Meet the 2023 AMHS Cross Country Teams

Have you heard about our 2023 Cross Country teams? No? Let me JOG your memory.

Charlie Zaifert, Staff Writer

September 11, 2023

Overview

With fall sports at Magnet starting up, the Cross Country Boys and Girls Teams are taking flight! Coming off an excellent season performance from last year, the Girls finishing 4th in State and the Boys finishing 3rd, both teams look to keep up the great work by reaching and/or maintaining a spot on the podium. The Girl’s team is back at it with Coach Hooffsetter and assistant Coach Phillips. The Boy’s teamis charging up with Coach Johnson. Both teams looking forward to an awesome year, so let’s dive in to see what the season is and will look like…

Girls roster (including JV and Varsity)

Wow, looking good ladies! A (very professional) group photo of our girls!

With the girl’s varsity team only having three seniors returning this year, Varsity captains Anna Hollister, Burton McCulley, and Abigail Poole plan to lead their small yet mighty squad to a successful season.

“The girls cross country team lives by the three Ds: desire, determination, and dedication.” -Burton McCulley

The Freshman girls include Mia Dewey, Lane Hawk, Isabella Reilly, Elizabeth Sams, and Adeline Kattler. As well as Sona Harris, the youngest of the spectacular squad being only a 7th grader at SOA.

The sophomore girls include Hannah Collins, Zadie Hawk, Julia Koch, Vanessa Nguyen, and Makena Turner.

The junior girls include Cate Arrant, Laurel Dorsey, Molly George, Lindsey Griffin, and Isla Todd.

Finally, the senior trifecta includes Anna Hollister, Burton McCulley, and Abigail Poole.

Boys Roster (Including Varsity and JV)

Cheese!! Group photo of our boys after a hard-fought race.

With a roster of 24, the boy’s team embraces a loose leadership-styled environment to encourage constant team effort and responsibility. So, they do not have a set team captain but Colin George strongly steps to the plate when the role needs to be fulfilled.

“We are definitely going to be really competitive this year. The team has put in the work over the summer and have already started the season string with a win at Pinewood. Watch out Magnet, because this 2023 Cross Country team is making its bid to be state champs this November.” – Colin George

The freshman boys include Ryland Bender, Nathan Bortz, Liam Campbell, Davis Dusty, Sam Foppe, Jamison Kubu, Alex Matheson, Hayden Mendenhall, Colton Reilly, Quinten Reilly, William Sander, and Caden Sullivan.

The sophomores include only two, Brayden Bunt and CJ Geiger

The juniors include Reece Early, Peyton Johnson, Hunter Kuhnell, Everett Landrith, Nick Severance, Quinn Swanton, and Calvin Volkmann

Lastly, another terrific senior trifecta that includes, Colin George, Lawton Harper, and Adam Kremer.

The season thus far:

On August 26th, in Summerville South Carolina, our Cross Country teams made their official season debut competing in the Pinewood Invitational. This meet tends to be on the smaller side when it comes to size because they limit the race in order to keep everyone safe and ensure the integrity of the course. As far as results go, here are some highlights… Anna Hollister (12), at the speed of light, placed first in the varsity race for the girls with a time of 20:24:32!! In other news of the top 25, Sona Harris (7), had a time of 22:21.18, Cate Arrants (11) had a time of 22:33:63 and Mia Dewey (9) had a time of 23:08:29. And of course a huge shout out to the rest of the girls who ran a great race to make a overall team ranking of 3rd place!

Everett Landrith (11) cruising to victory.

The varsity boys race had a strong finish with many racers in the top 25. Starting off strong, Quinn Swanton (11), some may say he is The Flash in disguise, placed first with a time of 16:37:01 and Calvin Volkmann (11) placed 4th with a whopping time of 17:20:38!! Brayden Bunt (10) had a time of 17:43:11, Peyton Johnson (11) had a time of 17:54.65, Hunter Kuhnell (11) had a time of 18:02.05, and CJ Gieger (10) had a time of 18:34.56!! But when it comes to the team, they crushed it! The boys’ overall scores came together to place Academic Magnet on top at the number one overall spot for the race!!

The most recent race that the Raptors competed in was the 2023 Eye Opener in Spartanburg South Carolina on September 2nd. This meet has quite the reputation as it is said to be the season’s biggest and most intense race. Both the men’s and girl’s varsity teams competed in the international section of the race, meaning they raced in the most competitive group of the meet. Although it was a hard-fought race, with over 300 racers, Anna Hollister placed 18th in the girl’s race with a time of 19:36:40, and for the boys, Quinn Swanton placed 12th with a time of 15:55:30. Magnet placed 12th overall for the boys and 18th for the girls. Fantastic job Raptors!! In other exciting news regarding this race, Quinn Swanton (11) is now ranked the 8th-best runner in South Carolina after setting his new personal record of 15:55:30!! Also honorable mention to Abigail Poole for offering to share her experience during this race; Abigail was coming off of a bad head cold the weeks leading up to the race so she was unable to properly prepare and ended up not finishing the race due to a moment of sickness behind a nearby tree right off the side of the course. She explains being disappointed and throwing her bib off in frustration but that she is now more motivated than ever to get back on track for her final season! Abigail wants to use this moment to send a message to all the athletes out there: “It is not about the destination, it is about the journey.”

JV and Varsity full schedule:

With a total of 10 meets that kicked off on August 26th at the Pinewood Invitational and ending on November 11th at the State Championship, the teams are ecstatic for the season.