On Thursday, the Wildcats participated in the annual Homecoming Parade. Thanks to Renate Herod for being our driver, and for all of the athletes that walked with us. This is a great Dunwoody tradition, and we are always pleased to participate as a team!
On Saturday, the Wildcats traveled close to home to Druid Hills Middle School for the Region 6-AAAAA Cross Country Championships, which we co-hosted along with Lakeside HS. The goals of this meet are always pretty simple: qualify for the State Championships as a team and run some personal best times in the last meet of the season for most of the team. Both of these were accomplished as Saturday, as the Wildcats finished the regular season in strong fashion.
The boys Varsity team started the day with a 3rd place team finish, qualifying for the State Championships in two weeks. The boys were led by a top-10 performance from Sam Mahle, and a personal best time from senior Jerett Lupoli. The girls Varsity then were able to join the boys in Carrollton in two weeks by winning the Region Championships in impressive fashion! The girls were led by a runner-up performance from Julia Echols (who ran about a minute faster on the same course as County Championships 3 weeks ago!), and placing 5 girls in the top 10, including a great race by senior Sophia Tarrago. Great job to both Varsity squads! It is the boys 8th straight trip to the State Championships and the girls 7th in a row!
The JV racers were not to be outdone, though, as many runners earned personal bests in their last race of the year. The boys JV race saw great performances from Middle School State Champion Max Mowrer (continuing his undefeated 2015 XC season!), Andrew Rice, and Brandon Shockley. The girls JV team also saw great racing from senior Sydney Drew, Rosie Coffie, and Maddie Tapp. Great job to all of our races, especially our seniors! Full race results can be found here.
Thanks to all of the parents who helped the meet run smoothly and on time; we could not have managed the meet without your help. Also, thanks to Lakeside HS and Coach Rick Barbe for their great course setup and monitoring. Finally, thanks to our seniors for great cross country careers and all of their leadership this season! You will be missed!
This Week:
Both Region squads will have a regular practice schedule this week, with the exception of there being no practice on Friday and a Saturday practice at 9 AM at Blackburn Park. We will go over more details about the two weeks leading up to the State Meet in practice this week.
For the rest of the team, please keep an eye on the website and text messages for information about end-of-season team events. Stay tuned for more details about our End of Year Awards Ceremony, which will be Wednesday, November 18th in the DHS Auditorium! It will be a great night that you don't want to miss!
We will have more information next weekend about the State Meet in two weeks, but now it's time to focus and prepare for November 7th! Thanks for your support of Dunwoody XC and Go Wildcats!
-- Coach Boucher