Milton HS is set to host for the second consecutive year the Fulton County Public Schools Cross Country Championships this Saturday, September 21st at the band/lacrosse practice field on the Milton High School campus. The racing starts in earnest at 8am with the JV Girls race followed by the JV Boys at 8:45am and then the Varsity Girls & Boys at 9:30am & 10:15am respectively. 15 schools are scheduled to compete with the awarding of the unique Best Overall Program trophy going to the program that does well in all 4 races.
Varsity Girls Teams
With 4 ranked teams headed into this meet the challenge for the top-spot is up for grabs! The front-running team from Centennial looks to be the early race favorite as the Lady Knights (#9 All-Class & #7 AAAAAA) are coming off a rest week after a stellar performance at the Covered Bridge Meet on Sept 7th where they placed 2nd to a very talented Etowah squad. Right on the heels are 3 teams that can battle for the top-spot. The home Lady Eagles of Milton (#10 AAAAAA) are coming off a 3rd place finish at WarPath Invite last weekend and of course know the Milton layout inside & out. Milton easily defeated BOTH Roswell (#14 All-Class & #9 AAAAAA) & Northview at WarPath and are the defending champions. The Lady Hornets will be out for some revenge & the Lady Titans of Northview are getting much stronger as the season continues. The dark horse team has to be the Lady Raiders of Riverwood (#12 AAAAA) and could play spoiler to the top-teams.
Varsity Girls Individuals
In a race way too close to call, the top-spot is wide-open with many new faces running up front. The early front-runner looks to be Lindsay Billings of Northview after her strong performance at WarPath last weekend. Maddy Peterson of Centennial is coming off a 4th place finish at Covered Bridge and will be in the mix for the win. Not to be overlooked is Kuersten Gallivan of North Springs & Anna Hayden of Riverwood who have run very fast already this season along with Rachel Van Amburgh of Roswell, Riley Burr of Milton & Charity Starkes of Chattahoochee. Others to watch that should finish in the medals include Abbey Jordan of Milton (their time trial winner last month on this course) along with teammate Juanita Pardo who was top-10 at Pickens Preview last month. Sunshine Flamer will be right up there along with the Centennial duo of Grace Tavani & Haley McKay.
Boys Varsity Teams
If you go straight on the rankings, the Hornets of Roswell are the overwhelming favorites. Roswell (#10 All-Class #6 AAAAAA) ran a very strong team race at Warpath & placed a solid third to lead the group of Fulton teams at the meet. With 7 runners most likely able to finish in the top-14 it is Roswell’s race to lose, if that is possible. The battle for the runner-up spot looks to be a duel between host Milton (#11 AAAAAA) and the Titans of Northview (#13 AAAAA). The Titans will have a strong #1-2 but Milton will counter with their very small spread amongst their top-7 to be ready to finish up high.
Boys Varsity Individuals
The race between co-favorites Josh Salter of Northview & Drew Kelley of Roswell should be a good one as both have run comparable times this season and in their last two races Salter was 10th at WarPath to Kelley’s 16th and the week before at Covered Bridge Kelley was runner-up to Salter’s 16th place finish. Waiting the wings looks to be another Roswell-Northview duel as Brandon Tardif of the Hornets will have to contend with Jamie Cunningham of the Titans. They should be with Salter & Kelley for the majority of the race and contend for a top-4 finish. Others to watch are the sophomore duo of Bjorn Leicher of Cambridge & Clay Marshall of Milton. Last month they teamed up and ran a back-and-forth battle at the Milton time trial race on this course with Leicher kicking home for the win with less than 80 meters to go. The two know the course better than most and on this most difficult course in the state, knowledge is everything as well as strength. Not to be overlooked is Roswell’s #3 man, another sophomore, Nick McGlynn, who is coming off a big race at WarPath.
Best Overall Program Award
Unique to this meet, the Best Overall Program Award is awarded to the school that finishes well in not just the varsity races but also in the JV races as well. Based on the schools finishing place in both Junior Varsity and varsity races, each school is awarded points and the point’s winner of the combined four races is awarded the Best Overall Program award. Since 2004 the best overall program winners have been Northview-2006-2007, Centennial-2009, Milton-2004-2005, 2008, 2010-2012.