SAVANNAH, Ga.- Youth will be the theme this year as the Savannah State cross country teams prepare themselves for the 2024 season.
 
The teams open their season on September 18 with a trip across the Savannah Bridge to run against South Carolina-Beaufort in a dual match.
 
SSU will compete in the Brewton-Parker Invitational on October 4 and will head back to USCB to participate in the 17th Annual Shark Invitational.
 
Savannah State will close out the season with the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships that will be held October 23 in Macon, Georgia.
 
Despite their youth, Whitaker has liked what he has seen in the preseason so far.
 
"We have been very pleased with the early outlook on the recruits. I love their attitude and team spirit. It's a big change from last year, particularly among the women. It's going to be interesting to see if we can return to the old SSU tough racing mentality. Got the talent. Now we will have to Whitakerize the mentality. I can't wait to see the finished product."
 
Senior Jadon Rountree will anchor the men's team. The senior from Fort Worth, Texas had a personal best time of 30:51.04 in the SIAC Championships last fall and was among the top 20 finishers. During the regular season he won the individual title at the USCB Duals on October 24, placed third in the Georgia Southern Fall Classic on October 14 and claimed fourth in the USCB Duals  on October 3.
 
Also back is Christian Landry, who had a personal-best time of 34:26.6 in the SIAC Championships and Nehemiah Shanks who also had his best time as a collegiate in the SIAC Championships with a run of 36:52.3 in the 8k event.
 
Alex Loyd and Jayden Wilson both posted personal best times at the Georgia Southern Meet with runs of 37:09.6 and 41:41.4 respectively. Nyzaveon Thompson rounds out the list of returnees.
 
The two newcomers to the roster are sophomores Cameron Frails and Howard Smith Jr. Frails is a native of Thomson, Georgia while Smith hails from Augusta, Georgia.
 
The SSU women lost Ravyn Cystrunk and Sadrea Mabry to graduation but are set to return sophomores Maddison Green and Shaniah McDaniels.
 
Green had a time of 32:19.1 in the 6k at the Bob Jones Bruin Invite, had a time off 25:36.3 at the SIAC Championships which was a 5k race and posted a time of 15:13.2 at the USCB Duals which was a 3k course. McDaniels posted a time of 40:47.6 at the Bruin Invite, ran 33:10.9 at the SIAC meet and ran 17:57.1 at the USCB Duals.
 
Kaylyn Caldwell has joined the team after transferring in from Claflin. The Beaufort, South Carolina native had a 5k personal best time of 28:48.1 at the Furman Invitational back in 2022.
 
Newcomers include a trio of runners from Towers High School in Decatur, Georgia (Aneya Kight, Macade McDonald and Paideia Vaughn) as well as Saniya Swain from Coral Gables, Florida.
 
In addition to having new student-athletes on his team, Whitaker also welcomes Chad Cannon as his new assistant coach.

"Coach Cannon comes to us with a lot of experience as a Jumps coach. He is very versatile, and has a great background in the fitness arena. We worked together early in my career here at SSU. He will be a tremendous asset to our program. I am extremely happy he was available to us," states Whitaker.

Cannon ran track in college and currently owns and operates the Cannon Fit Transformation Center in Bluffton, South Carolina, a personal training studio that focuses on health and fitness after 40 as well as athletic performance for high school and college athletes.