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Rising sophomore Sam Wingfield during the Region 4-AAA meet at Bill Wood Park last October. STAFF/Lance McCurley
The Morgan County cross country team will begin its season in a couple of weeks.
Both the ‘Dogs and Lady ‘Dogs have been training together over the course of the summer in hopes of repeating in October before the state meet in November.
Morgan County starts its 2022 season on Saturday, Aug. 20 at the Loganville Christian Academy Invitational.
Lady Dogs finding their groove
The Morgan County girls’ cross country team has won the Region 4-AAA championship the past two years, so the bar is set high for this upcoming season.
Lady Dogs’ head coach Erin Spinks is excited to return a majority of her varsity roster in 2022. She added that a standard was set to make things more competitive.
“We have been working together since the end of April. We do a spring training and conditioning,” she said. “This is our first year ever that we’ve actually held a standardized tryout. It’s where we set the standard a little bit higher for each of the girls. They have been working hard towards this. So, we did it to make it a bit more competitive rather than a come-one, come-all sport.”
Spinks highlighted the goal for the tryout was that each runner needed to run three miles in under 30 minutes, which was met by all the varsity runners.
“All of them accomplished the goal, so that was very, very exciting,” Spinks said.
According to Spinks, the Lady Dogs also worked on ‘dialing down’ their times over the summer. “We worked [on that] by using
“We worked [on that] by using speed, hills and distance,” she added. The Morgan County girls’
The Morgan County girls’ cross country team has six seniors returning, which is great in terms of leadership. They all have set the standard in the past.
Spinks said the program is trending in the ‘right direction.’ “I have been coaching [some
“I have been coaching [some of] these girls since they were little,” Spinks said. “I am very excited to see what they can accomplish this season. We also have several new girls that came out who are naturally athletic in other sports.”
Spinks believes that her runners can repeat as region champs, but the ultimate goal is to have more girls place in the state meet, and make it onto the podium. “We’re hoping to keep that
“We’re hoping to keep that momentum going in showing them not to stay the same, but that they can get better. To improve amongst themselves, that’s the main thing,” Spinks said. “We want to teach them that they’re running as individuals and trying to get a PR (personal record), while also competing as a team. Of course, we also want to succeed at the state meet. There’s no ‘if we’re going to make it to state.’ It’s ‘when we’re going to the state meet.’ Just setting that standard high [is important] and so is working together.” The Lady Dogs’ top runners
The Lady Dogs’ top runners returning are Brenna Garrett (junior), Ari Paine (sophomore) and Morgan McCormack (junior). There are also a few more varsity girls’ runners that are slated to make an impact this season, per Spinks.
“This group is as good as it gets,” Spinks said. “It’s going to be fun to watch them this year.”
Several ‘Dogs ready to bite in 2022
The Morgan County boys’ cross country team tasted success last season after winning the Region 4-AAA title.
However, the Dogs want to return to the top in 2022 and reach even new heights by putting more runners on the podium at the Class AAA meet in November,
“Last year was the first year we won outright,” head coach Brian Johnson said. “Two years ago, we took runner-up, and weren’t strong enough to win it.”
Per Johnson, this year’s senior class can lead the way back to a regional championship.
“They are pretty motivated,” he said. “My No. 1 runner, who is not a senior but a sophomore, is coming back in Sam (Wingfield). He wants to go to the state meet and make the podium every year. Sam has been training hard.” Wingfield became the first
Wingfield became the first athlete in program history to reach the podium at the state level. He finished ninth overall in Class AAA last November in Carrollton.
The Dogs return a strong senior class in Tyson Frederick, Brandon Lange, Jack Greenfield, Willie Reid, and Eli Cook, among others. They also bring back junior CJ Paine, who finished 14th overall at the Region 4-AAA meet last year.
Johnson highlighted that this group is driven to feed off its success from a year ago.
“It’s infectious,” he said. “I feel like this year my program is going to yield a lot more with some results.”
Like Spinks, the fifth-year boys’ head coach has been with this senior class since the beginning. He’s excited to watch this group of guys excel together one last time.
“They’ll be huge for us,” Johnson said. “All of my seniors started with me from day one. So, all of my guys are four-year runners. They barely knew what they were getting into, and are now at a point where three of them will score in the top 20 everywhere we go. Then, I have Sam, who is just different. Sam will either win or take second or third (place). … So, I am excited about the season.”
Out of all the Dogs, though, Frederick has set the standard in terms of being a leader, and Johnson expects big things out of the senior this season. “I’m looking at a different
“I’m looking at a different scenario this year, and Tyson [Frederick] is my captain. He’s set the standard and a bar where a lot of the younger runners look up to him and Sam,” Johnson said. “They want to emulate their success. So, they [the underclassmen] are striving to meet that level of expectation now.”