XC offseason officially starts, what now?

Wow...

All the buildup through Sectionals has past and last training miles have been put in.  The State Meet at Carrollton has been run and the flags and timing equipment have been put away.  The Chestatee XC Team Banquet has been held, awards have been handed out, and now cross country's offseason has officially started.  It seems like time is standing still, so what now?  

Well, most of our runners have probably taken a well deserved break last week and now the focus shifts to the 2026 Outdoor Track season (or for a lot of our runners, the 2025 Soccer season).  While the first official practice doesn't start until January 19th, seasoned distance runners know they need to keep the base they built in XC to carry over to the oval.  From this point on, there will likely be optional distance conditioning days to coincide with Coach Bradshaw's Speed School to help our distance runners keep in shape for when the season workouts begin in January.  If there is nothing organized, check with some of your dedicated teammates as there are a few that run all year long.

But for our War Eagle spectators...what are we to do until XC starts up next fall?

Don't worry, we won't leave you in the dark.  Our coverage will continue as we will follow our Chestatee XC runners into the 2026 Track season!  Whether they run the 800m, 1600m, 3200m, or the 4x800 relay...or even try the 400m, we will continue to post pictures and report primarily on how our distance athletes are doing, but will also try to feature some of the Sprinters, Throwers, and Jumpers as we can find in between races.

So with that said, the track meets in the area start February 9, regional (we are 3A-Region 6) meets April 25, sectional meets on May 2, and state championships to be held at the University of Georgia May 11-14, 2025.  The only catch, the State Track Championship is moving to a single day event this year, so regional and sectional meets will likely mirror that format.

As of right now, here is what the 2026 Outdoor Season looks like for the War Eagles:


So there you have it.  We will take a little bit of a break in competition for now and gear up for the Outdoor Track season.  If our runners decide to run a few community 5Ks (with their coach's permission of course), we may post some of those results.

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