Lead chase pack with Don Harp (L) and Sam Bowie (R) on the front chasing down the Flyin' Hawaiian Thomas Adkins who went out in 4:40.....(pic by Daniel McCauley)
It was an awesome day of racing at this years at&t Starrs Mill Panther cross country meet! This year's meet featured 5014 and 1800 runners including the state champions from Alabama, Auburn high school and Spring Valley high school out of Columbia South Carolina, home of the Taco Bell meat. The Brookwood Broncos showed up in force to challenge auburn boys team and Whitewater High school team and Woodstock boys teams and the Landmark Christian, Union Grove, Starrs Mill girls teams. The course as looked fantastic and enabled fast times. The spectator friendly course Saul swarms of parents move from the starting line down to the lake and back to cheer on the runners in each race..
Thomas Adkins from Whitewater took the race out hard as he is chased by Geoffrey McCullough of Campbell with the pack in hailing distance closing fast (pic by Daniel McCauley)
Sam Bowie from Lagrange motored to the Overall win in 15:33 (photo by Daniel McCauley)
Championship Boys
Sam Bowie from Lagrange must have had a monster of Summer training as he literally was not contactable during the race blowing away a loaded field taking the Overall title in 15:33. Just like in Poltergeist that infamous quote applies: "They're Back..." Brookwood's boys can never be counted out of the picture and they made an early season statement to reigning 6A Champ Marietta by defeating a very strong Auburn (AL) squad with a 16:12 team average and 1-5 Split of :39 The Broncs top 7 were in the top 17 places!
Zach Israel and Gruem Tesfamarium led the Brookwood squad to a big win in the Championship Boys race. (pic by Daniel McCauley)
Leading the stampede was the duo of Texas transfer Zach Israel taking 2nd overall in 15:49 and Gruem Tesfamarium 3rd in 15:50. Auburn was actually ahead of Brookwood after their 1-4 crossed the finish line, but Brookwood's depth prevailed. Auburn ate up the 5th thru 9th places including Sr Paul Barlow (15:54), nate Pudner (16:05), Jack Rogers (16:12) and Joshua Escoe (16:15) Woodstock put on ai impressive display of pack running with a 1-5 Split of :38 to finish a strong 3rd as a team. Highly ranked 4A squad Whitewater came in 4th led by Sr. Parker Nail's 11th place effort in 16:28. Rounding out the top 10 Individuals not mentioned above were Campbell's Geoffrey McCullough with a sweet 4th place finish in 15:50, Ben Garner from Opelika (AL) taking 9th at 16:25 and Zunair Manzoor of Brookwood 10th in 16:27.
Brookwood Broncos galloped together as a team to victory. (pic by Daniel McCauley)
Championship Girls
Start of the Championship Girls Race (pic by Daniel McCauley)
Brookwood's Girls showed their program's depth at at&t Panther taking a narrow 2 point win over A Private Landmark Christian (who had 6 girls finish this week for a team score) Landmark's 3-headed monster all placed in the top 4 overall, but it wasn't enough as 6A Brookwood's 2-4 all placed in the top 21. Lauren Flynt led the Broncs' efforts taking 2nd overall in 18:36.
Nicole Fegans was very motivated this week and took it out on the field taking 1st in 18:15 (pic by Daniel McCauley)
Nicole Fegans once again had a tremendous race (and will be All-Classes ROW for this week) as she may used that as motivation, posting a great time of 18:15 for a descisive win over a strong field. Sarah Foreman bested her sister Kathryn, taking 3rd in 18:58 to Kat's 19:02. Paideia's Sophia West's Summer training is paying off early as she turned in a 19:05 for 5th Overall. Very impressive was the performance of Coach Daugherty's Union Grove's Girls as they rocketed to a 3rd place team finish, putting 3 runners in the top 12 led by Frosh Mackenzie Cromer (Joe Cromer's sis perhaps ?) 9th place finish in 19:48. Rounding out the top Overall (not mentioned above) were: Mary Valli of Starrs Mill in 6th (19:23), 2 8th graders ?? from Auburn (AL) in Harper McGowan 7th (19:45) and Samantha Rogers 8th (19:45) and Marielle Lewis of Campbell 10th (19:51)
Lauren Flynt led the Broncos charge to a team title going 2nd Overall in 18:36. (pic by Daniel McCauley)
Sarah Foreman of Landmark Christian was 3rd Overall in the Championship Girls race (pic by Daniel McCauley)
Kathryn Foreman placed 4th Overall in the Champ Girls race for Landmark (pic by Daniel McCauley)
Sophia West of Paideia had yet another great race placing 5th Overall (pic by Daniel McCauley)
Auburn duo of Harper McGowan and Samantha Rogers hold off a pair of hungry Wolverines from Union Grove (pic by Daniel McCauley)
PHOTO GALLERIES:
Below are the performances entered for the meet that met the national silver standard.
| HS Girls | |||
| 5,000 Meter Run | 18:15.49 | Nicole Fegans | Landmark Christian School |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 18:36.05 | Lauren Flynt | Brookwood |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 18:58.65 | Sarah Foreman | Landmark Christian School |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 19:02.38 | Kathryn Foreman | Landmark Christian School |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 19:05.27 | Sophia West | Paideia |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 19:23.18 | Mary Valli | Starrs Mill High School |
| HS Boys | |||
| 5,000 Meter Run | 15:33.78 | Sam Bowie | LaGrange |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 15:49.17 | Zach Israel | Brookwood |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 15:50.84 | Gruem Tesfamariam | Brookwood |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 15:50.86 | Geoffrey McCullough | Campbell High School |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 15:54.87 | Paul Barlow | Auburn |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 16:05.73 | Nate Pudner | Auburn |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 16:12.70 | Jack Rogers | Auburn |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 16:15.81 | Joshua Escoe | Auburn |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 16:25.89 | Ben Garner | Opelika High School |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 16:27.07 | Zunair Manzoor | Brookwood |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 16:28.07 | Parker Nail | Whitewater High School |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 16:28.56 | Jordan Bullock | Brookwood |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 16:28.71 | Wilson Moore | Chapel Hill High School |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 16:29.12 | Patrick Smith | Brookwood |
20 National Elites. 60 Elites.