GROTTOES — Fresh off winning the Virginia High School League Class 2 boys cross country championship in the fall of 2019, George Austin III was rejuvenated.

Austin III, a sophomore at East Rockingham at the time of the victory, spent the next few months under an intense training plan with the goal of winning multiple state titles and securing a college scholarship offer in the sport down the road.

So when COVID-19 came in March of 2020, eventually shutting down the fall cross country season and moving it to the spring under the VHSL’s condensed scheduling format, Austin said it was just hard for him to find the motivation to run again.

“I just put my training to a halt,” Austin said. “I put everything to a halt.”

One week before the season began, Austin — now a senior — began discussing a return with the Eagles coaches and, eventually, decided to go ahead and go with it.

On Tuesday, he showed area runners he’s back with a victory in the boys race at the annual City/County Cross Country Championships at Grottoes Town Park.

It was the second win of Austin’s career in the yearly city/county race after taking home first in 2019 when the race was held at Burtner Farms in McGaheysville.

“I’m definitely getting back to where I want to be,” Austin said. “When I first came into the season, my main goal was just to focus on the team. That’s my main goal now. I want to get the team to state. As the season goes on and I train more and more and get back to myself, bigger races like this start to mean more.”

Austin III’s time of 16:47 was 12 seconds faster than runner-up Russell Kramer of Spotswood, who finished the race in a respectable time of 16:59 himself.

Trailblazers junior Ross Iudica (17:03) was third, followed by Harrisonburg’s Jack Haverty (17:28) and Spotswood sophomore Bunte Kite (17:32) in fifth.

“I felt pretty good. I wanted to win, but I’m still just a junior,” Kramer said. “The fact that it’s flat is helpful. The rain didn’t impact me a ton, but it helped a bit.”

Trailblazers sophomore Taylor Myers set a new girls course record with a time of 18:54 while bringing home first-place honors at the meet for the second straight year.

Myers, who tied the course record of 19:20 with former Broadway standout Jessica Cantrell in her freshman season a year ago, broke that mark considerably.

“I don’t really like running in the rain that much,” Myers said. “I was kind of frustrated when it started raining just before we started, but it didn’t impact me too much. I was going for [personal record], so that was my focus I like flat courses. I tend to do better on flat courses. This is one of my favorites.”

Broadway sophomore Taylor Driver (19:22) was second, once again, followed by Harrisonburg’s Kate Kirwan (19:26) and Annie Poirot (19:36) in third and fifth with Turner Ashby’s Rachel Craun (19:34) sandwiched in between at the fourth spot.

“I felt good,” Driver said. “The weather is nice. I enjoyed the weather. I’m glad the sun wasn’t glaring down or anything like that. I felt pretty good. I had a couple of girls I wanted to keep an eye on. My goal was first or second, so I’m happy.”

The Blue Streaks (38) edged the Trailblazers (39) for the girls team title with Turner Ashby (44) finishing third. The Spotswood boys (25), meanwhile, cruised to the victory with Harrisonburg (44) and East Rock (69) following behind.

Turner Ashby’s Sarah Craun and Lena Lantz-Trissel, Spotswood’s Marika Dickel, Ashland Dickel, Zoe Deeble and Katelyn Kim, Harrisonburg’s Eleanor Carter, Clare Kirwan and Lena Blagg and Eastern Mennonite’s Erin Loker all earned All-City/County honors for the girls division, which goes to the top 15 runners.

“It’s been going pretty good,” Myers said of her season. “I definitely felt the pressure to do better than my freshman year, so I’d say it’s going good so far.”

For the boys, Spotswood’s Kasey McClure, Dylan Lam, Jack Parlee and Miles Mayhew, Harrisonburg’s Matthew Rush, Liam Wightman and CJ Hulleman, Broadway’s Scott Showalter and East Rockingham’s Patrick Stapleton all earned honors for their top-15 showings.

“I’ve always been very self-motivated, set my own standards and what not,” Austin said. “I’m setting my goals higher and higher and hopefully, senior year, I can take the team to state and go out in a good way.”

Less than two months ago, Austin wasn’t sure he’d ever run cross country again.

On Wednesday, with a light mist coming down around him, the East Rockingham senior raised his arms as he crossed the finish line with a first-place finish.

“I wasn’t even sure if I was even going to run my senior year,” Austin said. “Now we’re having the best season yet, my favorite season yet. I’m happy.”