Pierce County Middle School (PCMS) cross country closed out its regular season with a bang.
For the first time in school history, both boys and girls cross country finished the regular season undefeated.
“Both girls and boys teams were face with many challenges, from injuries, sickness, etc,” said Girls Head Coach Denise Brown.
“These athletes are relentless and have that ‘never say die’ attitude,” said Boys Head Coach Chad Brown.
The season began in Appling County August 23. Out of a total 74 runners in the girls’ race and 104 in the boys’ race, both Pierce County teams beat their competitors by over 30 points.
PCMS’s first home meet of the season (Aug. 30) set the stage for a season-long rivalry.
Eight teams and over 180 overall competitors ran that day.
The margin of victory began to shrink.
Boys beat Brantley by 16 points, and girls edged out Appling County by only six points.
Girls cross country would continue to fight Appling for first place the rest of the season.
At another home meet Sept. 13, Pierce beat Appling by 15 points, 19 points in Long County (Sept. 15), a strong 38 point lead in Appling’s home turf (Sept. 20) and a skin-of-their-teeth five points at Martha Puckett in Jesup (Sept. 27).
Initially, boys cross country squared off against different competitors: leading by 29 points September 13 against second-place Brantley County and scoring a 47 point long lead over Long County September 15.
From there, Appling started to close in on the boys too.
Boys cross country placed first over Appling by only 12 points September 20 and a slighly better 17 points at Martha Puckett a week later (Sept. 27).
It all culminated at October 4’s Conference Meet in Long County.
“Some people may say, ‘Well, it’s just running,’” said Coach C. Brown.“We beg to differ...It’s running when it’s 95+ degrees, (with) humidity that seems unbearable and trying to breathe air that’s as thick as potato soup. Nothing is ‘easy’ in cross country running.”
Only the seven top runners from each team in the conference competed that day.
For PCMS girls: Allie Anderson (Grade 6), Brystal Bennett (Grade 6), Rilie Depratter (Grade 6), Baylee Tippins (Grade 6), Blaire Bennett (Grade 7), Sylvie Branch (Grade 8) and Avery Crews (Grade 8).
For PCMS boys: James Alonso (Grade 7), Breck Benton (Grade 7), Chase Smith (Grade 7), Samuel Carillo (Grade 8), Coleman Lee (Grade 8), Blayne McQuaig (Grade 8) and Brandon Yepes (Grade 8).
Sixty-three runners competed in the boys race.
Once again, Appling closed in, with PCMS’s boys placing first by only nine points.
Then came the girls.
By the end of the race, 50 percent of the top ten finishers were from Pierce County, with Avery Crews placing first overall.
They beat second-place Appling by 14 points, making PCMS girl’s cross country champions for the third year in a row.
Never before had both teams completed the entire regular season undefeated.
PCMS went on to compete at the Georgia Middle School State Cross Country Championship (Oct. 15) in Cochran.
The top seven girls placed second overall out of 11 teams.
Junior Varsity boys — consisting of boys not in the top seven — placed second out of eight teams.
PCMS’s top seven boys finished ninth out of 18 teams.
The following runners received a medal for finishing in the top 25:
Avery Crews #8, Sylvie Branch #18 and Baylee Tippins, #20 Connor Thrift #5, Greyson Raulerson #10, Aiden Anderson #12 and Miles Pitts #16
“We couldn’t be more proud of how (the teams) have adapted to every situation and what they have accomplished in doing so,” said Coach D. Brown. “This season was exhausting, but so fulfilling.”
