On September 5, the TFS middle and high school cross country teams participated in the first-ever North Hall Invite at the North Hall Community Center.
TFS Middle School highlights
TFS middle school competed alongside 144 peers from five other schools. All body types, from short to tall, thin to wide, novice to experienced, ambitious to ambivalent ran, jogged, shlogged, and walked the grassy loop and a half, forested hill 3k course during the hottest time of the day to be challenged, to have fun (at least when it was over!), and to be a part of a team.
Jenna Chesser ran 13:06.10 as the runner-up. Josie Chesser placed 18th of the 67 girls while Haygen James was only three places behind. Maggie Shelton and Dani Prince finished about a second apart to secure the last two TFS scoring spots. Carsyn Griffis was less than three seconds behind them.
Blair Moore continued to be the TFS #1 runner by placing 27th of 91. QianFeng William Xu placed in the top half. Dalton Geltz ran a 3k personal record. Again, the boys ran the first race of the long day under the scorching heat, pouring buckets of sweat, downing bottles of water and Powerade to hydrate, and giving it their all.
Results: https://ga.milesplit.com/
TFS MS results: https://ga.milesplit.com/
Next Meet: Tue Sept 10 Cookies ‘n Quotes XC Festival at TFS course 4:15
TFS High School highlights
Sophie Alexander moved up to #7 on the TFS XC Legacy List by dashing 22:40.2, a personal record, to place 16th of 133 varsity racers at the inaugural North Hall Invite, leading the team to seventh place of 20 scoring schools. Lucy Alexander (28th), Macy Murdock (50th and moved to #12 on the TFS Legacy List), and Kate Trotter (66th) all placed in the top half. Emma Jackson ran a 5k PR to round out the TFS scoring. Maggie Peacock also ran an inspiring PR.
TFS boys placed 17th of 23 large schools. Evan Prince led TFS by placing 5th of 151 in a season-best time. Chris Geiger, Grey Bourlet, Chathan Clouatre, and Henry Xiong remained the next four Tribe scorers.
Zi Wang led the JV Tribe to 11th place of 20 scoring schools by placing 47th of 238 JV racers. Canon Brooks, Walker Bailey, Haokun David Cheng, and Eli Sims finished the five TFS scorers. Bailey and Brooks set personal 5k records.
The intensely hot afternoon gave way to a gentle breeze with the descending sun, helping the later racers enjoy competing without the glaring rays and intense humidity. Everyone went out fast in the first flat mile then realized the hills were “a calling.” Legs were lost in the forest, hoping to be found back in the flat finale. For those who didn’t lose a foot in the groundhog holes traipsing back and forth screaming cliches at runners to somehow find another gear, the day ended up being well worth the journey.
Results: https://ga.milesplit.com/
TFS Results: https://ga.milesplit.com/
Next Meet: 15th Annual Cookies ‘n Quotes XC Festival Tue Sept 10 at TFS Course
