Cross Country Travels To Charlotte To Open Season

ATHENS, Ga. --- The Georgia cross country teams will take the Frank Liske Park course in Charlotte, N.C., on Friday morning to begin their 2022 campaign at the Charlotte Opener under the direction of new cross country coach Patrick Henner.

Henner previously coached under Georgia's Director of Track and Field Caryl Smith Gilbert at Southern California and was added to the Bulldog staff in June 2021.  Henner inherits a team with a combined 22 returners and is traveling nine of 10 scorers from last year's opener to Charlotte.

It will be the first time on a course for both teams since the 2021 NCAA South Regional in Huntsville, Ala.  The men were 11^th in the 10k race and the women left with a 12^th-place finish.  Current Bulldog and 2021 All-Region and All-Southeastern Conference First Team member Sam Bowers advanced to the NCAA Championships where he was 206^th last year.

When Do The Starting Guns Fire: The Georgia men will start the meet with their 5k race at 9:30 a.m. while the Lady Bulldogs will race in their 5k competition at 10 a.m.

Who Is The Competition: In addition to Georgia and Charlotte, the field for the Bulldogs' opener includes North Carolina and William & Mary.

Weather: Temperatures will range from the mid 70s to the low 80s in Charlotte on Friday morning.  Sunny skies with light winds are predicted.

Henner's Thoughts: "It has been a pleasure to work with the 'Distance Dawgs' here at UGA.  Both squads have the talent and desire and now it's just a matter of putting in the work and learning how to execute in a race," said Henner, who most recently coached at Arizona State.  "Our focus the entire year will be on effort, execution, leadership and fun.  If we can embrace and model those attributes and attitudes, we will find individual and team success."

What Dogs Are Competing: Georgia is expecting to have 18 runners competing in its opener.  On the women's side, juniors Sara Bailey and Ellie Hall, sophomores Charlotte Augenstein, Sophia Baker and Aleesa de Castro and freshmen Emily Guy, Katherine Law and Simone Rojas will represent the Red and Black.

Juniors Nicolas Fontova, Tyler Fox and Wesley John, sophomores John-Isaac Autry, Cooper Bocko, Noah Hayes, K.C. Heron and Zachary Roe and freshmen Ethan Nordman and Seth White will take the course for the Bulldog men.

Career Debut: Six Georgia runners will be officially suiting up in the red and black in the fall for the first time.  Guy, Law and Rojas will be making their career cross debut for the Lady Bulldogs while Autry, Nordman and White will be the newest members to race for the Bulldog men.

FAR & Away The Best: The men and women's cross country teams swept the Faculty Athletics Representatives (FAR) Award for earning UGA's highest team GPAs for the 2021-22 academic year.  The Lady Bulldogs posted a 3.64 GPA over the fall and spring semesters giving them the third honor of this kind since the 1992-93 academic year.  The Bulldog men posted a 3.37 GPA, marking the ninth time they have been atop the final standings.

Individual Academic Accolades As Well: Fontova, a native of Atlanta, was named the male recipient of the 2022-23 Joel Eaves Scholar-Athlete Award.  The award is presented to the male and female (golf's Caterina Don) student-athletes with the highest GPA upon entering the fall semester of his or her senior year, based on academic hour.

Fontova is a Mathematics major who is seeking a minor in Religion.  The three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll recipient has run at a pair of SEC Championships for the Bulldogs as well as last year's NCAA South Regional.

What Happened In The 2021 Opener: Georgia began its campaign last season at the Kennesaw State Opener and the men left with a third-place showing in the 6k race while the women were fourth in their 4k race.  A pair of returners in John (14^th – 18:59.81) and Bailey (sixth – 14:23.42) led the squads, respectively, as Roe (17^th – 19:04.52), Heron (23^rd – 19:15.86), Fontova (29^th – 19:22.80) and Hayes (34^th – 19:32.98) rounded out the scorers on the men's side.

For the women, Augenstein (23^rd – 15:24.25), Baker (28^th – 15:31.88), Marisa Petit (32^nd – 15:33.92) and Hall (33^rd – 15:34.10) were in the top five for the Lady Bulldogs.  This would be the first of three regular season meets that Georgia lined up in during 2021.

What's Up Next: While there will be no home meet this season for the Bulldogs, UGA is slated to travel to Huntsville for the first of two times on Sept. 16 for the North Alabama Invitational.  Georgia will return to the course on Nov. 11 for the NCAA South Regional.  Following their second regular season meet, UGA will compete in Bethlehem, Pa., at the Paul Short Run on Sept. 30 and then the Weis-Crockett Invitational in Stillwater, Okla., on Oct. 15, which is also the site of this year's NCAA Championships.

The Bulldogs' postseason will start with the SEC Championships in Oxford, Miss., on Oct. 28.  Following the Regional in Alabama, Georgia is aiming to conclude its season at Nationals near Oklahoma State's campus on Nov. 19.

Keeping Up With The Dogs: Updates from Georgia's track and field and cross country teams can always be found on Twitter/Instagram (UGATrack).

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Players Mentioned

Charlotte Augenstein

John-Isaac Autry

Sara Bailey

Sophia Baker

Cooper Bocko

Sam Bowers

Aleesa de Castro

Nicolas Fontova

Tyler Fox

Emily Guy

Ellie Hall

Noah Hayes

Wesley John

Katherine Law

Ethan Nordman

Marisa Petit

Zachary Roe

Simone Rojas

Seth White

University of Georgia Athletics