August 21, 2019 Page 7C
Reporter
By Rid l Dumm
forsyfh@mymcr.nef
Fresh off a region championship sweep in
2018, the Mary Persons boys and girls cross
country squads seem poised for even bigger
things in 2019, but they will have to start the
season without their primary leader.
Third-year MP head coach LLonisha
McElhaney will miss the first two months
of the season after delivering her second
child last week. Acting in her stead is cross
country newcomer Dylan Dupree, a Jones
County native in his first year teaching in
Monroe County after a year at Clifton Ridge
Middle School in 2018-19. The 6'9" Dupree,
who played college basketball at the Uni-
versity of West Georgia, already planned to
assist with MP basketball this winter but was
quickly thrust into a major role in the cross
country program.
"Once I got here, Coach Mac reached out
to me and asked ifRJ be interested in help-
ing with cross country ' Dupree said. I
was all for it. Whatever I could do to help. So
now, I'm glad I did it, I've built a great rela-
tionship with her, and these are great people
to know. It's kind of like there's three or four
of us that's a head coach in one. We're just
trying to keep it going while she's out:'
Joining Dupree as cross country assistants
in 2019 is another Monroe County Schools
newcomer, Julius Stroud, a former football
assistant at Rock Springs Christian Acade-
my who will be leading the Monroe County
Middle School program, and Truer Good-
win, whose children, Jeremy Goodwin and
Jessica Price, were members of MP's initial
cross country squad about two decades ago.
Dupree said of Goodwin: "He's our cross
country guru. He's incredible"
Despite McElhaney's absence, Dupree said
he's confident both MP varsity teams, which
each finished in the top 12 at state in 2018,
will thrive during the 2019 season because
of their talent and maturi
"This ismy firstyear with cross coun, try
but just being around this group theres
a lot of great times.There's a lot of great
leadership" Dupree said. "That's the thing
that takes the most pressure off me is the
older retumers, they know what to do, and
MARY PERSONS 2019 VARSITY GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY TEAM: Pictured from left to right on the front row: Maradeth Leverett, Jackie
Gore, Gracie Martin, Caroline Hampton, Skyler Sandefur, Genna. Hallman and Madelyn Causey. Pictured from left to right on the back row:
Emma Barksdale, Courtney Allen, Britney Allen, Rebecca Jones, Stormie Martin, Sarah Boyer, Gwyneth Cabe and Ava McKallip. Not pictured:
head coach LLonisha McEIhaney, assistant coach Dylan Dupree and assistant Truett Goodwin. (Photo/Richard Dumas)
they don't need somebody on their back to
make them work hard. They want to do it
for themselves. So we completely expect us
to be competing right there in region and
maybe competing in state as well."
All five Lady Dogs runners who posted
counting scores during a Region 2-AAAA
championship romp in 2018 are back in
2019. Junior Ava McKallip, who finished
third at region a year ago, sophomore Mara-
deth Leveret-t, who finished fourth at region
in 2018, sophomore Caroline Hampton,
who placed fifth in region last year, and
juniors Sarah Boyer and Stormie Martin are
expected to anchor MP'S squad in 2019. The
Lady Dogs will also feature senior, Jacque-
line Gore, who Dupree said has admirably
filled a leadership role so far this season, and
the sister duo of Britney Allen and Courtney
Allen, who transferred in from Howard.
The MP boys squad is equally as experi-
enced as its girls counterpart, returning all
seven runners who competed during its
region title race in 2018. Leading the way is
one of the state's most gifted runners in ju-
nior Justin Wachtel, who missed out on win-
ning the progr 's first-ever individual state
title by less than a second last November.
Dupree said Wachtel is chomping at the
bit for a chance to take the top spot on the
podium this year.
"He is a machine," Dupree said of Wach-
tel. "He doesn't see anything but No. 1. He
works hard every day. We've had days where
lighting wouldn't let us practice as a team.
But he was right up under me saying, 'When
can I go (run)?' If we had to cancel team
practice, Justin is sitting there waiting to
get his workout in. And that's not only him
alone. The varsity group, they're communi-
cating with me as well that they're getting
their workouts in at home too. They're mak-
ing our job pretty easy to be honest"
While the junior Wachtel might be/vIP's
fastest runner, the Bulldogs feature seven
talented seniors who are also hungry to
See CROSS COUNTRY. Page 8C
ross
oun
assmen
Jim
Allen
Hallman
Hampton
Martin
Martin
Skyler
Sandefur
i
