Story and photo courtesy Augusta University
For the third straight year, the Augusta University men’s cross country team is ready to run in the NCAA DII National Championship in Sacramento, California, on Nov. 23. The Jaguars qualified after a second place finish at the Nov. 9 regional meet in Spartanburg, South Carolina,
Peach Belt Conference coach of the year Jacob Burgamy is confident his team can post their best finish yet, and is aiming for a top 10 at nationals. A year ago they finished 15th and with the experience, they raise the bar and expect even better results.
“I think the bar keeps getting raised because every year we have guys keep breaking records and get better and better. So the bar raises each year,” said Burgamy. “Last year was an ideal year to get a top 10, but we were very happy with a 15th place finish. This year, the bar has gone up a little bit and we definitely want to be a top 10 team, and we definitely can be.”
The Jags are led by a quartet of runners who garnered all-region honors this year. Avery Jaynes, Brandon Martin, Tripp Miller and Jordan Robertson have all had outstanding seasons and Jaynes was also named the Peach Belt Conference runner of the year for a second consecutive season.
Having been to nationals before, the Jags knows what the championship looks and feels like and shouldn’t be overwhelmed by the moment. That senior leadership also comes into play with this team as hungry as ever knowing for some, this will be their last shot to run on the biggest stage.
One challenge for everyone is controlling the emotion of the moment. The adrenaline will be pumping when the gun goes off, but Burgamy is confident his team knows how to handle it.
“I’m definitely worried less about it now because regional’s took off so fast,” said Burgamy. “Most of those races, you don’t want to be the guy who goes out way to hard and pays for it. Many of our guys went out hard at regional’s, but kind of held their place. That kind of made me feel a lot better because that race went out in 4:29 in the first mile and we had some guys in the lead pack that hung on well.”
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