Thursday, July 20, 2006

HARRIS NAMED CROSS COUNTRY COACH

Dahlonega, GA – Amanda Harris begins her first year as Cross Country Coach at North Georgia College & State University.  The 26-year old first-year head coach comes to North Georgia from Savannah, where she was a high school math teacher and the Bradwell Institute High School head cross country coach.

At Bradwell, she reduced the overall average of the team’s times by 15 percent, quadrupling the number of runners and taking her teams to high finishes at the regional tournaments. She took two teams that had never placed to second and third place finishes in the men’s and women’s regional, earning a berth in the State Cross Country Meet. Many of her runners qualified for state and achieved running scholarships to the next level.

Harris is no stranger to the Peach Belt Conference, earning experience as a four-year runner at Armstrong Atlantic State University. She was the anchor of the team that finished third each year in the PBC.  Harris’ highlight as a collegiate runner came in a third place finish in an invitational, and receiving academic achievement awards her junior and senior seasons. 

After her collegiate running career, Harris continued as a nationally ranked age group triathlete.  The pinnacle of her running career was a personal record at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, HI where she finished well above her incoming ranking.

Harris graduated from AASU with a B.S. in Early Childhood Education.  She is currently working towards her Master’s in Exercise Science with an emphasis on Performance Enhancement and Injury Prevention, which she is due to complete in December.

A native of Hampton, VA, she is married to Christopher Harris, a US Army Captain stationed at Dahlonega’s Ranger Camp as a company commander.  They have been separated for nearly two of the last three years due to the Iraqi War.  They are awaiting the birth of the their first child in October.

-NGCSU-

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