Surviving a blistering hot sun, the SCHS Lady Gamecock cross country team of Anna Canetto, with just five members participating, captured first place in a four-team event on the SCHS campus Tuesday afternoon. The team will not be in action again until Sept. 9 when they go to Magnolia Springs, suddenly a hot bed of activity, for a meet hosted by Jenkins County.
“Considering the heat this afternoon our times were really good,” said Canetto. “This really gives us something to build upon for future meets.”
Junior Jessica Markovcic, headed to football practice afterwards, took top honors from among the 24 runners with a time of 25:52.  “Jessica has said from the beginning that she wanted to be number one this season,” Canetto said. “Today she went out and proved it.”
Senior Hannah Thompson brought home third place with a time of 27:16 while another senior Kortney Gross was seventh (29:45), junior Danielle Brown was 11th (31:08) and freshman Amanda Long was 12th (31:13). “With all things considered, this is one of our best meets in a long time,” said Canetto. “The times are somewhat high, but this was a hot day.”
The quintet’s totals were good enough for 34 points, besting Statesboro’s 39, Southeast Bulloch’s 72 and Bryan County’s 77.