The high school cross country talent locally should be just as strong as ever this season. North Hall’s collective roster of boy’s and girl’s teams probably best illustrates that point.
Even with the graduation of 2010 Class AAA state champion Cody Barger, the Trojans return five boys and a pair of girls that placed at the state meet in Carrollton last season.
However, other programs also have strong claims to feeling that 2011 will be a good season. Flowery Branch, West Hall, Chestatee and Gainesville all return strong talent as well.
And White County returns defending girls Region 8-AAA champion Jessie Dotson for first-year Warriors coach Sam Borg.
Clearly, the race for the finish line is going to be tight among local runners.
The Trojans look to have the best depth in Region 8-AAA on the boy’s side. Seniors Brandon Lawson and Luis Gonzalez are both back for the Trojans after placing in the top 20 at state last year. North Hall also brings back state placers Chance Martin, Jared Lee and Witt Nix, along with Tucker LoCiero who should have a strong season, according to coach Drew Rogers.
Last year, North Hall had both of its teams place second at state.
“We’ve had a good summer of running and hope to compete with some of the top programs in the state again this year,” Rogers said.
The Lady Trojans are led by junior Victoria Rogers, fifth last season at state, Laura Mancin, Katie McDowell and Savannah Mendenhall.
North Hall’s girls lost three of their top four runners to graduation after last season’s second place finish.
“We’re very anxious to get our season underway to see where we stand compared to the other teams in the state and the area,” Rogers added.
In Class AAAA, Flowery Branch will also be a player on the state radar. Falcons seniors Drew Garland, Colton Donino, Luis Teran and Cody Papp are back from a group that took third at state last season. Flowery Branch coach Jimmy Sorrells says that a deep pool of talent will keep the competition tight for spots on varsity. Also for Flowery Branch, Austin Webber, Taylor Fiorello, Nick Ashmead and James Slavik lend heavily to the team’s depth.
For the Lady Falcons, Sorrells says he has a “vastly improved” bunch led by Brittani Wells, Megan Kirk, Kayla Robles, Kenya Navin and Janet Whittaker. He says the pipeline of runners from Davis Middle has the program loaded with its best depth in school history.
Meanwhile, West Hall ushers in a new coach, Gareth Allcott, and the boys are led by senior Jimmy Gault, a 15th place finisher at state last year. Other Spartans looking to fare well this season are Brandon Nguyen and Junior Iniguez.
The Lady Spartans’ top returning runner is Taylor Long, a junior, who placed 25th at state last season.
Chestatee coach Mark Dunn boosts strong numbers in both programs and is looking to do even better than last year’s eighth place finish the girls produced at the state meet. Top girls runners are Maggie Wilson, Tori Mullinax, Shelby Bennett, Sarah Beth English and Paige Williams. Adding to team depth are Wendy Martinez, Yaritiza Carrillo, Amberley Mullinax, Sadie Foote and Elaine Miklos.
Chestatee’s boys are aiming to improve on a fifth place finish in Region 8-AAA last year. Jason Dang, Jeremy Gross, Jose Reyes, Abraham Pena and Fletcher Siegfried are some of the top names for the War Eagles.
Gainesville coach Adam Miller says he’s short on total experience, but still has some very talented runners. Sophomore Sara Hayes, who placed sixth in Region 8-AAA last season and 18th at state, and Logan Brown are the team’s top runners. For the Red Elephants’ boys, Marcquel Woodard and Pablo Alberto are the top returners.
“Both of our teams will be very inexperienced at the varsity level, but have worked extremely hard and have lots of potential,” Miller said. “We are just trying to get back to Carrollton.”