The 2nd Annual Kosh Classic began a season of great weekend invitationals and this time the Girls also got into the act racing on the Kosh Course. Although Flowery Branch and OLM did not compete as originally planned it still was a great day of racing. The course was crushed with rain overnight and a rain shower blew in just after 7am. Although conditions were a little mucky, the Westminster staff did their best to groom the trail after the sun rose. It never got hot until after 10:00 and the sky was partly cloudy with some cool breezes. Quite a relief from the brutal heat these past 3 months.
The Varsity boys got things crackin' at 8:03 and Westminster's William Barber jumped out to an early lead and hit the Mile marker at 5:20 with N.Cobb's Alec Clifford right behind him. Clifford wasted little time though as he took over the race on hilly mile 2 and with 800 meters left had established a :20 cushion over Barber enroute to a new course record in 17:04 breaking his old record from Kosh 08'. Barber kept his position unchallenged and cruised in for 2nd place in 17:30. Wesleyan took the next 2 spots led by Chris Duvall in 17:47 followed by Brandon Ramsey in 18:10.
Marist may have been missing runner or two but they had a great team race to take the team title led by Scott Selvey in 5th place at 18:11. The War Eagles then packed it in taking positions 10 thru 14 with a :05 spread between them including Ty Nelson, Lawson Mahoney, Andrew Silva and Matt Weber giving them a slim 4 point win over host Westminster who totaled 55 points while Wesleyan took 3rd with 66 points.
The Girls race had 2 team state champs and a runnerup battling for supremacy on the very tough Kosh Course and whoever won the individual title would also be setting a new course record as the boys course as no Girls teams had ever raced on it before. The girls race was taken out at the Mile marker in 6:20 with a tight foursome of Lovett's Alexandra Horst and Elizabeth Rucker, Marist's Meghan Mavity and defending 1A XC champ Erika Ramsey of Wesleyan. With 800 meters 2 runners had created separation and Mavity had a slim lead on Horst with 800 meters to go. Horst just took the win by :01.20 in 21:01.13 and Mavity's time was 21:02.33. Ramsey cruised in for 3rd place in 21:32 and Rucker was 4th in 22:12.
Lovett came out and proved that they are the team to beat in 2A by placing 5 girls in the top 10 scoring only 27. It would have been very interesting had Westminster's girls squad chosen to compete today as a few of them had to be in attendance watching Lovett. Blessed Trinity and Marist both had 69 points and it came down to a 6th runner tiebreaker with the Lady Titans 6th girl Cory Buhan supplying the margin of victory with her efforts.
The Boys JV team title was won by Westminster scoring 42 points. Joe Sheehan and Andy Stormont placed 3rd and 4th respectively to lead the Wildcats. Marist took 2nd in the team scoring with 55 points led by individual champ Porter Harrast who clocked a 19:08. The Girls JV runners definitely had the toughest conditions to run in as the sun was shining and the humidity had risen considerably. Marist won the team competition with 25 points and they were paced by Meaghan Gunther in 2nd followed closely by teamate Katie Lee. Blessed Trinity took 2nd in the team scoring 31 points as Natalie Kile ran away from the field in 24:07 for the individual title.
The Wildcats also held an alumni gathering for Boys runners and Coaches. They all gathered around Coach Kosh and listened to him speak. The contributions Coach Kosh has made to the program at Westminster are immeasurable and he also has been a big influence at The Atlanta Track Club. Thanks to Coach Sudderth and all 55 Volunteers for a great meet.
The 2nd Annual Kosh Classic began a season of great weekend invitationals and this time the Girls also got into the act racing on the Kosh Course. Although Flowery Branch and OLM did not compete as originally planned it still was a great day of racing. The course was crushed with rain overnight and a rain shower blew in just after 7am. Although conditions were a little mucky, the Westminster staff did their best to groom the trail after the sun rose. It never got hot until after 10:00 and the sky was partly cloudy with some cool breezes. Quite a relief from the brutal heat these past 3 months.
The Varsity boys got things crackin' at 8:03 and Westminster's William Barber jumped out to an early lead and hit the Mile marker at 5:20 with N.Cobb's Alec Clifford right behind him. Clifford wasted little time though as he took over the race on hilly mile 2 and with 800 meters left had established a :20 cushion over Barber enroute to a new course record in 17:04 breaking his old record from Kosh 08'. Barber kept his position unchallenged and cruised in for 2nd place in 17:30. Wesleyan took the next 2 spots led by Chris Duvall in 17:47 followed by Brandon Ramsey in 18:10.
Marist may have been missing runner or two but they had a great team race to take the team title led by Scott Selvey in 5th place at 18:11. The War Eagles then packed it in taking positions 10 thru 14 with a :05 spread between them including Ty Nelson, Lawson Mahoney, Andrew Silva and Matt Weber giving them a slim 4 point win over host Westminster who totaled 55 points while Wesleyan took 3rd with 66 points.