Bob Blastow Meet Summary
Boys Race 1
Alex Murfee from Woodward Academy looks relieved crossing the finish line in Race 2 at 15:54 What a HUGE Medal!
Woodward Academy came out swinging hard winning team honors scoring 35 points with a 1-5 Split of 1:05 and 16:30 team average. They were led by a quartet of seniors including overall winner Alex Murfee in 15:54, Ben Murray (6th-16:28), Drew Sands (7th-16:31) and Collin Silliman (10th-16:42) This made it (4) AAAA powerhouse Boys teams that won Invitationals this weekend. Host school Alexander placed 2nd putting 3 runners in the top 11 led by sr Lance Smith in 16:24. Rounding out the top 5 were Ryan Peck from Wheeler taking 2nd in 16:02, Christian Nix of East Paulding was 3rd in 16:20 and soph Wilson Moore of Chapel Hill placed 4th in 16:23
Boys Race 2
Sam Bowie from Lagrange takes Boys Race 2 in 15:59
There Back.....those Angoras from 2013 that had such a magnificent end to a dream season placing 2nd at State have taken up from where left off winning the team title in Race 2. Clarkston has reloaded and looks to be an immediate contender for the 5A title. Their 16:35 team average was probably better than Woodward's 16:30 earlier as the heat index had to be higher..Jr Abbas Akbahr led the charge placing 2nd in 16:03 and Gidey Sahlu crossed 7th in 16:17. Sam Bowie is now the man at Lagrange after Coggins graduated. Bowie announced his presence by taking the Race 2 overall title clocking a 15:59. Filling out the top 5 were Jonathan Scwind of Lambert in 16:03.18, Davis Stockwell of Lakeside DK in 16:08 and Justin Weegar from Evans at 16:14. Forsyth Central ran well in their season debut placing 2nd in the team standings led by sr Austin Campbell in 16:15.
Girls Race 1
In a rematch of last year's 3A Girls race, Blessed Trinity again upended a strong St.Pius X squad, but only by 11 points. The key was the Titans placing 3 runners in the top 10 including Mary Claire Solomon placing 3rd in 19:10. Riverwood International swept the top 2 individual spots led by race winner jr Anna Hayden (pictured) in 18:38 and soph Elizabeth Graves in 18:45. St.Pius and 5A McIntosh actually tied w/ 88 points but the Golden Lions secured 2nd on a 6th runner tiebreaker. Rebecca Entrekin led the way placing 4th in 19:40. Alyssa LeClaire led McIntosh's 3rd place effort placing 10th overall. Kennedy THorne of Alpharetta took 5th overall in 19:45.
Girls Race 2
Kathryn Foreman from Landmark Christian (pictured) had the top female performance of the day running away with Race 2 clocking a 18:24 leading her squad to 2nd in the team race. Not too far back was little sister Sarah Foreman who in her first 'official' GHSA race went 19:24 taking 2nd overall. It seems that 2013 #2 Nicole Fegans dnr. Cambridge HS had a tighter 1-5 Split though as they won the team race by 8 points. Leading Cambridge was frosh Chloe Phelps in 11th overall. Lambert had a solid start to their season under new head coach James Tigue placing 3rd. Rounding out the top 5 individuals were Ellunde Montgomery of Union Grove (19:44), Morgan Mihalis of Lakeside DK (20:01) and Breck Jones of N.Cobb Christian (20:01)
Bob Blastow Early Bird by 1st_Jon - Photo Gallery
Below are the performances entered for the meet that met the national silver standard.
22 National Elites. 65 Elites.