAAAAA meet last year.
The 16th place finish in Fairburn at the region meet last year is still on the mind for Nesbitt, who looks to finish strong in his senior season.
“I am looking forward to regionals,” Nesbitt said. “Last year in regionals, it wasn’t my best run at all, and hopefully this year I can go further and get to state.”
Kelley and Nesbitt also shed light on the team’s preperation habits, too.
“I look forward to every meet,” Nesbitt said. “Every trail is different from others. Either there will be more curves or more hills. You have to know which part of the trail to run and having that mindset to keep going because cross county is probably one of the hardest sports . Running three miles a day is very hard, and having to time and pace yourself is very hard.”
Outside of the meet-day preparations, the week leading up to meets will be extensive and thought out, according to Kelley.
“We normally have different things throughout the week to work on, whether we are lifting weights, running for speed or running for conditioning, plyos or just a mental day,” Kelley said. “We all do that leading up to the meet day, which is usually a Saturday for us.”
One specific meet on th emind for Kelley is one hosted at the school he previously coached, Carrollton. Kelley hopes to use that day to show his current team about that program while alos showing people in west Georgia what Alcovy is about.
“They know I am from Carrollton and we were planning to go to the Carrollton Invite soon, that is in September. We are excited to go and immerse ourselves with some of the Carrollton culture but also show them what the Cove is like.”
Eastside Eagles
For the Eastside Eagles and head coach Caleb Watson, a large group of seniors backed by an impressive underclassmen group has the program in high spirits going into the season.
Last year, the Eagles lost their top boys and girls runner with the graduation of Grayson Poynter and Destiny Carter.
Poynter and Carter were two of the six runners that made it to the Class AAAAA meet in Carrollton last year.
Even though he now has an even larger senior class, Watson credited them to keeping thre standard and even extending it to the newer runners,
“We had a lot of good foundational work that was put in,” Watson said. “The seniors this year have built the culture that last year’s seniors started. This year, we have a really strong freshmen crew.
“What is really exciting is seeing how the seniors have held the freshmen to a high expectation. The culture that has been built by the seniors that graduated has really carried on. We have a lot more depth than previous years. About half of our team is seniors, so I was worried looking at it last year going forward but the underclassmen have really stepped up. We have a few freshmen who will be on varsity, [it is] a really strong team this year.”
For Watson, the best part of his new crop of runners is seeing how the compete alongside his most experienced athletes.
“They are the hardest working group of freshmen I have seen. They are really pushing it with the seniors. Henry and Malachi, who are our senior captains who have been working hard — the freshmen are right there pushing them. They aren’t scared to push the seniors. What I think is really cool is there seniors see the freshman not as a threat, they are all making eachother better. So to see the freshman not scared to push it a bit, is exciting they are not timid by any means.”
Alongside Watson was Henry Miller and Maren Poynter, who bring multiple years of experience to the Eagles team. Miller spoke about how the sport sharpens him for other aspects and challenges in his life.
“I think a lot of the stiff cross country teaches you how to get through the hard times,” Miller said. “When you are running a race or running practice, it is pretty miserable while you are going through it but you get through it to get to the end goal of finishing. It really teaches me how to push myself, and that's really translated into my academic career and hopefully it will help me get into college as well.”
Similar to Miller, Maren shared how the team’s preparation is two-fold in helping her progress.
“The practices and meets really set you up with a mindset that pushes you in every aspect of your life, whether it is in academics, socially or in sport,” Maren said. “You are able to connect with your teammates and inside yourself to push yourself farther than you think you could. Which can translate into other aspects of your life.”
The preparation and self-awareness is what impressed Watson the most about his team on the day of meets.
“On the day of meets, what I see which is great is all the preparation — they are always super on it. They know what to do. You can’t emphasize how hard they work. We practice at 6 a.m., they show up. We don’t have to worry about someone not showing up at 6 a.m. to run before school. Like they said, it is not fun to walk eight miles after school one day when it’s 4 p.m. and 100 degrees out. They show up and work their tails off. They are all accountable with each other.”
Newton Rams
After sending multiple runners to the Region 4-AAAAAAA last year, the Rams and coach Christopher Miller are looking to get right back.
“We have a very high confidence and are very upbeat, we have a lot to build on last year. We had a large group last year and each meet everyone set a PR. The confidence level carries over from last year to this year. We are an extension of the main track and field team, so a lot of the athletes from track and field participate in cross country to build their confidence for track and field and their endurance.”
The connection between cross country and track and field was a topic discussed by Miller at the media day.
For the Rams, many athletes cross between the two sports and use them to benefit each other.
“With the intensity of the cross country practices, that prepares them for the training for track and field because there is so much to the cardiovascular workouts in cross country, so when they get to track and field it is light work for them.”
The Rams failed to send a runner to the state meet last season, but still sent 11 people to the Region 4-AAAAAAA meet.
This time around, Miller hopes to see his runners take a more detail-oriented approach to their game to get to the next level.
“I want them to be more cerebral. I want them to remember the progress that they made, I want them to be able to compare. The most important thing I want them to remember is to run their race. Of course they are going to encounter competition who have done more practice than them. To see what's ahead of them and run their race and remember where they are instead of where they were or where they are going and to not become despondent or dejected.
“We are very excited, We are very anticipatory and we are wanting to be successful and build off the success from last year.”
