The new season will begin a long way from home for the Winder-Barrow High School cross country teams.
The Bulldoggs and Lady Bulldoggs are entered in the Saucony Fleet Feet Cross Country Kickoff Saturday in Savannah. A Coach’s Challenge, which will feature WBHS girls coach Amanda Partee-Manders, begins the day’s event at 7 a.m. followed by the girls race at 8 a.m. with the boys at 8:30 p.m.
“We are ready to run our first meet,” said WBHS boys coach Michael Lofton. “We know there will be a lot of nerves. We ran a trial race to help set up our teams and many runners topped their times from last year.”
Lofton said with the way the race is set up, all WBHS runners will compete at the varsity level. Runners will be divided into “Red” and “Black” squads.
“What I want every time for our runners is for them to focus on their personal performance,” Lofton said. “I don’t worry about placing until we see what we are able to do at the beginning of the season. I want to see what we do in a race atmosphere. Coach Manders and I were pleased with our trial run, but we believe we can improve on that. Wherever we left off last year, we should be close to that to start the new season.”
The course for Saturday’s event is very flat, Lofton said, but has sharp turns.
“That causes you to slow down during the race,” Lofton said. “That’s something we will preview the course for.”
WBHS runners are excited about the trip and the start to the new season.
“Savannah will be a great kickoff for the teams,” Partee-Manders said. “The course should result in some good times for the runners. We had our first time trial on Friday, so now we have a baseline. We expect that the times will be a good bit faster on race day. The students have worked very hard all summer to build mileage and to condition their bodies.”
The training leading up to the start of the new season should benefit the runners, WBHS coaches said.
“We have incorporated plyometrics, core, speed, yoga as well mileage to train the athletes to be strong physically and mentally for race day,” Partee-Manders said. “Excitement continues to build with each practice and as we plunge into the competition phase, I am confident that the kids will be able to learn from each race and set goals for themselves.”
Said Lofton: “The coaches feel that with our summer conditioning that we are prepared. As we venture through the competitive season, we will work more on our speed and our times will come down.”
WBHS runners and coaches will depart Friday for the trek to Savannah.
