Putnam cross-country excels at GMC meet

Putnam County cross-country dashed to another top-three result last week.

Both the War Eagles and the Lady Eagles finished third at the GMC Bulldog Dash in Milledgeville on Thursday, Sept. 20. The boys were among 13 teams while the girls competed among 10 teams. Both squads finished behind host Georgia Military College Prep and Jones County High School.

Despite still missing freshman Cole Griffin, a talented runner who is dealing with an injury, the War Eagles were still able to perform well and several runners recorded solid times. Jacob Little led the Eagles, finishing eighth out of 158 competitors and earning a medal with a time of 19:18.29.

Dylan Lindsey finished 12th with a time of 19:42.42 and Jaden Grimes finished 15th with a time of 19:50.10. James Mead rounded out Putnam’s top four by finishing 26th with a time of 20:32.69.

While the hot Georgia afternoon made the race challenging and the Putnam runners did not record any personal best times, Putnam cross-country coach Andrew Grodecki was pleased with the teams’ performances.

He said the top four runners on the boys squad, in particular, had a good day at the meet.

“I’m very pleased with the way these four ran,” Grodecki said. “It was a good team effort. We are still working on closing that gap between our No. 1 and No. 5 runner.”

The Lady Eagles had a good day as well, with Shelby Herring also finishing in eighth place and receiving a medal. The Lady Eagle senior finished the course with a time of 25:34.71.

Rounding out the top four behind Herring was Destiny Beltman in 12th with a time of 26:05.07, freshman Lily McWhorter in 13th with a time of 26:08.06 and sophomore Rebecca Hildreth in 14th with a time of 26:13.08. The four leading Lady Eagles earned their spots among 73 other runners.

Similarly to the boys squad, Grodecki wishes to keep his top Lady Eagle runners closer together when they cross the finish line.

“Just like the boys, we need to continue to work on closing the gap between the No. 1 and No. 5 runner,” Grodecki said. “But it was still great to see those four girls finish in a tight pack.”

The Putnam County runners took part in their next meet on Tuesday, Sept. 25 when they traveled to Homer to compete in a meet hosted by region opponent Banks County. The Putnam boys squad was recently ranked in the GHSA Class AA top 10. The War Eagles retained their No. 10 spot after the GMC meet.

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