The buzz around the Shady Spring cross country program is extremely loud heading into the 2024 season.
The numbers are up, successful veterans are back and the Tigers are ready to roar.
“We will open the season ranked No. 5 for the girls and No. 6 for the boys,” head coach Eric Lawson said. “Youth has turned into experience and I am really looking forward to seeing what that will in tale for us.”
The girls squad has won the Class AA Region 3 title the last two years and will be anchored this year by junior Gwynn McGinnis, sophomore Bre Crouse and senior Journey Wisthoff.
Crouse and McGinnis ran second and third at the regional meet a year ago, with Wisthoff and Audrey Justice all finishing in the top-10.
“Gwen is a stud and Journey is a veteran. Bre has already shown what she can do and we have freshman Raelyn Carr who is showing a lot of promise,” Lawson said.
Justice has battled some health issues, but when she is healthy, the young sophomore has turned in some impressive times.
“The runner that has shown the biggest step forward so far is Aubrey Justice. I have really been impressed with how she has come out of the summer into practice,” Lawson said. “We know what she can do and she had a great regional meet last year. I am excited to see her take off.”
A huge positive for the girls team has been a larger roster and increased competition. The Tigers have 14 girls on the team this year which is biggest team for Lawson now in his seventh season as head coach.
“I have a bunch of freshman that we are feeling out right now. I have a bunch of kids pushing kids trying to figure out where they are at right now,” Lawson said. “Competition in-house is the best way to build success. Pushing each other every day will only make them better in the long run. Thankfully we have enough kids where we get meet-like competition in practice. That just makes us better.”
The boys have finished as the regional runner-up each of the last two seasons and won the regional title in 2021.
Although the Tigers will face tough competition from rivals Nicholas County and PikeView, Shady has the team to regain the regional title this year.
Sophomore Logan Malott (6th), senior Eli Jordan (8th), junior David Northrop (13th), senior Vaughn York (15th) and sophomore Reid Radford (17th) are all back this year and finished inside the top-20 at the 2023 regional event.
“The boys team is so deep. Ethan Dowdy has come out and solidified himself as a force in the first couple of days of practice,” Lawson said. “Logan is still doing his thing and Eli is still being a great leader. Vaughan had that nasty ligament tear in track season, but he has come out and looks really good.”
Lawson has also been impressed with junior Bo Huffman and the team received a boost from Summers County transfer Jackson Farrish who is a sophomore.
“Bo came out and ran right behind Logan Malott the other day in our 5K time trial. Freshman Caleb Rose has looked really good. He was up in the top-seven in that time trial,” Lawson said. “Jackson has impressed me with his attitude and his mentality. He has that Shady bulldog mentality and is tough as nails.”
Shady Spring will open the season Saturday, Aug. 24 at the Chick-fil-A Beckley Invitational held at Beckley-Stratton Middle School..
“I am looking forward to see what we can do. We have some scrappers that just won’t quit and we have that good leadership,” Lawson said. “It is nice to have that veteran leadership and still have a mixture of youth. We are still really young, but they have experienced things on a varsity level as well.”
The Tigers will also run at the Greenbrier East Invitational and PikeView Invitational. Shady will participate at the annual Concord University meet and the Knights Crossing in Roanoke as well.
The regional meet will be at Little Beaver State Park on Oct. 24, while the state will be at Cabell Midland High School on Nov. 2.
