Truett McConnell College looked like the team to beat in the first ever Georgia Junior College Men

Talk about a showdown! Three talented young ladies in the same region giving it their all to determine who will be crowned the top runner in a quality region. Haley Kolff, Harriott Kelly and Ali McWhirter had an epic battle on Thursday at the Region 5-AA Cross Country Championships as they finished within 2 seconds of each othre as Kolff, of Holy Innocents, captured the individual crown with a time of 18:54. Harriott Kelly was not far behind, posting an 18:55 for 2nd place and just ahead of Ali McWhirter of Holy Innocents in 18:56. Kelly\'s teammates ran an excellent race though to capture the team title over Holy Innocents 37-49. Elizabeth Derrick and Addie Shcoen, both posted top 10 finishes to help the Lovett School to the win.

Emma Bussard has run well this season. 20:02 at the Clara Bowl, 19:35 at the Alexander/Asics Invitational and just a week ago, she posted a 19:16 at the Last Chance Invitational but she reached a ground breaking achievement when she broke 19 for the first time to post an 18:52 to win the Region 6-AAA meet on Thursday.

The hay is in the barn and now it\'s time to see what all the hard work has produced as teams around the state will vie to finish in the top four at region in order to qualify for the state meet next weekend in Carrollton. The temperature this weekend will be in the high 30\'s on Saturday morning in the Atlanta area which will serve as a stark contrast to the 80 plus degree temperatures that teams have dealt with all season while others will run on Thursday as all roads lead to Carrollton and the chase is on.

The final team rankings before the state meet. Good luck to all at region and state!

Team Rankings for the week of 10/17.

Cool weather in the morning allowed for some top flight competition at the 2nd Annual Coach Wood Invitational. Parkview\'s boys earned a commanding win over 2nd place Mill Creek HS and 3rd place Oconee Co. as Michael Winston and Patrick Ollinger took 1st and 2nd to lead the Panthers to victory.

Four of Georgia

Photos by John Seay from the 2005 Furman Invitational

A compilation of rankings for the state of Georgia for divisions A-AAAAA. These rankings do not necessarily reflect the views of the webmaster so please reserve your comments for the message board! Thanks!

en Hubers posted the 2nd fastest time ever at Wild Horse Creek Park as he was crowned Cobb Co. Champion over a valiant effort by Jay Heller of Walton as both runners crossed the line under 16 minutes with Huber taking the win in 15:46 to Heller\'s 15:53. But while McEachern claimed the individual champion, Walton took home the team title in a close battle 59-64.

Mother Nature played havoc with this weekends races as teams from Georgia faced tough conditions at several large meets this weekend. At Furman, a muddy course provided quite a challenge for several of the states top teams competing against an elite field from multiple states. Throw in an SAT weekend and you had the makings of a real test for Georgia teams.

Update of Georgia Junior College performances

Boys and Girls Team Rankings for 10/2

Lakewview-Fort Oglethorpe\'s lady Warriors placed 7 in the top 15 and all under 22:00 to take the team title at the Ridge Ferry Invitational. Justine Evatt and Kaitlin Shaw led the way with 2nd and 3rd place finishes in 20:40 and 20:45. Sarah Lee Kelly, of LaFayette, was the overall winner in an impressive time of 20:10.

In honor of their fallen teammate, the Heritage high school cross country team participated at the Athens Academy Invitational on Saturday. Many members of the family of Aubrae Gunderson were their in support. It\'s been an emotional week for the Patriots of Heritage but they reminded us all of what this great sport is all about. Kudos to you, Heritage. Coach Smith and Coach Wade have a remarkable group of athletes to work with and they celebrated the life of Aubrae Gunderson and did honor to her memory. It was a prvilege to compete with you on this day and best of luck to you all the rest of the season.

Marist put together an exceptional race to take down Parkview at the 1st Asics Invitational held under the lights!

When the results were announced, you could see the disapopintment on the faces of the Oconee runners. Through a scoring error, St. Pius was originally announced as the winners of the Spartan Invitational. After some careful checking, it was discovered that the boys from Oconee had indeed won, thanks in part to the effort of Bradley Thomas.

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.

Georgia

In a bit of an upset, the #9 ranked North Gwinnett boys pulled off a big win over the #6 ranked boys from Lassiter at the Westover Invitational. Despite trailing at the 1 and 2 positions, North Gwinnett used great races from their 3,4 and 5 runners to hold on for the win.

The Grayson girls won in impressive fashion at Westover on Saturday, placing 4 girls in the top 9 of the 200+ runners and 6 in the top 20. Abby Self led the way with an impressive 18:25 to take a 46 second win over Brandi Luongo of Northgate who finished in 19:21. Brandi found herself in the midst of a Grayson invasion as Meredith White (19:21) and Mandy Tennyson(19:23), also of Grayon finished 3rd and 4th.