Friendly weather greeted local cross country runners for a friendly race as Baldwin High, GMC Prep, John Milledge Academy, and Oak Hill student-athletes met at Walter B. Williams Jr. Park for the ninth annual Baldwin County Cross Country Championships Thursday.
It’s the only sport in which all the local schools compete against one another. Coaches collaborate to organize the event, dividing up responsibilities like course setup, course marshaling (making sure the runners remain on the right track), and bringing the awards.
This year’s running for the Baldwin County Cup had a different look to it. Start and finish lines are traditionally placed around the rec football/wee baseball league fields. That space was in use Thursday evening as the Baldwin County Recreation Department hosted youth flag football competition there. This year the start-finish lines, which are the main focal point of the races for spectators, were instead beside the park’s tennis/pickleball courts. The changed location allowed course mapper Rob Sherwood to introduce a few more hills into the competition.
Those are the logistics. Now on to the actual racing.
Four races were spread across the evening – middle school boys, middle school girls, high school boys, and high school girls. The middle school boys were the first to take to the two-mile course that wound its way around the grounds’ two ponds and various ballfields. Oak Hill’s boys came away with the title after having not attended last year due to a conflict in the schedule. Cross country scoring is simple. A team’s top-five finishers count towards the overall team score, which is computed by adding up those five finishing placements (the lower the score, the better). GMC had the best three runners with three out of the top five overall, but it was Oak Hill that fielded the best five with their scoring runners finishing no lower than ninth. Bryson Wright was crowned the middle school boys county champ with a time of 13:04. GMC’s Christian Brown was not far behind at 13:09. David Bulux came in third (13:34) to help Oak Hill win 27-39.
The middle school girls race was never in doubt. Oak Hill’s Aubree Harper may have taken the individual title, but it was GMC Prep that won the team championship with a near-perfect score of 16. The Lady Bulldogs took places two through six led by seventh-grade classmates Sylvia Brown and Hannah Beckler.
In between the middle and high school races, the event continued its cool tradition of honoring seniors from all three high schools. Cross country runners are often left out of senior recognition activities, so honoring them was added to the Baldwin County Cross Country Championships a few years ago.
It was on up into the high school ranks from there as the course stretched from two miles into a full 5K. The winner in the varsity boys race was no surprise as Baldwin senior Emanuel Dixon crossed the finish line a whopping two minutes faster than the runner-up. His hand-timed 18:51 helped him complete his high school career as a three-peat county champ. But it was GMC Prep with the deeper squad as the Bulldogs posted a team score of 28 to help them hoist the cup for a second consecutive year, beating Baldwin’s 49. Junior Julian Council (second, 20:52) led GMC while senior Brian Sherwood took fifth (22:09). Dixon’s teammate Marius Jackson finished third (21:22), and John Milledge’s Liam Thompson crossed fourth (21:32).
The evening’s final race among the high school girls proved to be the most competitive as only six points separated first-place Baldwin from third-place JMA. GMC Prep was in the middle at 42, and actually had the top-two finishers with Meadow Roberts (26:05) and Sara Johnson (26:33). Lady Trojan Pierce Moore broke up Prep’s party, taking third at 27 minutes flat, but the Baldwin Bravettes had all five of their scoring runners finish in the top 12. Senior Jasmine Williams (fourth, 27:33), freshman Trinia Lawrence (fifth, 28:12), and sophomore Maqueria Murray (eighth, 29:58) helped lead the Bravettes to victory.
After facing multiple rainouts this season, all teams were glad to get back on the course Thursday. They still have a few more weeks to prepare for their respective region championships, which will determine whether or not they qualify for state.
