Heritage runners trying to carry on school’s cross country tradition

The 2017 cross country season hold plenty of question marks for the Heritage Generals. On the girls’ side, head coach Jeremy Wynne is hoping a small roster can still get the job done, while expectations are high with a large boys’ roster that is big on talent, but not so big on experience.

“It’s going to be kind of an interesting kind of year,” Wynne explained. “Our girls’ team is pretty small. We had some who didn’t come back to run this year, but we still have several outstanding runners who are returning. Some of our girls have really improved and we have a couple of freshmen that we really hope develop and will be able to contribute.”

Leading the way for the Heritage girls will be senior and team captain, Alex Gass, who finished third in the Region 6-AAAA championships in 2016 with a time of 21:12. She ran a 21:45 at the state meet and was the highest finisher for Navy-and-White, who placed ninth as a team.

Right behind Gass is senior Caylee Carpenter, who was fourth at last year’s region meet with a 21:57. Wynne is also hoping for solid seasons from the team’s other seniors, Hannah Colston, Sydney Rogers, Finley Brisendine and Brianna Smotherman, a soccer standout, who is trying cross country for the first time.

Wynne said some of last year’s runners, such as Lucy Hix, are showing good improvement from last year and that a crop of freshmen runners, including Allison Craft, have promise and potential.

“We always have a pretty solid team, but we only have about a dozen girls this year,” he added. “I don’t know how good we’ll be just yet, but we ought to be solid. I’m hoping we can continue to be dominant in our region, but we’ll just have to see how everything shapes up.”

Heritage’s girls’ teams have won several region titles in its short history, including the past five in a row.

On the boys’ side, Wynne will be counting on several experienced runners from last year.

Junior Caleb Boyd is the top returner in terms of season-best times from last year. He placed 20th in the region meet with an 18:43. Behind Boyd is

group that includes senior captain Caleb Buckler, juniors Dakota Carter and Ryan Craft and sophomore Zack Locke, who all finished in the top 35 at the 6-AAAA championships last year.

Wynne is also hoping to see seniors Garrett Aaron and Tim Grayson take the next step to varsity status after running JV in 2016. But they will have competition from a large and talented pool of young runners, including several freshmen.

“We have some top-

notch runners that I expect to be running in the 18’s (minutes) this year, if not the 17’s,” he said. “The question is, out of the other 30-35 guys that we have, who will step up to fill those other varsity roster slots? But just having that kind of depth is nice.

“I’m really excited

about the boys’ team. I think we have a shot to make a run at the region (title). That’s our goal and I think we have the talent to do it. We seem pretty solid so far, but we probably won’t know much until we actually race.”

The Heritage boys last won a region title in 2015.