Ready, Set, Go! DHS Cross Country Team Starts Season Today

Dunwoody High cross country runners have admirers they don't even know they have.

When training on a notorious hill in Dunwoody's Withmere subdivision, motorists often slow to root them on.

"When we run 'Killer Hill', people drive by and give us a look like 'You've got to be crazy,'" Wildcats coach Brad Hendrickson said. "We have people honking and yelling, 'All right! Keep it up!'"

Hills are among Dunwoody runners' strengths entering today's 6 p.m. season-opening race against Martin Luther King Jr., McNair, Miller Grove, Redan, Southwest DeKalb, Stephenson and Stone Mountain at Druid Hills Middle. The first 5K (3.1-mile) outing this season, it's the Wildcats' initial opportunity to see how they measure up before the first major invitational, Saturday's Clara Bowl at Rome's Berry College.

"It's a tune-up to evaluate where we are and shake out the lineup and see who'll be our top seven (boys and girls) varsity runners," Hendrickson said. "It's a great indication of how our whole season might work out. It's a baseline of where we are to get ready."

Hendrickson said runners began team workouts three weeks ago, having logged his suggested endurance base of about 300 miles individually over summer. Now, he said, the key is developing race speed and tactics. Challenging, though, is training in the heat.

"It's been tough to get in good training runs with the heat," Hendrickson said. "It's been absurdly hot in the afternoons especially."

To beat the heat, the Wildcats have been running four miles several mornings weekly from 6 to 7 a.m., then on the school's track or again around the neighborhood in the afternoon. Depending on when races are upcoming, afternoon workouts vary, but Hendrickson said the team's been averaging about 40 miles weekly.

"It doesn't actually seem like that many, really," said Dunwoody's top girls runner, sophomore Alex Cameron. "Once you get in the cross country groove, four or five miles isn't that big a deal anymore."

The Wildcats takes to the starting line having won only one state championship in school history, a boys title in 1974. School records show the girls were a best-ever third in 1978. Dunwoody's girls last season finished first at the county meet, third in Region 6-AAAA and sixth at state. The boys were second, third and 10th in those meets, respectively.

Expected to lead a Dunwoody girls team that graduated only one runner from last season is Cameron, who won county, was second at region and third at state. She'll be flanked by senior Katie Martin, who captured the junior varsity county race as a freshman, and junior Erin Berger, whose tenacity has impressed Hendrickson. Juniors Kenzie Johnson and Kailey Williams hope to make impact, as do sophomore sisters Elizabeth and Jennifer Hardister.

Dunwoody's boys are without graduates James Dwyer and Kuaniyal Chol, who are running at Clemson and Iowa Central, respectively. In their absence, look for senior senior Kyle Sexton to bring his endurance as a 1,600- and 3,200-meter runner in track, and Brandon Morales, who contributes speed from the 800 and 1,600. Junior Brendan Sexton and seniors Bryce Rowan and Nick Teissler round out the attack.

"We're looking pretty good right now," Morales said. "We've all come a long way and have been dying to race."