The competition was outstanding at the Athens Academy Spartan Invitational on Saturday as the girls race came down to the 6th runner to decide the winner. South Forsyth, ranked #9 in AAAAA, relied on the finish of Chelsey MdDade to hold off Blessed Trinity, #2 for AAA girls. Jennifer Barbi led the way for South Forsyth with a 3rd place finish in 20:27 behind Whitney Bishoff, last years state champ in A, who finished in 20:10 and freshman Megan Steinocher, of Mill Creek High School, in 20:19. Blessed Trinity\'s Chelsea Walsh was 7th in 21:04 to lead the Lady Titans. The rolling hills provided a challenging course for this outstanding field that featured 8 top 10 ranked teams. St. Pius took advantage of a close pack of runners, with a mere 42 second split between their first and fifth runners, to take 3rd overall as they were able to hold off Heritage High School who finished a close 4th, a mere 3 points behind them for fourth. Athens Christian and Athens Academy also ran well, separated by a mere 7 points for 5th and 6th.
In the race for the individual title, Whitney Bishofff led most of the way with a fairly commanding lead through the one mile mark. Steinocher closed the gap after the first mile and both runners came through the 2 and a 1/2 mile mark in a dead heat with Barbi a close 3rd. Bishoff took charge on the last hill approaching the field and pulled away from Steinocher to take a commanding lead while Barbi momentarily passed the young runner from Mill Creek but was unable to extend the lead as Steinocher used a big push in the last 300 meters to secure 2nd place. Soiban Wolcott, of Hreitage finished 4th in 20:40 and was closely followed by Jackie Mullen, of Central Gwinnett in 20:43 to round out the top 5.