The site was the course over in Grayson County, and Head Coach Shawn Montgomery loaded up the bus 🚌 with a total of 18 runners 🏃‍♂️spread across our four squads.

Seven Middle School Boys, four Middle School Girls, six Varsity Boys, and one Varsity Girl dawned our school colors on the same day as the Homecoming festivities were being held back on The Hill.

This story has to be about dedication in regard to both the sport and the program itself. Independence is pretty enough this time of year, but wouldn’t it have been more fun to just stay at home and enjoy one of the more fun events of the school year ?

Dedicated for sure !

Eight schools 🏫 sent runners to the event, and Carroll County had enough competitors in a category to compete as a team in two of the four categories. A team needs to have five to fit into this column.

Boys 👦 Varsity had three of the eight schools end up in the final standings.

George Wythe – 34

Galax – 37

Carroll County – 62

The Middle School Boys also placed third amongst the six teams that brought a minimum of five.

Auburn – 43

Fort Chiswell – 72

Carroll County – 79

Grayson County – 88

Galax – 98

Bland – 114

Now that you know all of the facts, the question is, where does the story take us ?

We can start with the efforts of Amelia Forsyth, our lone runner in the Varsity Girls category. Last time out, all three of our Lady Cavaliers were either sick or injured, and with just three on the team, they will not be eligible to compete as a team this season.

Yet, this young Lady still showed up and landed in the Top 20 !

Option two for the story would be the efforts of young Sylas Nissel !

This young man finished his day in fourth place overall and helped his team to a third place finish, just seven points behind the Silver Medal 🥈 spot. Cole Bowers and Colton Marshall joined Nissel in the Top 20.

Maybe the lead would be that our Avery Jones led the boys’ charge and just missed a Top Ten finish.

Yes, 18 current and future Carroll County High School cross country runners spent their Wednesday afternoon running through a field 30 miles from The Hill. I am not sure exactly how many actually care that this took place, but I know that Shawn Montgomery cares, and that is enough reason for me.

The road less traveled can sometimes be a lonely journey, but it’s still the right path !

Full Circle 🔵 back – Graphics are Awesome….