Off and running
Cross country season begins
By Jared Putnam Union Sentinel Editor

The top five Panthers to finish the first cross country meet saw their times improve over last season, as Union County took second place in a three way battle with Pickens and Gilmer County.

The Lady Panthers race was cancelled due to the weather.

The Panthers finished with 34 points as a team, but the Pickens Dragons edged them with a slightly lower score of 28. The Gilmer Bobcats finished a distant third.

Cross Country Head Coach Jackie Hughes said that the team exceeded her expectations for the first race, especially considering the heat.

"[Pickens] didn't beat us by much, but we needed to close that gap a little bit," Coach Hughes said. "But for the first race of the year I thought they did pretty well. The heat was awful. It was hot and muggy, and there wasn't a breeze blowing at all when they ran."

One athlete on the team collapsed during the race. "It was his first meet and I don't know if he was pushing himself harder, and between all that and the heat he just [collapsed,]" the coach said.

Chris Jones led the charge for the Panthers, finishing first overall with a time of 18:52, about 90 seconds faster than his time on the course last year, according to Coach Hughes.

Beau Kelley finished fourth overall with a time of 22:14, Luke Kelley finished seventh overall with a time of 22:35, Shane Kelley finished ninth overall with a time of 22:52 and Victor Gonzalez finished thirteenth overall with a time of 24:40.

Despite the improved times, the coach said that it will take a considerable improvement in times in order to be competitive this season.

"They are going to have to make a big jump," Coach Hughes said. "I'm going to have to have five of them in the teens."

The coach said that her group started out around 24 minutes last year, but had gotten times down around 19 minutes by the end of the season. She hopes that with the team starting around 22 minutes this year, the times will come down around 18 minutes.

As for the Lady Panthers, Coach Hughes said that it is difficult to gauge where they are at this point since she did not get to see them run.

"We're not in race shape yet," Coach Hughes said. "We're OK, but we're not in the kind of shape we need to be."

The Lady Panthers team started slowly last year, but came on very strong toward the end of the season. The team only lost one senior, and the coach said that several promising young runners have been added to the team.

Coach Hughes intends to run a mock race prior to the home opener, to get a better idea of where the team is.

"I'm going to separate them out as teams, and run them against each other to kind of see where we are time-wise," she said. "But they were disappointed that they didn't get to run [at Pickens.]"

The Panthers and Lady Panthers have their first home meet at Meeks Park on September 6.