ICAGeorgia Adds Cross Country and Track Programs

The 2024-2025 school year has brought exciting extracurricular additions to the International Charter Academy of Georgia (ICAGeorgia), with the launch of new cross country and track programs.

Intended for upper-elementary and middle school students in grades 4-6, the new programs were started by Coach Shawn Nix, who joined the ICAGeorgia staff this fall. She comes to the school with 17 years of teaching experience in the Gwinnett County School System and 13 years of coaching experience. She was named Gwinnett County Coach of the Year twice during her tenure there.

Nix said that her goal in creating the cross country and track programs at ICAGeorgia was to “give students an introduction to cross country, teach them the value of teamwork and cultivate the future generation of runners.”

“The parents are thrilled about the addition of the cross country program,” she added. “They’ve expressed their excitement to me, and they are at practice and meets supporting the athletes.” 

Cross country

Twenty-three academy students signed up for cross country this year, excited to be part of the inaugural team.

The season began on September 3 with the school’s first meet at Legacy Park in Decatur, where students competed in the one-mile dash against 210 other athletes from Atlanta area-schools.

Three of the school’s young athlete’s placed, with one sixth grader taking third in the girls division; another sixth grade student placing 24th in the boys division and one fourth grader placing 16th in the boys division.

They recently wrapped up the season on November 13 with a meet held at Midtown High School.

Though the season was short — most meets had already closed their entries by late August, and one meet was cancelled due to Hurricane Helene — the ICAGeorgia team was able to get in two good competitions and a lot of practice sessions.

Track season

According to Coach Nix, some students that were interested in cross country weren’t able to sign up for the team in time, but they’ve said they will be coming out for track in the spring. She’s expecting at least 20 students to join the team.

Track season begins in February, and the opening meet is scheduled for March 8at Lanier High School in Sugar Hill.

Upcoming track meets will feature the following events: long jump, triple jump, high jump, shot put, disc throw, 3200m, 1600m, 800m, 400m and 4×100, 400 and 800m relays.

Future plans

Following the success of the new cross country and track programs, Coach Nix shared that ICAGeorgia plans to offer more after-school sports in the near future.

“The sports we add will be gauged by an interest survey, keeping in mind the facilities we have,” she said. “But we would love to add basketball and soccer.”

For more about ICAGeorgia, visit them at internationalcharteracademy.org.