Cross country is a sport consisting of two-mile and five-kilometer races. Wheeler cross country just wrapped up their season with the regional meet on October 27th and their banquet on November 9th. Their season started with the “Hoya 2 mile Invitational;” at Allatoona Creek Park on August 14th. From then on, they ran nine 5k races as a team, leading up to the region meet. Both the varsity girls and boys finished 6th as a team in the region. The Wildcat nation couldn’t be more proud of its runners.

The Wheeler Cross Country team is led by coaches Earlando Courtney, Leticia Beverly (more well known as Coach L), and Nicole Ice. They all come together to teach the young runners each year and help them grow as athletes and people. When asked about this season, Dr. Ice commented, “I think it went great. There was a record number of personal records (PRs) this year”. She later added, “We have a lot of outstanding new runners on the team. They did a really great job. They were really top runners for the team”. After a weird year of school, fall sports became a place where friendship and sportsmanship could flourish even more than before. Many freshmen leaped at this chance and joined the roster this year. The cross country and Wheeler family couldn’t be happier to have them representing the Wildcat nation each week.

Many awards were given to exceptional runners at the end-of-season banquet who showed consistent character and growth. There is an award given to one male and female for each category. The categories are most improved, most valuable runner, rookie of the year, and the Drew Griffin award. The Drew Griffin award is of the highest honor and was named after a runner on the WHS cross country team in the late 90s. In his time as a runner, he grasped first place as an individual and executed great character and leadership. This award is now given out to one male and one female senior who best displays his qualities of hard work, scholarship, leadership, and character. This year the award was given to Matthew Tate and Virginia Miller. Matthew Tate also received the most valuable runner award; he finished ninth in the region at the region meet. Annah Priyadi (11) was given the most valuable runner award for the girl’s team. Both runners consistently ran their hardest and finished first out of the team for most of the races. For the most improved, the awards were given to Albert Hein (9) and Lydia Chernowksi (10). They both worked hard this year to constantly improve and set new personal records. As underclassmen at Wheeler, they have a bright future of running ahead of them. Finally, the rookie of the year award is awarded to two new runners who shine amongst the rest each year. This year it was awarded to Aubrey Drysdale and Andrew Yankowsky, who put their all out and ran several varsity races this season. The Wheeler Cross Country has many exceptional runners, and these are just a few who showed what they could do for the team.

The team has four senior captains. They are Haden Drake, Virginia Miller, Zach Carman, and Matthew Tate. One of the captains, Zach (12), spoke on this season’s goals saying, “I wanted to improve my personal record, and just have a fun season with my friends and teammates one more time.” Another senior, Matthew Kuimjian (12), said that his goal was to “run a 5k under 20 minutes.” He accomplished this goal by running a 19:56 at the region meet. His teammate Andrew Yankowsky (9), had the same goal and achieved it with a personal record of 19:37. When asked about a goal for next season, he said, “I would like to break 19 minutes.” Considering he was given the rookie runner of the year award, he has a good shot at shining and reaching his goals next season. The cross country team has many fun meets where they travel around Georgia. In 2019, the team traveled to Florida State University to run an invitational and stopped at Wild Adventures Amusement Park in Valdosta, Georgia, on their way back. Malli Gutta (12), Virginia Miller (12), Matthew Kuimjian (12), and Zach Carman (12) all looked back on this trip when asked about their favorite memories over the years, recalling all the fun experiences. Zach (12) added a funny memory about it, saying, “When we went sophomore year to an amusement park down in Valdosta, and one of our teammates got a stress fracture, so we were carting him around in a wheelchair while he was on pain killers.” The cross country team has supplied many fun memories and friendships to graduating runners and will continue to provide them for runners to come. Until next season Wildcat runners!