Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Bearcats’ strong start to the cross country season continued last Saturday at the Yellow Jacket XC Invitational in Thomasville, GA, with notable performances, individually and for the team as a whole. The High School “Lady Cats” placed second, led by Sophomore Teagan Barefoot (26:11, 9th), and closely followed by teammates Enayija Marcus (26:18, 10th) and Angalina Gomez (26:45, 14th). Other scorers for the Lady Cats include Junior Alyssa Jackson (28:05, 21st) and Senior Elana Shiffield (28:08, 23rd). Speaking as the assistant coach, one of Bainbridge’s greatest strengths across the board is the proximity of our athletes’ finishes. We call this “pack running.” Pack running benefits cross country scores and overall team places by decreasing the amount of points the team scores overall, and in XC, the team with the least amount of points places highest. Many of our girls, and guys, run similar times – meaning that they work extremely well together out on the course and push each other throughout. For the remainder of the season, I and head coach, Eric Conner, believe that as we build on that strength – i.e. continue to improve the pack’s times and shift the pack up as a whole – our team shows promising potential for a strong finish in championship season come early November.

The High School Boys also ran an impressive meet, with all five scorers finishing under 22 minutes, some of those posting times minutes faster than last year on the same course, and placing 8th overall. Junior Angel Bonilla-Ortiz led the Bearcats with a time of 19:26 and a 19th place finish for his cross country debut, closely followed by Junior Gambler Dollar, 19:40 – 26th place. Our guys’ team really finishes well by finding the extra gear and passing other teams on the final straight – one of the things I am most proud of in regards to our boys. This grit, competitiveness, and determination will undoubtedly carry them far throughout the season.

Bainbridge Middle School also competed in a combined race Saturday morning, with 6th and 9th place finishes for the girls’ and boys’ teams, respectively.

The times ran by almost all athletes on the team mark reputable improvement from last week. Head Coach Eric Conner states, “Improvement is all I can ask for week to week. Our mindset was also great, especially for our band members, cheerleaders, and filmers that had very little sleep due to traveling home late the night before. We are thankful to Thomasville Cross Country for hosting the meet. They are a great program, and our team always enjoys their race.”