'The Eagle also Flies on Saturday'
Watch out 6A....Etowah boys and girls looked very strong armed with a pack running mentality moving a little closer to the top of 6A. North Hall is back in form with a 2nd place finish and Flowery Branch warmed up for a run at a 5A title. Providence Christian looks like a force to be reckoned with in A led by Tayler Tuttle and her 18:31 win. Christian Bowles of Lakeside Evans looks strong again with an impressive 16:26 first race of the season.
At NEGA 5A powerhouse Flowery Branch had their hands full with 6A contender Etowah, and 3A contenders North Hall and North Oconee, along with other 5A contenders of Lakeside Evans and Greenbrier. Christian Bowles of Lakeside Evans showed that he should definitely be included in the talk about individuals for AAAAA winning the Championship race in 16:26. He was followed by a trio of Etowah runners as the Eagles threw 3 into the top 4 overall, which along with a 4th and 5th place runner under 17:10 won the meet with a 16:51 average and their top 5 finishing 32 seconds apart. North Hall looked strong as they had three runners in the top 10 as well, 5th, 6th, and 8th respectively, which helped them to a 2nd place finish. Flowery Branch ran without #2 runner Taylor Fiorello, to finish 3rd overall with two top ten finishers. North Oconee, Greenbrier, and Lakeside Evans finished out the rest of the top 6.
On the girls side 6A contenders Etowah and Mill Creek threw down against Lakeside Evans. Individually Tayler Tuttle of Providence Christian was very impressive with a big 46 second win (18:31) over Lauren Hovis of Mill Creek (19:17). After taking the lead in the beginning of the race she never looked back and kept widening her margin of victory. Winder-Barrow’s stud freshmen Micah Weathers finished 3rd overall with a 19:44. As for teams, Etowah was surprising with how the race unfolded when a group of 5 Lady Eagles took off after the top individuals from the start. Etowah finished with 4 girls in the top 10 and a point total of 35, this along with a 20:16 average was impressive. Mill Creek and Lakeside Evans battled it out throughout the race, Mill Creek proved too strong up front for Lakeside Evan’s depth as the 6th runner tie breaker went to Mill Creek.
In the Varsity Boys race Justin Weegar of Evans won by 18 seconds and a time of 17:14. This was a great run by Justin, but unfortunately we were not able to see him go head to head against Bowles from Lakeside Evans and the other AAAAA boys. Lakeview Academy turned some heads with 3 runners in the top 6, but fell short when a big gap opened between their 3 and 4 runners. The Varsity Boys race was won by a group of 4 Etowah boys who finished in the top 10. Behind them was AA contender Jefferson, and AAA contender Hart County.
In the Varsity Girls race Hart County frosh Audrey Honiotes won her very first GHSA race with an impressive 20:08 to win by 25 seconds over Athens Christian’s Gabby Cortese. Cortese along with teammate Jackie Ramos led the young Golden Eagles to a surprising win in their first race of the year over Jefferson who finished 2nd. Hebron Christian continues to improve as a program placing a strong 3rd making Region 8A even tougher!
In the JV Girls 3K race Etowah and Mill Creek dominated the top 2 team places with the Eagles sweeping the top 3 spots led by Jaylin Lucier in 11:23 Etowah pulled the 'hat trick' again in the JV Boys races as Jakob Johnson won in 9:28 and taking the top team slot.
ACS won their 2nd Championship trophy in the MS Girls race scoring 44 points besting a game Jefferson MS squad by 18 points. New runner, 7th grader Tanner Guest had a strong debut winning by :45 in 10:21 Sophie Brown of Jefferson placed 2nd in 11:21 Hart County's MS Boys won very impressively scoring 51 points led by the efforts of individual runnerup 7th grader Gavin Richardson (10:26) Brady Kalessa of Malcom Bridge MS(North Oconee's feeder school--watch out 3A boys in 2014) was the top individual clocking a 10:21.97 ACS won more hardware taking 2nd in the team standings led by yet another 7th grader Orlando Stephenson
Contributions by xcnewbee and Tim Cummings
Woodward Boys came out of the gates smokin' Saturday and won the prime Boys race (Varsity 1) at the new venue for 2013. 1 point is all that separated them from Marist who were missing at least their #4 runner. Alot of crowing went on the Discussion Board after the meet about how Woodward is the top team All-Classes...No one will know that until they can go head to head with St.Pius X or Mill Creek at some point. The key to their win was a :16 Split betwenn their 2-5 runners..Drew Sands led the way placing 3rd in 15:56 Marist was led by their duo of Michael Thurston who took the individual title in 15:36 and Daniel Navarro was runnerup in 15:52 Lagrange had a strong season opener behind their own dynamic duo of Sam Bowie and Andrew Coggins who took 4th and 5th overall. Sequoya easily won the V2 race scoring 57 points led by individual champ Christopher Costas (16:37) in a narrow win over Creekview's Brennan Garriques by a second. Creekview placed 2nd as a team.
The Marist Girls came out very fast for such an early season meet just shellacking the field for the team win. The Eagles swept the 1-4 positions as Morgan Ilse won handily in 18:44 Their 2-4 runners ran as a pack with a Split of :05 including veteran Catie Faust and 2 freshman, Anna Renou and Kendall Nelson. Blessed Trinity placed a very strong 2nd with 61 point gap over 3rd place McIntosh. The Titans had a nice 1-5 Split of 1:01 led by Mary Claire Solomon and Anna Gandolfo. Soph Anna Hayden of Riverwood had a nice race placing 5th followed by Lagrange's Sarah Bearden. In the Girls V2 race, Landmark's Kathryn Foreman separated from the field early and never looked back clocking the top Girls time of the event in 18:31 (last week she was directed off course at NCC) teamate Nicole Feagans placed a strong 2nd in 19:25 Creekview took the team win scoring 41 points led by senior Lera McNamara placing 4th in 20:57, with teamate Rachel Boulineau just behind in 5th at 21:04. Newnan was a surprising 2nd in the team standings.
Stage Races
The Peachtree Ridge-Walton Stage Races seem to have not lost their luster as an early season 'icebreaker' on a fast, shorter distance race where the runners get to really stretch their legs out. It was a battle of the Big Boys in the Varsity Stages will defending 6A champ Mill Creek coming out on top, but just barely over 3A defending champ St.Pius X and perennial 6A powerhouse Brookwood. Austin Sprague of Pius began his senior tour taking the checkered flag in the hotly contested Stage 5 in 9:52 flat. Kenan Farmer took 2nd place in 10:00 in the same stage. Mill Creek's Tyler Woodrome won stage 4 with the 3rd best time of the meet in 10:08 Brookwood showed they have plenty of depth and will again be a force to be reckoned with this November...Mill Creek's boys showed depth winning the JV Boys team.
Collins Hill's Girls came out winning the Girls team title with runners placing high in each stage. Could the Lady Eagles be back to contend for a Podium spot this Fall? Mariah Maring was their top runner in Stage 3 placing 2nd in 13:06.. Brookwood clocked 3 of the 4 fastest times of the day (all in Stage 5) led by Ashley Buda's 12:09.96, followed by Summer Jordan in 12:12..Avery Bussjager of Walton had a fine season debut placing 3rd in 12:13...Roswell placed 2nd in the Varsity team standings.