This Saturday at historic Boling Park, Cherokee County will be holding their championship meet. This is a competition that has been fierce over the past several years, but dominated by Etowah High School. Unlike some other county meets, it seems as if all the Cherokee County schools really get fired up for it as rarely do you see a varsity lineup without one of its top runners. It also marks the beginning of Championship season with Region and State meets in the coming weeks.
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Sequoyah's young runners look to surprise.
In the boys' varsity race, 8th ranked (AAAAAA) Etowah is the favorite again this year. Their front four is very strong with the trio of seniors in Blake Beavers, Dylan Simpson, and Marc Reiser. They are joined by junior Nick Cooke for potential top 10 finishes in the race. The Eagles will be looking for a strong 5th run from Sam Donley, Will McGonigle, or Per Ellingson if they want to hold back the groups trying to end their streak of three straight county titles. Woodstock (watch list AAAAAA) is also very strong with four potential top 10 finishers in Kyle Pawlowski, Corey Champion, Austin Bailey, and Josiah Jaqua. They too might come down to the 5th runner in Patrick Nolen to see who takes the crown. That said, the dark horse in this race might be the young Creekview (6th AAAAA) squad. Sophomore Zac Cantrell has shown that he is a winner with 16 wins in his career. He will try to run down defending champion Taylor Scarbrough of Cherokee, who looks like the odds on favorite to win. The Grizzlies also have young runners in sophomore Jonathan Cook and freshman Wade Whitfield who have been improving every week. They will join seniors Nick Turano, Chris Oswald, and Grant Slater in an attempt to upset the favorites. Led by Scarbrough, Cherokee looks to place well with strong finishes by senior Zack Driscoll and juniors Nick Wootton, Jake Jones, and Chandler Green. One of the youngest teams in the field is Sequoyah who will look to get experience for its two stud freshmen, Josh Meyers and Aiden Heard. River Ridge's Robert Zell will look to try and finish in the Top 10.
Cherokee's Gabby Beck leads Creekview's Anna Brewer down the stretch at Warpath.
In the girls' varsity race, the 6th ranked senior dominated Etowah team is clearly favored for their 3rd straight county title. Etowah's Macki Walsh and Madison Fowler will compete for the overall win. Seniors Shelby Rensel and Kyla Resnick form a core of four that could all break 19:00. Etowah will try to supplement them with Madelynn Reeves, Jaylin Lucier and Beth Haynes. It would not be a surprise to see Etowah place all 5 scores in the Top 10 and walk away with the race. Last year, Etowah looked similarly strong, but one of their top runners dropped out in the 2nd mile and chaos ensued. Etowah would hold on to win, but had both Woodstock and Creekview came within 10 points. This year, the 4th ranked Grizzlies look to prove that their recent rise is legitimate. Senior Lauren Wallin will compete for the county title, while sophomore Bella Thomas and junior Molly Morris will also look for all-county honors. Creekview also has a solid group of seniors in Dara Staton, Sarah Disharoon, and Annie Conrad (who is rounding into form after a late start on the year) who may be able to make it an interesting race for Etowah. Woodstock is also still strong as freshman Brynne Sumner will look to compete for the overall win. This year's times may not show it, but there is a lot of potential in the experienced Wolverine squad that includes Bailie McInnis, Hannah Everest, Taylor Poole, and Catherine Moreau. The upcoming squad looks to be Cherokee who have retooled in a hurry and are running on their home track. RaeAnna Starosciak has had a strong season so far and will be joined by sub-21 runners in Payton Davis, Gabby Back, Kristen Padgett and freshman Sierra Blanton.
Nyah Hernandez looks to win the first ever Cherokee County Middle School title.
For the first time, there will also be a middle school race at the Cherokee County Championships. On the girls side, a great showdown between Creekland's Nyah Hernandez (XC MS Champion 2014) and ET Booth's Sydney Runyan should be something to watch. They very well may be the fastest two runners on the girls side through all of the races. Joining them will be Creekland's Makena Gates and Lane McTyre, and Dean Rusk's Alesia Johnson and Madison Ehmig. On the guys side, ET Booth's Bryce Jeffrey looks very strong. He should compete with Dean Rusk's Riley Gutmann and Alex Kendall, Cherokee's Clark Farrell and Bart Driscoll, Creekland's Moxon Glosson and Braeden Garriques, and E.T. Booth's Sam Lefever.