Kevin Mills of 'The Ridge" crushed the Clara Bowl in 15:34 leading the Lions to a 2nd place Team finish Pics by Scott Weaver
Coming into the race there was a lot of hype on the boys side, with Mill Creek and St. Pius X rematch from the Stage Races, and Peachtree Ridge who did not run last week. Berry was the coming out party for not only the boys of The Ridge, but also the highly anticipated girls’ team. Peachtree Ridge and Mill Creek took to the front of the race early to establish themselves and avoid the traffic.
Austin Sprague's runnerup effort of 15:42 led the Pius Boys to the 5A-6A team title by 1 point.Pics by Scott Weaver
From the start Pius looked good as they got out strong, with The Ridge and Mill Creek not too far behind. Right before the mile mark, Kevin Mills from Peachtree Ridge, along with Raville from Whitewater and Vestavia Hills’s Macoy, were leading Austin Sprague of St. Pius X. The group crossed around 5 flat at the mile mark, followed by Peachtree Ridge and their solid group in the top 15 who took the early lead. Owen Bailey of Woodstock High School was in the mix with a group of Mill Creek, Parkview, and Harrison boys following around 5:15. At the 2 mile Mills and Sprague were at 10:06 with Macoy right with them. After these three, Tyler Woodrome of Mill Creek, and Isaac Penman of Peachtree Ridge were followed by Auburn’s trio of Ogburn, Ruggles, and Lincoln. Around half a mile to go Mills and Sprague went into a duel as they dropped Macoy. As they came down the hill to the finish Mills threw it down and ran 15:34 to win by 8 seconds over Sprague. Macoy was next with a hard charge to finish 3rd in 15:48.
Woodrome overtook Ferrugia of Pius on the downhill to finish 4th and 5th respectively. Auburn threw 3 runners into the top 10 along with Penman and Nick Schofer of Parkview. Owen Bailey finished 11th with Harrison’s Ryan Brock right behind him at 16:44. The teams seemed equally spread out throughout the race and this showed in the results as St. Pius X beat Peachtree Ridge by 1 point with a 16:40 average. The Ridge’s top 2 proved too much for Mill Creek as the Hawks finished 4 points back of the Ridge, with Auburn and Harrison rounding out your top 5. Harrison and Parkview impressed with a solid pack of boys along with North Cobb’s transfer Emmanuel Juarez who helped the Warriors finish 7th overall. Overall St. Pius X proved impressive with a win over strong 6A schools Peachtree Ridge and Mill Creek, even without help from the #2 returner Anastasiades who will be switching sports.
Addy Lippitt's 1st place effort in 19:15 led the "Ridge Chicks" to the 5A-6A title.
Lauren Hovis placed 3rd for Mill Creek Pics by Scott Weaver
Berry was the coming out party for not only the boys of The Ridge, but also the highly anticipated girls’ team. Peachtree Ridge and Mill Creek took to the front of the race early to establish themselves and avoid the traffic. Addy Lippitt of Peachtree Ridge and Mary Grace Strozier of Pelham started their long 3.1 mile battle right away, with a sub 6 first mile. Lauren Hovis of Mill Creek was a few steps back of these top 2 then the teams started to fill in. Peachtree Ridge’s girls were the first group through followed by a group of 5 or 6 Harrison Hoyas who were around 6:30. At the 2nd mile the top 3 remained unchanged, with The Ridge throwing Laurel Wilson and Caroline Williams into 4th and 6th. Harrison’s 2, 3, and 4 runners came through around 13:10, which helped when the updated team scores were announced and Peachtree Ridge was winning, followed by Harrison, and Woodstock. Lippit proved too strong as she pulled away from Strozier to win in an impressive 19:13. Strozier was able to hold off the charging Hovis by less than a second at the finish. Laurel Wilson finished 4th in 19:55, followed by Ashley Kehoe of Pope, Yanely Gomez of Grayson, and Caroline Williams (Peachtree Ridge’s #3) in 7th. Peachtree Ridge just blew away the competition averaging 20:06 and scoring only 51 points to beat Harrison by 62.
The Lady Hoyas 'pack running' mentality served them well on the way to a 2nd place team finish Pics by Scott Weaver
Dunwoody led by Alex Cameron (20:22) and Ann-Marie Sills (20:25) finished 3rd and looks like the team to beat in 5A at the current moment. Woodstock finished in 4th led by a 10th place finish by Alexandra Melehan (20:19) and Morgan O’Toole (20:31). McIntosh’s 5th place finish was helped by lead runner Alyssa Leclaire who beat the top returning 5A runner in Alex Cameron, and a number 3 and 4 runner who were able to beat the Mill Creek 3 and 4 to put Mill Creek 2 points back and in 6th place. All-Class looks like there may be a battle now between Marist’s young group of girls and the Ridge’s veterans!
Galloway's Reilly Friedman galloped to victory in the 1A-4A races in 15:58 Pics by Scott Weaver
The 1A-4A races had to deal with high humidity and heat and Galloway's Reilly Friedman was spectacular winning the individual title in 15:58 and the North Hall boys squad ran away from the field scoring 27 points letting St.Pius X know they were going to be a problem down the trail come November. Their quintet had a 1-5 Split of :45 led by Bryce Schuebert's runnerup finish in 16:37, Quintin Miles placed 4th in 16:53, Zack Hill, Seth Chapman and Bailey Pless took 6th-8th places. Pickens County from 4A had a good race placing 2nd overall led by fast frosh
Pickens' Frosh Sean Parker continued to excel in HS competition. Bryce Schuebert led North Hall to the 1A-4A team title Pics by Scott Weaver
Sean Parker's 3rd place individual effort in 16:46. Darlington was the top A school placing 3rd besting many solid higher class programs. Spencer Fields was the top Tiger harrier placing 9th overall in 17:27. White County's Austin Thompson had a strong race placing 5th in 17:00
Jenna Gearing of White County won her 2nd straight race bashing the field with the top performance of the day in 18:45. Pics by Scott Weaver
St.Pius Girls won the 2nd team title for the Golden Lions at Berry taking the 1A-4A trophy. Margaret Crawford led the hunt placing 5th overall in 20:20 and their 1-5 had a split of 1:38 including Rebecca Entrekin clocking a 20:53 Lovett was in hailing distance placing 2nd only 24 points back and bested sneaky Signal Mountain (Ala) by 2 points. Serena Tripodi was the top runner placing 7th in 20:31 White County finished 4th in the team standings behind Individual titleist Jenna Gearing's dominating win.
Tayler Tuttle of Providence Christian is becoming a force in A Private. Pics by Scott Weaver
Class A had a strong preview of what could be as Darlington came out as the top Girls A squad at Berry. 22 points separated the Tigers, First Presbyterian Day and Providence Christian. Tayler Tuttle (of Providence) had another strong outing placing 2nd overall in 19:16 building up to a possible showdown with Landmark Christian's Kathyrn Foreman on 11-9.
Runners Alyssa Weaver (l) and Margaret Crawford (r)struggle across the uphill finish line at Berry after battling the heat, humidity and each other during the 1A-4A Girls race. Pics by Scott Weaver