Cross country: JHS previews

JHS girls’ runners hope to build on last year’s trip to state

Sporting a cast that includes four seniors and a new coach, the Jefferson High School Lady Dragon runners hope the cross country trail leads back to state in 2010.

Katie Sellers takes over a girls’ team that will be paced by seniors Alison Missler, Kathy Buffington, Holly Baron and Laura Price, as well as sophomore Cara Smith, who led all Jefferson runners at state with a 22:19 — good for 37th overall.

This year’s team — which has 10 runners — hopes to continue to build on the foundation created by former coach Melissa Mullis in 2009 when the Lady Dragons finished 11th last year in Class AA with an aggregate time of 2:00:27 at the state meet.

Sellers — an exercise enthusiast who teaches a local fitness camp — said this is an exciting season, especially for her since it is her first year coaching.

“It’s just exciting for me,” Sellers said in an interview earlier this month. “It’s my first year coaching. It’s exciting. It’s a lot of fun stuff for me.”


Numbers continue to rise for JHS boys’ cross country team

Jefferson’s boys’ roster continues to deepen with 23 runners this fall as the Dragon runners hope the season includes a trip to the state meet.

Coached by Allen Thompson, the Dragons are led by Trae Timmerman, Alec Jameson, Michael Stephenson and Jake Sherman.

Timmerman led JHS with a 18:34 last year at the Region 8-AA meeting, finishing 14th.

“The boys are excited to continue the momentum of last season and strive for excellence to obtain their team goals in October and November,” Thompson said.

In preparation for the season, both the Jefferson boys’ and girls’ teams attended the Piedmont College cross country team camp in July and followed that with a demanding foundational core program in the summer.

Now, it’s time to apply that training to actual meets.
The season begins Saturday as both the boys’ and girls’ squads will run in the Athens Christian Northeast Georgia Championships.

Following a seven-meet regular season schedule, Jefferson will host the Region 8-AA meet at Crow’s Lake.

“The Dragons are excited to kick off a competitive cross country season and look forward to hosting the 2010 regional championships,” Thompson said.