The General Journal

The student news site of Heritage High School

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The General Journal

The General Journal

Heritage Cross Country Team Sprints Past Their Expectations

The Cross Country team had an amazing season this year! Let’s find out how these students were able to push themselves to the limit.
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M. Petteys
M. Petteys

The XC season started in August with a two-mile warm-up race in Lafayette against teams from North GA. The Boys team finished in 2nd out of 9 teams while the Girls Team finished 2nd out of 11 teams—2 points behind champion Bremen. The following week, the team hosted the Front Runner 5-Star Stride with teams from N. GA and Chattanooga. The Boys team finished 6th while the Girls team finished 11th, both out of 17. The team traveled to the Rocky Face Race the following week, competing at what Coach Craft described as “a super tough course with big hills.” The boys finished 4th out of 20 teams, beating region rival NW Whitfield, and the Girls finished 4th out of 19 teams, beating NW and SE Whitfield. The team then traveled to Huntsville, AL, to race with teams from 8 states in the Southern Showcase at John Hunt Park. The Boys team finished 11th out of 47 teams, and the Girls team finished in 13th out of 27 teams. Two days later, the team traveled to Dalton to race with teams from N. GA and Chattanooga on another tough course at Edwards Park. The Boys team won a League award by finishing in 2nd place out of 27 teams, and the Girls team finished 6th Place out of 23 teams, finishing ahead of SE Whitfield, NW Whitfield, and Sonoraville.

M. Petteys

At the end of September, the team traveled to Lafayette to race with 11 teams from North GA. The boys finished in 2nd out of 11 teams, and the girls finished as the Rambler XC Invitational Champions. The team then traveled to Dalton to race with close to 600 runners participating at Grove Level Park in Dalton. The boys finished 5th out of 34 teams, and the girls finished 9th out of 31. In October, the team hosted the largest League race of the year with 39 teams from GA and TN. The Boys team finished 4th out of 31 schools with the NGXC league award winners being Bryce Dye in 20th, Grayson Stallings in 19th, Landon Hoover in 18th and Hyrum Smartt in 11th. The girls finished in 9th out of 23 teams with the NGXC league award winners being Evie Robinson (16th place) and Tori Epps (11th).

The following week, the team hosted the 7AAAA Region Championship. Both the Boys and Girls teams finished 3rd in the Region and qualified for the State Championship. On November 4th, the team traveled to Carrollton for the State Championship. The Boys team  finished 13th in the State out of the 31 teams that qualified. Junior Hyrum Smartt led the Generals, finishing 58th out of 212 runners, followed by Micah Berry, who finished 69th.  Landon Hoover and Connor Stephenson finished in the Top 100 at 88th and 91st. The boys finished second of the four Region 7-4A teams, outranking region rivals Central Carrollton and NW Whitfield. The Lady Generals finished 12th out of 28 teams that qualified. Sophomore Tori Epps led the Lady Generals, finishing 38th out of 191 runners, followed by Evie Robison, who finished 64th. Emily Damron finished in the Top 100 at 95th. The Lady Generals finished second of the four Region 7-4A teams, outranking region rivals SE & NW Whitfield. 

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About the Contributor
Thomas Scherzer
Thomas Scherzer, Staff Writer
Thomas Scherzer is a sophomore this year at Heritage High School. Thomas Scherzer involves himself in many activities both inside and outside of school. Thomas always tries to make sure he betters himself on whatever he is doing and becomes a better person. Thomas Scherzer enjoys playing soccer and reading, but throughout all of his free time he usually is working out. He really likes going to the gym. Over the summer, Thomas worked as a lifeguard at the local amusement park's water park at Lake Winnie. He likes school--but only when it is in a class he likes. Thomas likes English, Science, and Social Studies, but hates Math. He currently plans on going to college but is unsure of what he wants to pursue. Despite this, the future's still bright to Thomas and his dedication to what he puts his mind to will help. Although he doesn’t know what he wants to do, he is very passionate about anything he wishes to. During his year, he wants to contribute to playing sports. He is very excited for the year in Journalism and to see what will happen.