October 09, 2003
Mill Springs Academy hosted its first Cross Country meet on Sept. 11 on a newly cleared trail that winds through a large portion of the Alpahretta school's 85-acre campus along New Providence Road.
The two-lap, 5,000 meter trail, which is the standard for high school cross country competitions, was constructed over the summer by Cross Country Coach Victoria Jones with the help of Spike Jones, a former NFL player living in the Atlanta area, and David Fairley, president of Atlanta Landscape Services.
"Big thanks to them both because they each put in at least 10 hours over two separate weekends," said Jones. "Because our school campus used to be a very rural area, we were able to locate old animal paths in the woods and roads around the fields to design the course. Then we used a bushhog and a tiller to widen and level the trails. Kilometer markers were donated by DenneyDeSigns of Woodstock."
The school will be holding trail days throughout the year to maintain and mulch the trail.
Mill Springs has a very small team consisting of five young runners ages 12-15. Most are competing for the first time and running much longer distances than they have ever run before. "They are running anywhere from one to five miles at practice depending on their ability," said Jones.
Practices are Monday-Thursday and races are held on Thursday afternoons barring scheduling conflicts. They compete against schools such as Math Science High, Brandon Hall, The Cottage School and Hidden Lake.
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