Hoya Boys Hunker Down at Coach Wood, Marist Girls Fly First Class Again

Champ Girls

 

 

Marist took the lead early and dominated as a team as they have done all-season in-state winning the prestigous team title outrunning 8 of the top 10 ranked All-Classes ranked teams scoring 101 points for a 45 point cushion. Morgan Ilse was the individual champ, but the key for Marist was their depth (2-6) runners consistent performance as usual. It wouldn't be a shocker if they scored sub 20 at state. AND, once again the 2 best teams in 6A (in round 3 of their turf wars) Peachtree Ridge and Brookwood...came down to a 6th runner tiebreaker...with Ridge's 6th (sr Haley Spears) crossing the mats 10 seconds ahead of the Bronco's 6th..Think these 2 teams are tired of seeing each other? November 9th, be there, or miss out. Leading their squads were Addy Lippitt of Ridge in 6th posting a 19:09 and Lauren Brennan was the top Bronc' placing 4th in 19:05.  Harrison hung around placing 4th, beating County Champ Marietta in 5th, Etowah narrowly edged Collins Hill by a deuce and St.Pius X was tops in 3A in 8th.

 

Individual Girls

 

 

Morgan Ilse once again leads Marist to an impressive team win at Coach Wood   Image by Jonathan Speights

 

As mentioned above Morgan Ilse of Marist outlasted a tough field placing 1st being the only girl to crack sub posting a tough 18:49 Lindsay Billings of Northview becomes more of a contender for the 5A individual crown each race placing 2nd in 19:01 6A runners consumed the next 4 places as Avery Bussjager of Walton was 3rd in 19:04, Brennan (4th), Lauren Hovis of Mill Creek 4th in 19:08, Lippitt (6th) and Marietta's Mary Jean Assinzo 7th in 19:32  Caroline Redd of WEsleyan rounded out the top 8 at 19:32, though Wesleyan will probably dropout of the All-Class rankings this Tuesday placing 12th as a team against the stiffest competition they have faced. 

 

 

Champ Boys

 

 

The intensity in the team races was palpable, and Harrison's provided the shock of the day rising to the challenge winning the team title definitely surprising some of the squads they soundly outran, scoring 96 points for a 44 point margin of victory. The Hoyas made it happen without putting a single athlete in the top 10 positions, but did place 4 men in the 11-23 spots. Leading the way for Harrison in 12th overall was Ryan Brock in 16:29, at 18th Jacob Cooper in 16:39, Adam Watt was 21st in 16:45 and close behind was Spencer Borchelt in 16:46. Hoyas have went from being a top 4 contender, to the new favorite to win the State title 3 weeks from now... Brookwood's depth once again served them well, placing 2nd as a team led by Josh Ingalls in 9th overall in 16:20  St.Pius X was 16 points back placing 2 runners in the top 10 including overall champ Austin Sprague. Marietta placed 4th and Walton 10th making it 3 6A Cobb schools in the top 10 overall. After their Asics win, Peachtree Ridge followed that up placing 5th led by Kevin Mills' 5th overall in 16:04  Marist was the top 4A team as expected in 6th 14 points behind the Ridge. North Hall was the #2 AAA team in 7th and Flowery Branch was the best 5A squad.

 

Individual Boys

 

 

Austin Sprague hold off Michael Thurston for the Boys Individual title   Image by Jonathan Speights

 

As I could not be in attendance, have been waiting on some feedback, but this much is fact, the first 8 runners were within :18 of each other and the most intense race up front of the season as expected. Its surprising there's so little talk of it on the board..guess you all are exhausted from watching it? Sprague had opened up a small gap with 1000/1200m to go and Alex Dunlap of Kennesaw Mountain was surprisingly the only one close. Then Michael Thurston began closing hard the final 400m, but Austin found one final gear to hold him off for the win in 15:54.48 to Thurston's 15:54.94 Dunlap held on for 3rd 7-8 meters back in 15:56.20  Big race from Daniel Navarro too placing 4th at 16:02. Kenan Farmer was behind Mills at 6th clocking a 16:06, Reilly Friedman ran solo for Galloway in 7th in 16:09 and Lakeside-Evans' Christian Bowles followed up his magical15:00 performance from Asics placing 8th in 16:12 against a loaded group of frontrunners. Alot of teams were saying their 3, 4, or 5 got caught in the crowd in the deep field, but that's one of the great things about Coach Wood! Stategy...

 

 

 

Varsity Girls

 

Milton made it a team sweep easily winning the Girls race putting 3 runners in the top 10 scoring 77 points dispatching 2A Lovett by 65 points. Leading the Eagles was soph Riley Burr who was overall runnerup clocking a 19:24 Ashley Keough of Pope won the individual title a couple seconds ahead in 19:22  Micah Weathers from Winder-Barrow was 3rd in 19:44, followed by Lovett's Serena Tripodi in 19:46. Individuals also cracking sub 20: were Hillgrove's Claire Warren in 19:53 and Lagrange's Sarah Bearden in 6th at 19:55. North Paulding ran strong as a team placing 3rd.  

 

 

Varsity Boys

 

In boys Varsity, Lagrange's top 4 ran lights out, but Milton's depth prevailed taking the team title with 122 without placing anyone in top 16. Sophmore Clay Marshall led the team effort placing 17th in 17:27. The Grangers snagged 4 spots in the top 10 spurring their runnerup team effort led as usual by the dynamic duo of  Andrew Coggins taking 1st in 16:32 followed by Sam Bowie in 16:39  Pickens County came over a couple counties walking away with 3rd place with a pair of harriers in the top 7 including Sean Parker 5th in 16:54 and Turner Moranos in 17:03 (whose bro did well down at MS State today) Justin Weegar may have turned in his top race this Fall placing 3rd in 16:53 edging Sequoyah's Christopher Costa in 16:54.