By Nick Nunn
Staff Writer

The Morgan County Cross Country team has had reason to celebrate during the last three weeks.
At the 6th annual Eagle Invitational at East Jackson, which was held on Sept. 15, Zack Stone set the Morgan County High School record for a 5K with a time of 17:18.64.
Also, due to the impressive performances by the entire team, not just by its star runner, Morgan County entered the Georgia Milesplit poll’s ranking at 10th place in the state after the meet.
“We're pretty excited about this ranking, but honestly it can't be the thing we get distracted by,” said Coach Brandon York.
Members of the Middle School’s cross country team ran in the JV Boys 5K race at the Eagle Invitational, but their times were not scored. Had Dalton Shaw’s time of 19:17 been official, he would have placed for a fourth place medal in the race.
Coach York was enthusiastic about Shaw’s performance.
“He's a very mature and poised runner for his age. His presence bodes very well for the future of the program.”
The cross country team has a few breaks in its schedule, the first of which being the week off two weekends ago.
Last weekend, the team competed in races at the Aubrae Gunderson Invitational in Conyers.
Coach York described the course as “a real meat-grinder,” but the team did well in spite of the conditions of the course.
Stone missed repeating the school record that he set two weeks before by only 10 seconds, and the Morgan County team came in seventh overall with a team average of 18 minutes and 19 seconds for the 5K race.
Yakira Chapman led the girls again in their 5K with a time of 24 minutes and 54 seconds.
At this meet, there was also a race for Middle School teams, so Dalton Shaw was able to race and be scored. He placed six in the 3K run. His time for the race was 12 minutes and 49 seconds.
After the Aubrae Gunderson Invitational last weekend, the team will be off for two weeks because of fall break. Their next meet, the first in October, will be the Oglethorpe Patriot Races in Lexington on the 25th.
Coach York is looking forward to the Region Meet Nov. 1 and thinks that the team will do well despite stiff competition. 
“We have arguably the toughest region in AAA, but we are very optimistic to end up with a satisfying finish. Honestly, we'd run against them at the State Meet, so we might as well run against them now.”

Printed in the October 4th edition.