Eagle Cross Country Teams Make Their Mark in Virginia

9/12/15

The Milton High School Cross Country teams travelled to Salem, VA to compete in the 12th annual Knights Crossing Invitational and came away with 4 team trophies and 3 runner-up finishes against some top-US programs.

Varsity Girls

The Lady Eagles, who were 6th last year at this meet, were ready to take on the challenge of Blacksburg (VA), ranked 7th in the US and Morristown-West (TN), ranked 23rd in the US and broke through with a runner-up finish. Blacksburg (1st-50 pts) put their top-5 runners with Milton’s (2nd-94 pts) number three runner to record the victory. Hurricane HS from West Virginia was third (117 pts). Senior captain Riley Burr (6th-18:42) ran an inspired race and again methodically moved into the top-10 during the race to record the 2nd-fastest performance in Milton history. The mark was a 28-second personal best! Junior Marie Repasy (11th-19:12) ran with Burr through 2 miles and was able to secure a 2-second personal best and becomes the 6th fastest all-time for the Lady Eagles. Freshman Taylor Cushman ran close to a 42-second personal best to finish just outside the medals (16th-19:35). Senior captain Victoria Wagner (27th-20:06) & sophomore Emily Bowers (35th-20:31) concluded the Milton scoring. There were 23 scoring teams.

Varsity Boys

Facing their toughest opponent since last year’s state meet, Milton (2nd-113 pts) was thoroughly out-paced by Broughton (NC) (1st-18 pts). 25 schools scored as the Eagles were clearly ahead of Blacksburg (3rd-124 pts). Leading the way was sophomore Sam Bowers (8th-16:10) who ran in the top-10 the majority of the race along with senior captain Matt McGorrey (15th-16:26) who grabbed the last award winning spot. A very strong last mile of the race saw sophomore Michael Malkowski (20th-16:35) pass as many as 30 runners on his way to an 8-second personal best. Senior Jacques Du Plessis (30th-16:50) had a strong first two-thirds of the race and fellow senior John Fravel (42nd-17:03) was the Eagles final scorer.

JV Girls

In a very deep and talented field, the Lady Eagles (3rd-71 pts) beat back 7 remaining scoring schools to match their placing of 2014. Milton was led by freshman Claire Buchanan (9th-21:18), senior Morgan Curtis (16th-21:48), freshman Samantha Lenox (17th-21:48), and sophomores Jessie Barnes (21st-22:10) & Chloe Sluss (23rd-22:23).

JV Boys

The defending meet champion Eagles ran into the Broughton (1st-25 pts) juggernaut and finished a strong runner-up. Milton (2nd-60 pts) dispatched 19 other scoring schools in running one of their best team races this season. The Eagles had 9 finishers in the top-24 slots with only a 42-second spread among the group! Senior Jake Galvilanez (10th-18:04) ran close to a one-minute personal best to lead the Milton charge. Sophomore Jack Rush (11th-18:08), junior Andy Butzow (13th-18:13), and sophomore Hayden Fravel (15th-18:17) were the award winners as junior Nick Hopcroft (16th-18:20) concluded the Eagle scorers.

Milton also sent a junior varsity squad to the Mizuno Covered Bridge Invite held at Garrard Landing Park & hosted by Roswell HS. The JV Lady Eagles (2nd-85 pts) came away with a runner-up finish in the JV Girls race besting 9 other scoring schools. Freshman Peyton Stanley (5th-23:19) was Milton’s top-finisher. The Eagle JV boys team finished a strong third besting 10 remaining scoring schools. Milton (3rd-100 pts) was led by sophomore Kai McKeever (15th-19:38) in a race that had 282 finishers.

The Eagle cross country teams will next host the Fulton County Cross Country Championships on Saturday, September 19th. 20 public & private schools are expected to compete over the 6 contested races to crown the best program in the county.

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