by Mark Turner
White County News
It's going to be a hot summer in Georgia, but the heat and humidity won't stop the members of the White County High School cross country teams from preparing for the 2025 season, which begins in August.
The WCHS runners open the season on Aug. 19 at the Gorge to Beach 3K in Clarkesville, but they have been putting in work all month as part of the summer workout program.
The team has been meeting daily, Monday through Friday, for different types of running workouts. They will take a week off next week due to the GHSA-mandated dead week, but will be back to work in early July.
“We really focus on building our base and upping our mileage during June and July,” said WCHS coach Megan Runkle. “It starts getting us ready for the season. We have three days of long runs, around 6-8 miles for the varsity runners, and a little less for the JV and younger kids. We are also spending a lot of time in the weight room; trying to get stronger so we can make it through a long season. Stronger legs make better runners.”
The summer program includes a large group of high school runners as well as several middle school runners.
“We've had good attendance so far,” Runkle said. “Kids have other things going on in the summer, but they've consistently been showing up. Our varsity girls are really excited about it; they all had a good spring in track, so they have kind of kept that feeling rolling into the summer stuff. The boy's have been working hard too.”
The 2025 schedule includes eight regular season events. The WCHS teams will compete in races in Jasper and Blairsville during the opening month of the season, and then take part in the North Hall Invitational, the University of North Georgia Invitational, and the Granite City Invitational in September.
The October slate includes hosting the annual Mountain Invitational at Unicoi State on Sept. 2. WCHS will also run in events in Carnesville and Ringgold during the month to close out the regular season races.
This year's Class AAA state sectional event will be in Ringgold,on Nov. 1. The Class AAA state meet will be Nov. 8 in Carrollton.