Cross Country Travels To Final Regular Season Meet At Crimson Classic

Friday, October 13

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

University of Georgia

Crimson Classic

Cross Country Travels To Final Regular Season Meet At Crimson Classic

October 12, 2023 | Cross Country

ATHENS, Ga. --- The Bulldog cross country teams will travel to the Crimson Classic in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Thursday in anticipation for their Friday morning races.

This meet will be run at the Harry Pritchett Running Park and will mark Georgia's final regular season meet.

When Do The Starting Guns Fire: The Bulldog men will race in their second 8k of the year at 9:30 a.m. ET on Friday while the Lady Bulldogs are set to line up in the 6k race at 10:20 a.m.  This is also the women's second 6k of the season after opening with a pair of 5k races.

Who Is The Competition: Georgia will join meet host Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi State (women) and the Tennessee (women) from the Southeastern Conference.  No. 15 Eastern Kentucky and No. 11 Alabama from the men's side and No. 14 Alabama from the women's side are currently ranked in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national poll.

Weather: Temperatures at race time on Friday are expected to be in the 60s with cloudy skies.

Live Results: http://gado.gs/azk

Chorny's Thoughts: "The race this week will provide us a good chance to run against some of our SEC competitors to see where we stack up," said Chorny.  "This is another big meet with a really good list of teams in attendance, and it will give us exactly what we need from a team and individual standpoint.  We have some individuals who are on the verge of making some big breakthroughs so our main focus will be to get off the line well in order to place ourselves in the best competitive group possible."

The Bulldogs have raced on a variety of courses stretching from Acworth, Ga., to Columbia, S.C., to Bethlehem, Pa., so far.  Chorny has attempted to progressively train his runners to be able to compete wherever their next action is.

"This will be our fourth race and our fourth different course so far this year, so we will preview the course (Thursday) to see if we can identify any particular spots where we can make some moves or where were we think other teams might make a move.  In general, we have trained on a lot of different surfaces in order to prepare for the season.  We've been on the flat intermural fields, we've been on the track and we've created a couple road loops around the athletic facilities and even a nearby cemetery with lots of hills."

With just two weeks before the SEC Championships, Chorny is banking this meet will be another step in the postseason preparations.

"This race will serve as a great practice for SECs, so our objective is to get the highest team finished possible.  The training plan over the last couple weeks has focused on getting more race ready and I believe they will be more fresh and ready to go than they have been all season.  Now we just need to get out there and compete."

What Dogs Are Competing: Georgia is expecting to have 24 runners competing.  On the women's side, seniors Charlotte Augenstein, Sophia Baker, Gracie O'Neal, sophomores Lily Cincola, Nina Ouellette, Simone Rojas, Lorel Golden, Katherine Law, Audrey Knoper and freshmen Ella Kepple, Bella Brick and Gracey Owens will represent the Red and Black.

Seniors Chase Condra, Wesley John, juniors Cole Heron, Zack Truitt, K.C. Heron, Zachary Roe, Davis Potts, sophomore Ethan Nordman and freshmen Ryan Olree, Kushan Patel, Conner Rutherford and Luke Churchwell will take the course for the Bulldog men.

SEC Weekly Honors: A pair of Bulldogs have received SEC weekly honors this season.  Condra's first collegiate victory to lead the Bulldogs to a team win at the Stan Sims Opener earned him SEC Men's Co-Runner of the Week.  Olree was named the league's SEC Freshman Runner of the Week after grabbing the top freshman finish (sixth overall) at the Gamecock Challenge.

FAR & Away The Best: The women's cross country teams won the Faculty Athletics Representatives (FAR) Award for earning UGA's highest team GPAs for the 2022-23 academic year.  In fact, the Lady Bulldogs posted a 3.72 GPA over the fall and spring semesters giving them the best team GPA for any academic year in UGA history and the fourth honor of this kind for the team since the 1992-93 academic year.

Individual Academic Accolades As Well: Junior Cooper Bocko, a native of Cumming, Ga., was named the male recipient of the 2023-24 Joel Eaves Scholar-Athlete Award and honored during the Bulldogs' football game against No. 20 Kentucky.  The award is presented to the male and female (soccer's Morgan Hart) student-athletes with the highest GPA upon entering the fall semester of his or her senior year, based on academic hour.

Bocko is a Computer Science major who scored in five meets for the Bulldogs last season, including the SEC Championships and the NCAA South Regional.

Last Trip To The Crimson Classic: Georgia is making its second straight appearance at the Crimson Classic.  The men finished eighth with 159 points while the Lady Bulldogs tallied 243 points for ninth place in 2022.  Sam Bowers' 10^th-place finish (24:18.9) topped his teammates and Potts (30^th), Condra (37^th and  K.C. Heron (48^th) are all returning scorers for the Bulldogs.  Augenstein's 42^nd-place finish (41:37.5) was the top finish for the Georgia women while Rojas (45^th), Baker (58^th) and Knoper (70^th) are also returning scorers from last year.

Last Time Out: Condra and Law were Georgia's top individual finishers during the Bulldogs' top-20 team finishes at the Paul Short Run on Sept. 30.  The Georgia men scored 506 points in their first 8k of the year to finish 18^th in the 42-team field.  The Lady Bulldogs ran in their first 6k of 2023 and were 19^th out of 44 teams with 552 points.

Condra followed up his season-opening win by topping his teammates again in the third meet of the season.  Condra, a native of Suwannee, Ga., who trained through the Bulldogs' second meet two weeks ago, completed the course in 24:35.3 for 31^st.  Cole Heron, who won the Gamecock Challenge on Sept. 15, crossed the line second for Georgia.  Heron ran a personal record 25:03.6 to be the Bulldogs' second finisher (99^th overall) while his twin brother, K.C. Heron, finished four spots behind in 103^rd with a 25:05.7.

Racing in his third collegiate meet, Churchwell scored in his second meet after finishing 140^th (25:18.3).  Roe rounded out the scorers for the Bulldogs with a 25:21.6 for 148^th.

Soon after the completion of the men's race, the women took the course and saw Law, a Jefferson, Ga., native, be the Lady Bulldogs' top finisher for the first time in her career thanks to a personal record 21:42.0 for 95^th.  Golden took 100^th with the fastest time of her career (21:43.4).  The Lady Bulldogs' leader in their first two meets, Augenstein, was third across the line for UGA after registering a 21:52.9 for 114^th.

O'Neal continued her impressive return to the lineup after missing the 2022 season and was 119^th with a 21:54.9.  Baker completed the Lady Bulldogs' top five with a 139^th-place finish (22:04.3).

What's Up Next: The SEC Championships are up next in Columbia, S.C., on Oct. 27 to start the postseason.  Georgia will then make the trip to Gainesville, Fla., for the NCAA South Regional on Nov. 10.  Those who qualify will continue their season at the NCAA Championships, which Virginia will play host to in Charlottesville, Va., 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).  Please visit georgiadogs.com for any other information regarding the Bulldogs.