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The Bainbridge Bearcats opened the 2024 cross country season with a strong performance at the Dueling Summits meet in Tallahassee this past Saturday. This annual meet, renowned for hosting many competitive teams across the states of Florida and Georgia, requires great grit, drive, and determination from its participants to complete the 5000m race course – referred to as “the toughest course in Florida.” With uneven footing over grass, roots, and gravel, as well as a tough quarter-mile uphill finish, strong individual and team finishes prove no small feat; and the Bainbridge Bearcats, both middle and high schoolers, proved worthy by eliciting strong performances across the board last Saturday.

The Bainbridge High School girls finished 5th out of 15 teams, scored by Enajiya Marcus (26:43 – 29th), Teagan Barefoot (27:23 – 36th), Elana Sheffield (27:30 – 38th), Shrija Samanta (27:40 – 41st), and Emerson Huggins (27:55 – 45), respectively. The High School boys finished 9th out of 18 teams, scored by Gambler Dollar (20:16 – 38th), Le’Tuan Howard (21:10 – 51st), Detric Burden (22:16 – 64th), Nathan Jackson (22:20 – 65th), and Mitchell Carter (23:23 – 74th), respectively.

The Middle School boys and girls completed a respectable 3000m race as well, with some strong individual performances, including two award-winning top 25 finishes by 8th grader, Joseph Farmer (12:19 – 16th) and 7th grader, Brayden Inlow (12:50 – 22nd).

As one of the assistant coaches on staff, I am excited to see these athletes’ hard work over the last couple of months paying off exceptionally well. When training athletes from year to year, first off, it’s important to keep in mind the long-term, progressiveness of this sport. You don’t want to get too good, too fast or too early on. The goal is to reach peak performance for the championship part of the season in early November. For that reason, I often compare where an athlete began at the same time the previous year to where they performed now, and pleasantly so, most – if not, all – are already minutes ahead of where they started last year, meaning: we’re not where we want to be just yet, but we are in a perfect spot for this starting point of the season. I am extremely proud of the athletes and their performances, as well as their ability and willingness to use this “rust buster” race as a learning opportunity to perform even stronger and faster in upcoming races throughout the season.

Head Coach Eric Conner thanks McClay in Tallahassee for hosting, and says, “Overall, this was a great first meet! I am proud of how the team competed and prepared. It’s a long season, but it’s going to be fun!”