Cross country ready for region meet

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  • The Hartwell Sun
    The Hartwell Sun
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A battle for the best runners in the region will take place this morning, Oct. 24, as the Hart County High School cross country team travels to Franklin County for the Region 8-AAA meet.
“I think we’re about as ready as we can get,” Hart County head coach Cecil Marett said. “The boys hope to be battling for a region championship. Jefferson is going to be tough to beat.”
Hart County has proved to do well on Franklin County’s course so far this year, even against region opponents. The Bulldog’s boys took first place at the Franklin County Invitational on Sept. 14 with runners in first, second and third place spots. Hart County finished with 29 points — 46 points ahead of Jefferson’s second-place finish with 75 points. Jefferson’s top runners finished in fifth and sixth places with times of 18:54.31 and 19:05.54, while Hart County’s best boys’ runners, Samuel Garringer, Matthew Brown and Diego Martinez, recorded times of 17:23.30, 17:52.68 and 18:35.74, respectively.
Though, Jefferson had a couple of runners who weren’t there at the Franklin County Invitational that will be at the region meet, Marett said.
But it’s the Bulldog’s boys who won’t be at full strength this go round.
Brown, who’s been a driving force for the boys’ team, won’t participate due to a leg injury, Marett said.
“Which is going to hurt,” he said. “We’ve got some kids who are working really hard to step up and hopefully we’re going to be OK.”
On the girls’ side, Marett thinks they should be in the top-four teams — the placement needed to qualify for the state meet.
“Our girls, we’re hoping to come out as region runner ups, but Jackson is just a little bit ahead of us. They’re going to be tough to beat,” Marett said.
Hart’s top-three girls, Paola Rubio, Sidney Smith and Jillian Hoell, previously beat out Jackson County’s top runners, with times of 22:31.97, 23:13.36 and 24:23.70, respectively, on Oct. 8 at the region preview meet. But back on Sept. 14 at the Franklin County Invitational, Jefferson’s girls took the top-three spots.
Running starts at 10 a.m. Thursday with the boys, followed by the girls’ race at 10:30 a.m. and junior varsity at 11 a.m.