WINDER, GA, - The Hebron Christian Academy cross country team started the season strong in the Apalachee Invitational at Apalachee High School on Saturday, Aug. 16.
Between the boys and girls races, which kicked off just passed 7 a.m., there were 40 varsity teams that competed, respectively.
Hebron was right in the mix of those 40 teams.
The boys placed second out of 22 teams, with a team score of 104, just nine points behind first-place Jackson County.
"The boys ran awesome today," head coach Mike Taylor said. "They all showed up. I told them 'know who to stay close to,' and they all did their job, they stayed close and just about every one of them had personal-records (PR)."
The top PR came from senior
Anderson Mathias, who finished in the top spot of the boys race, he surpassed his PR with a time of 15:37.64, which also broke the HCA school record owned by Mathias and the Apalachee course record (15:48.03).
The final stretch came down to Mathias and Dacula High School's Austin Jugenheimer, who were both sprinting to the finish line.
Mathias eventually gained a lead and didn't lose it.
"Andy told me that he was going to run a 15 1/2 [time], that's hard to do, but he did it, which is awesome," Taylor said. "He works really hard, and he'll be one of the best runners in the state this year."
Mathias was previously named as a
Gwinnett Daily Post Super Six selection, deeming him as one of the best-six runners in Gwinnett County.
Behind Mathias was fellow Super Six selection junior
Javi Silva, who placed fifth with a time of 16:32.33.
Wilson Mathias came in later at 20th (17:25.44),
Noble Fink was 36th (18:05.56) and
Sean McCorkle finished in 42nd place (18:22.53), placing Hebron's top five all in the top 45 out of 153 entries.
Lucas Tapia and
Noah Silva also had good runs, placing 67th and 71st, respectively.
"It's looking like it's going to be a really good season, as long as we keep everybody healthy, there's no telling what we could do," Taylor said.
For the girls, they placed seventh out of 18 teams.
They were led by sophomore
Eloise Jones, who came in seventh as an individual with a time of 20:28.91.
Jones exploded onto the scene last season, becoming one of Hebron's top runners, and continued that trend on Saturday morning.
"She ran a great race ... and she's one of the best runners in [GHSA 1A-3A Private] " Taylor said of Jones. "They [all] did great."
Lindsay Buchanan was the second Hebron girl to finish, coming in 36th after a time of 22:39.03. Taylor felt that she ran the best race out of the Hebron girls team.
"That [time] is really good for [Buchanan] this early in the season," Taylor said.
There was some separation between Buchanan and the next four Hebron girls, but they finished closely together, all in solid positions.
Amarin Stephens placed 56th,
Adi Wilson 61st,
Amber Smith 64th and
Morgan Wall 105th out of a massive field of 129 runners.
The Lions will lace up next at the Strong Rock Patriot Invite in Locust Grove on Saturday, Aug. 23.
