Championship Boys Team North Oconee (all pics by Matt Almand)
Championship Boys- 17 squads teed it up in this competitive race with the North Oconee boys taking the title with Sr Thomas Moore leading the charge for the Titans racing to the Overall win as well in perhaps his best XC race ever clocking a new course record for the boys16:07. Moore had a great Summer of training and carried that over into the season as North OC was itching to race. Junior Anthony Potts provided support placing 10th overall in 17:25. North Hall proved they will be in the mix in 4A placing 2nd 21 points back. Leading Trojans were sr Corson Teasley taking 3rd in 16:28 and jr Tommy Johnston 9th in 17:20.
Championship Boys Lead Pack: Kennedy, Hans, Kennedy and Moore
Moore was outstanding taking the overall title in 16:07 followed by East Jackson's Chase Kennedy in 16:14. Allen Clark from Lakeside Evans placed 4th in 16:35 followed by Chandler Kennedy of East Jackson in 16:40. Gerardo Suarez of Johnson was also sub 17: in 16:45. Lakeside Evans ran tough taking 3rd teamwise led by Allen Clark in 4th and Joe Way 11th. Johnson HS proved they will be a force this season placing 4th behind Gerado Suarez and soph Issac Hernandez.
Championship Girls Mill Creek Lady Hawks
Championship Girls-
6A Mill Creek was too deep and fast scoring a low 34 points led by the Petit sisters going 1/2 with an (Camryn) 18:41 and Hannah (18:47) and Sara Scales 10th. It was very tight for the other team hardware as Hebron Christian hit their stride early taking the runnerup spot by 4 points over inproved North Oconee. Their 1-5 Split of 1:27 was the key led by jr Allyssa Hawkins in 15th (21:06). Mackenzie Morse of North Oconee led the Titans of North Oconee in 14th. Athens Academy took 4th led by soph Anna Marian Block's 7th in 19:59 and Emily Ballard Myer's 13th.
Early lead pack of (L-R) Hooker, Block, Honiotes and winner Petit.
Many were in touch early in the individual race but soon Mill Creek's Petit duo broke away easily taking 1st and 2nd. Audrey Honiotes of Hart County hung tough for 3rd overall in 19:15 followed by Alyssa Hooker of Lakeside Evans 4th at 19:21 and Sue Anne Moralis of East Jackson 5th in 19:30.
Varsity Boys Winner Jeryck Wilson from Cedar Shoals HS
Varsity Boys- Jeryck Wilson of Cedar Shoals took the Individual win in a solid 17:23. Oconee County's boys won the Varsity race, though it was without Michael Hans who competed in the Championship race 7th/17:02, with what looked like a split squad which bodes very well for the Warriors this season as they may have sights set on a title in November. OC placed 4 runners in the top 13 including veteran Issac Krumm placing 2nd in 17:33 and Jake Hadden 4th (17:56) West Hall showed signs of being a 7-AAA contender placing 2nd placing 3 in the top 12 led by sr Riccardo Castruita's 7th in 18:10. Clarke Central was a surprising 3rd led by William White's 6th (18:06) with Apalachee going 4th with Merit Fontinel grabbing 5th in 18:04.
Varsity Girls winner Hannah White from Mill Creek
Varsity Girls- North Oconee has the best 1-12 in the school's history according to folks close to the program and proved by winning the Varsity race after placing 3rd as well in the Championship race. That is called DEEP...Allie Dominicali led the Titans going 6th (22:43) running in tandem with soph Kate Mattison 22:46. Mill Creek came in 2nd led by race winner frosh Hannah White in 22:02. Jefferson's Maggie Dyer placed 2nd in 22:19, Berkley Hawkes of George Walton took 3rd (22:26), Kaitlin Ivey of Walnut Grove placed 4th in 22:31 and Tanner Guest of ACS rounded out the top 5 in 22:36.
MS Boys winner Alex Thomas from Malcom Bridge MS
MS Boys- MS runners were facing a tougher new 2 loop layout wheeled at just a smidgeon over 3K. A late entrant into the meet, Gainesville MS has done well the past couple years and will be a contender at MS State after they blitzed the MS Boys race placing 4 in the top 13 winning by 31 points. Grady Vardeman led the Red Elephants stampede with 1th overall in 11:32. Malcom Bridge has done well the past several seasons and will keep feeding quality runners into North OC as they placed 2nd led by race winner Alex Thomas in 10:55 and 7th grader Davis Potts at 3rd in 11:15. Individual runnerup was Jaime Jacoby of George Walton in 11:03. Blake Fugel of Hebron Christian rounded out the top 5 in 11:40
MS Girls winner Kelsey Morse, also from Malcom Bridge
MS Girls- It was a nail biter for the team title as 2 of the stronger MS programs in the area went head to head with Malcom Bridge taking a 5 point victory over Hebron Christian. 7th grader Kelsey Morse of Malcom Bridge may be the best runner in school history since Rebecca and Rachel Greenwall as she led the Bolts to the win taking the Individual title in 12:07. Hebron put 3 in the top 10 including 7th ader Innessa Shevchuck in 6th and 6th grader Claire McGuirt 7th. Rounding out the top 5 were Jalin Delcid if Summerour MS (12:55), Gabby Martin of ACS (13:19), Lauren Michael of Stallings Island (13:20).