State Meet

Thoughts on State...

I'm pretty sure you've all heard by now, but just in case you've been out running all weekend, you should know that our very own Josh H. rocked the State Meet this weekend. He finished 7th and proudly stepped up on the top 10 podium to receive his much deserved medal. This was my first time to go to the State Meet and with some hard work I definitely want to be making a trip that way again soon. The atmosphere is electric and seeing that many great runners is truly mind blowing. Josh is the first to place in the top 10 in our school's history, putting him up there with the best of the best.

What can we learn from all this?
He truly did it himself. He started just one year ago after not doing as well as he hoped during XC season. Every day after school, he ran...and ran...and ran...In the rain, he ran...in the scorching summer, he ran. There are not many kids with that kind of drive, especially the kind of drive to do it alone. I encourage all of you returning runners to push yourself in the same way. Only YOU can make yourself better. Push yourself. Never settle for average. Set a goal and never give up.

On that note...START NOW!!! Come out and run after school each day. I'll see you there.

--Coach

Region Results

Congrats team!

Region was wet and messy, but I hope everyone had a great time. A big highlight was Josh's 4th place finish overall, which qualifies him for the state meet next week in Carrollton. Some other great highlights were seeing 3 girls break 29 minutes, as well as Avel almost breaking 19 minutes. The girls' team finished 8th out of 10 teams competing, and the boys' team finished 6th out of 11 teams competing. We didn't qualify for state as a team, thus our season comes to an end, but I'm really proud of all of your hard work over the last 3 months. We have a lot of people graduating, but also a lot of people coming back next year...SO KEEP RUNNING and I'll see you soon.

--Coach

Region Weekend

As you know the big Region meet is just days away!!!

There is no school Friday and I would like to use this day to have some “Team Time” before the big race. First, I’d like to have a short run and stretch at 12pm Friday afternoon. After that, I would love for all your kids to be able to come out to Mirko Pasta for a team dinner at 5pm. This would be a great time to relax and hang out while I keep an eye on how healthy all the runners are eating before the big meet. Finally, after dinner there is a UGA Women’s Soccer game that we could go watch (and stay out of trouble). The game starts at 7pm and usually goes to about 9pm. The best part is it’s FREE!

To recap Friday’s “Team Time”
Short practice at the school – 12 to 12:30pm
Team dinner at Mirko Pasta – 5 to 6:30ish pm
UGA Soccer game – 7 to 9pm

I realize a lot of our kids don’t drive, so if a few of you wouldn’t mind volunteering to carpool kids over to Athens, hopefully everyone would have the chance to go. Let me know what you think about this. I’ve added directions at the bottom…

From OCHS to Mirko Pasta – go down 78 toward Athens. Take a Left on Gaines School Rd. Go down a bit and Mirko Pasta will be on your right in a relatively new shopping center area.

From Mirko Pasta to Soccer game – Turn Right out of Mirko and go towards College Station Rd. Turn Right on College Station and stay on it for a 1.5 miles or so. Turn Left on Riverbend Rd. and go down it for 1.5 miles. Then turn Left at Milledge Ave. The UGA Soccer complex will be on your Right.

****As far as Saturday goes… ****

We will leave from the school to go to Riverside at 8:30am. The Varsity Girls will race at 11:00am with the Varsity Boys to follow. The JV Girls will start at 12:20pm with JV Boys to follow. I imagine we will return to the school between 3:30pm and 4pm. If you plan on going, be prepared to pay $5 admission this time.

Let me know if you have any questions…

Riverside Invitational

Hello everyone,

We have a big meet this Saturday at Riverside Military Academy. The drive will be a long one, but the race should definitely be exciting. The RMA Invitational will have a lot of competition from within our region and acts as a good preview to the Region Meet. We will need to leave the school right at 8:30am so please be sure you are not late.

The Boys Varsity race will go first at 11am with Girls Varsity and other JV races following. Parents are welcome to follow the bus or even ride along with us, assuming the bus driver is okay with this. If any questions, please let me know.

--Coach

3 More Weeks

Hey everyone,

Great job on winning the Home meet Friday! The guys took the top 3 spots and cruised to a victory while the girls edged out Washington-Wilkes thanks to a bunch of PRs. It feels good to win doesn't it.

This week we will not have a race at Athens Academy (10/15). It was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but has been pushed back to Thursday due to some flooding on their course. I've decided that we will not be going so that we can focus more on the bigger 2 meets ahead. The next couple weeks are going to be BIG! We will have to train as hard as possible for the next 2 weeks to get our bodies in peak condition for the Region meet. Make sure you're at practice and giving it your all. There are only 3 weeks left...

--Coach

Home Meet

Hey runners and parents,

Friday is our one and only Home Meet of the year. I'm very excited to see how we do. It will be a Tri-Meet. We'll be welcoming Washington-Wilkes and Taliaferro, and maybe even some independents. Both the guys and girls have a good shot to win. All girls will be starting at 4pm while all guys will go around 4:45pm.

Remember, there is no school Friday, but you still better be there for this race! All runners and volunteers will need to be there by 2:30pm at the latest.

We'll be setting up the course tomorrow after practice and don't forget that if you're not there, you don't run in the race.

Results will be posted some time this weekend on gatfxc.com
I'm looking forward to some new PRs.

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Coach

Athens Christian Meet

Hey team,

Great job Thursday in some really hot weather. We came in 4th out of 8 teams. We had a couple PRs and some nice finishes. We don't have a meet for about 2 weeks, so be ready to train hard. The harder you train, the better results you will see at our next meet.

Speaking of our next meet, we will have our one and only Home Meet October 9th. It will be relatively small compared to some of the others we've been to, but for many of you, this will be the last race you compete in on our course. Prince Avenue, Washington-Wilkes, and Taliaferro have all confirmed coming to the race. The weather should be a lot cooler and I'm expecting a lot of PRs.

Let's work hard this week!

--Coach

East Jackson Invitational

Hey team,

What a great day Saturday! I know most of you were dreading to race in the rain, but hopefully you had some fun. The weather really turned what would have been a fast course into a slow course, so don't be too discouraged with your times. Even so, we had some great efforts out there. Avel, Robert, and Jesse were all really booking it in the Varsity Boys race; Josh did a great job getting third place; and there were some great finishes in the JV Boys race, especially Richard and Swain.

This was a great race to see how we compare to other teams in the region. Though we placed behind Dawson and Jefferson, we still rank ahead of Jefferson overall for the year and are not too far behind Dawson. But let's not dwell too much on that and just focus on the next week.

We have another race at Athens Christian on Thursday. This will be a great way to compare our times at the beginning of the season to now. Let's really work hard this week!

--Coach

Banks Results

The best part about the Banks Race is the fact that it's over. I think it's safe to say that the times we had for the race will not figure into our rankings all that much. There will be far better courses to PR on in the weeks ahead. I wish we could have gotten some more accurate times for some of you, but that's just how it goes sometimes. Let's put it past us and move on...

September 19th - East Jackson Invitational. This is a Saturday morning race and will have a lot of good regional competition. The course will be a lot better (less "humans") and there will be official timers. The Varsity races only allow 7 to enter so work hard in the week ahead and you just might put yourself in a better position. More details to come.

**Back to Banks...Congrats to Kiyanna for beating her PR at Banks of all places, and Josh for setting the course record.

--Coach

Banks Race

Hey everyone,

I know we're all dying to see how the football team does Friday, but don't forget that we have an important race coming up on Tuesday. There's no school Monday and unfortunately no practice either, so come ready to run Tuesday. We are going to Banks County and leaving around 2:30pm so you'll get to leave just a little early. DON'T FORGET YOUR UNIFORM!!!!!...or for that matter, yourself (not naming names or anything).

Directions to Banks will be sent out over email. I'm not exactly sure when we'll return to the school. I'm guessing 7:30ish. Make sure you do at the least some light running over the weekend.


In other news...Congratulations to Holloway for being named Athlete of the Week for his recent performances at Athens Academy's 3K race and the Northeast GA Championships.

-Coach

NEGA Results

Here's the website for Saturday's results... 

http://www.ptgrouponline.com/Results/2009/NEGA.htm

or... 

http://ga.milesplit.us/meets/54440 

We had lots of PRs and some great times for the first race of the year. We'll talk about the race tomorrow after the Courthouse run and do Sock Awards on Wednesday when the band folks can come. 

See you tomorrow,

Coach Norton

Northeast Georgia Championships

Hey Everyone,

Great job at Athens Academy yesterday! I'd say the guys turned some heads with their performance and more importantly, we all showed some heart in finishing the race in 90 degree weather.

For official results, go to http://ga.milesplit.us/meets/54361


Saturday's race is a big one for two reasons. We get our first 5K times of the season and it's a BIG showing of teams. Last I checked there were over 1200 runners attending. It is very important that you don't wander off.

We will meet at the school at 7am and head over to Athens Christian. The first race will be Varsity Girls at 8:30am. Varsity Boys are at 9:00am. JV Boys will start at 9:30am and JV Girls start at 9:35am.

I expect we'll be hopping on the bus to come back to Oglethorpe between 10:30 and 11am and will either stop to get something to eat on the way or possibly order pizza. Either way, please make sure your runner has some money for lunch.


Here are the directions to Athens Christian...There is no admission charge, but there is a $5 parking charge per car so try to carpool if possible. (There are several ways to get there)

• Take Hwy 78 towards Athens
• Turn Left to get on the ramp for US-29
• Go North on 29 for about 5 miles and the school will be on your right

See you there!

Competition Awaits!

Hey everyone!

I'm very excited about the upcoming week. After a long Courthouse run on Monday, we'll take it easy on Tuesday and prepare for our first meet of the year. I can't wait to see how everyone does.

Here are a few announcements...

Runners and Parents Meeting - Tuesday August 25th after practice (5pm) in my trailer. We will be discussing a few things including a fundraiser idea I am very excited about.

Uniforms - Everyone will have a uniform by Tuesday afternoon. Seniors and returning runners get first pick. Keep in mind, the fastest runners get to wear the Varsity uniform to meets regardless of age. This should push you to work harder at practice.

T-shirts - I got an email saying they were shipped on Friday so they'll be here soon. Please get me your t-shirt money ASAP so that we can all wear our shirts together.

Meet #1 - We'll be leaving after school on Wednesday to head to Athens Academy for our first meet. This meet is unique in that it is only a 3K (1.8 miles). The official start time is at 5pm.

Meet #2 - We'll be leaving school very early Saturday morning to head to Athens Christian for our first big 5K meet of the year, the Northeast Georgia Championships. More details to come!

Also, I've been updating our website section on the high school website. There's a link to this site there. Please check in often to read up on what's going on.

Have a great weekend!

Off and Running

Thanks to everyone who has come out for the team this week. I know this will be a great season! Couple of reminders...

• Saturday August 8th (tomorrow) at 9am, we are having another time trial. The 5 that came last week to do a time trial are excused as well as anyone who can absolutely not be there. We will make it up during the week.

• Monday August 10th is Fall Sport Picture Day. I will be giving out uniforms right after school so that you can wear them in your picture. PLEASE be there!!!

• Physicals - I need them by Tuesday at the latest. After that, I can't let you practice with the team until you have one on file.

• Water bottles - please bring a water bottle to practice every day so that we don't have to waste so many cups.

I'll see most of you tomorrow!

Coach

August 1st almost here!

Hey team!

I know we are all excited the summer is over riiiiiight???

I just wanted to remind you that we are still having the Team 5k (time trials) this Saturday at 10am. Come ready to run a 5k and we'll see what kind of shape we're all in. I'm not going to paint the course, but will make sure it is mowed well enough to run on. I'll be recording all of your times as we get a head start on the season. We're doing it rain or shine. If for whatever reason, there is no way you can be there, we will have a make up the following Saturday.

Let me repeat...Team 5k time trials this Saturday (August 1st) at 10am. Meet at the track.

See you there

Coach Norton

A little over a month to go!

Hey team!

I hope everyone has had a great month of June so far. I've been out of town in Colorado for a couple of weeks and am way behind on my running. It's freaking hot out here back in Athens!!! You all have about a month left to get your summer running in. I don't know if any of you ran in the Marigold 10k. I had planned to but just didn't get around to it. I am planning to run a race on July 25th in Athens. It's called the Burnin' up the Blacktop 5k. The details are at http://www.runningintheusa.com/crs/#Jul

You can do mail-in registration or online. If you're interested, email me or I'll just see you there.

Enjoy the rest of the summer!!!

Run Run Run

What a turn out yesterday! We had one. Yes, that's right. One. I guess this means we are all running on our own...right???

I'm still going to be there Wednesday and Thursday at 3pm if anyone wants to come out and run. I got the course mowed and everything so come on out. Otherwise, make sure you run run run this summer.

New people need at least 50 miles and returning runners need at least 100.

Hope you guys are having a great first few days of summer. I'll be in touch.

-Norton

Welcome to the OCXC Blog

HELLO CROSS COUNTRYers!!!

I don't know how to make a website, so this is the next best thing, right. Hopefully we can use it to communicate a bit over the season. Check in here during the summer for updates to the schedule and possible optional team runs.

Also, don't forget about our optional team runs May 26, 27, and 28th all at 3pm. Meet at the track.

And....recruit more runners! Cross Country can help anyone playing soccer, basketball, or even wrestling. It's just flat out good for you. Get your friends to come out even if they didn't come to the meeting.

That is all for now...Finish the school year strong!