Tallulah Falls School hosted 7A Duluth, 6A Habersham Central, 3A Morgan County, 7A Shiloh, and 7A Mill Creek (girls only) for the fifth annual Heroes XC Invite, a GREAT event each year meant to recognize local heroes for their community involvement while providing a competitive racing opportunity for a sundry of harriers.
TFS Team Leader Will Jackson organized a ceremony to recognize Kristi Shedd, Bryan Popham, and Brent McAllister for their endless hours after Hurricane Irma to restore the community and Tallulah Falls School back to a resemblance of normal. We genuinely appreciate the dedication these three devoted professionals demonstrated to simply do their job in an extraordinary manner to help those in need.
The consistent comment from runners and coaches throughout the four races was the joy of running such a tough course in the mountains of Tallulah Falls, the ability to view the runners, and the opportunities the area offers to create memories for their teams.
Team Captain Perry Gresham ran one of the smartest races of her career to to come from seventh early on to finish as the runner-up in 23:43 in the varsity girls race and earn the female TFS Runner of the Meet. Chathan Clouatre earned the male version by moving up to #4 on the team while running 20:21.07 for 22nd place. Darren Fortner also ran his best race of the season in his first varsity encounter.
Matthew Justice led TFS JV runners with a personal 5k record, followed immediately by Shepherd Roland. Most of the Indian JV runners ran a PR on the toughest course of the season so far.
The 177 pairs of shoes plus one solo shoe scurried the multiple switchbacks, short hills and long inclines, and hog holes under a burgeoning canopy of lung searing water vapor arising from the morning dew leaving the former cow pasture. Will Jackson’s shoe came off half way, so he continued on, even running a course PR.
I was especially proud of the multiple TFS runners who ran smart to set a personal record on our course, which has been compared to being about 20-40 seconds slower than the state course.
TFS results can be found here: http://ga.milesplit.com/meets/
Girls varsity results here: http://ga.milesplit.com/meets/
Boys varsity results here: http://ga.milesplit.com/meets/
Girls JV results here: http://ga.milesplit.com/meets/
Boys JV results here: http://ga.milesplit.com/meets/
Scott Neal / TFS Indians Sports Information
Feature Photo by E. Lane Gresham | More Photos
