Varsity Girls Lead pack early on (pic by Matt Almand)
Once again some great racing in the Gwinnett County Championships as Mill Creek has established themselves as the premiere program in Georgia with their Girls just blowing away a competitive field by nearly 60 points and the guys a close 2nd to Brookwood. The Hawks also boasted the top Individuals with sam Costa Overall Boys champ and Camryn Petit taking the Girls' honors.
Camryn Petit had the hot feet today for the Hawks taking 1st Overall (pic by Matt Almand)
Varsity Girls- Their should be no questions or doubts that Mill Creek's girls are clearly the top team in Georgia at this point of the season. What a dominating performance the Hawks had dispatching an incredible field winning by 61 points over runnerup Brookwood.
In the girls race, the Petits, Flynt, and Gomez all opened up together and gapped the field within the first 1000m. By the mile mark, it was as obvious a 4 girl race as any we've seen. They were together through the 2 mile with the Petits trying to pull away from Flynt and Gomez. Camryn pulled away for the victory and Flynt tried to cover. Hannah was able to catch and outkick Flynt near the line to take runner up honors. Flynt 3rd. Gomez let go somewhere after the 2 mile and hung on for a pretty comfortable 4th.
Hannah Petit drives to the finish line for 2nd Overall (pic by Matt Almand)
Mill Creek's top 5 were all in the top 15 places with a team average of 19:29. Camryn and Hannah Petit swept the top 2 places with Camryn winning the Overall title in 18:36 with Hannah 18:44. Helping shore up the title were Sr.Alexandra Froh 9th in 19:57 and Sara Scales 10th at 19:58.
Lauren Flynt again led the lady Broncos placing 3rd Overall (pic by Matt Almand)
Although far back, Brookwood came out 2nd as a team led by Lauren Flynt's 3rd place finish at 18:47. Parkview proved they will be a Podium contender under young coach Mike Demarest placing 3rd teamwise led by Melody Weiler's 12th place finish at 20:07. North Gwinnett took 4th by 6 points over Peachtree Ridge. A Private Hebron Christian had a fine race ending up 6th with a 21:07 team average and could surpass Landmark Christian in the upcoming Team Rankings.
Yanely Gomez from Grayson gutted it out to 4th Overall in the Varsity race (pic by Matt Almand)
Rounding out the top 10 Individuals not mentioned above were: Yanely Gomez from Grayson 4th (19:07), the Dacula duo of Daniela Rodriguez and Kenedi Rodney (5th and 6th) at 19:32, PCA's Emily Swanigan 7th (19:50) and Mary Katherine Knott from the Ridge 8th (19:54)
Dacula now has a dynamic duo as Daniela Rodriguez (l) and Kenedi Rodney ran to a great 5th and 6th place finishes at Gwinnett (pic by Matt Almand)
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Varsity Boys lead pack in the first Mile at the International Horse Park 'F' Course. (pic by Matt Almand)
Varsity Boys- Very competitive as expected, as the Boys Championship team race was tight and exciting. The top 3 squads are clearly at this juncture on another level than other Gwinnett squads. Brookwood's 1-5 (:47) had a tighter pack than Mill Creek (1:11) which determined the outcome of the team race.
In the boys race, the first 800m opened up average-to-conservative, and then it became a 2 man battle between Costa and Israel. Similar to the girls' race, these 2 gapped the field with relative ease and were still together by the 2 mile mark with Tesfamariam and Reichard in tow. Costa was able to put Israel away for good up the final hill and kicked through the down hill finish to win by 10 seconds. Reichard came from behind and caught both Gruem and Israel to take 2nd place. Israel and Gruem finished essentially together for 3-4.The Broncos placed 3 harriers in the top 7 places including former 'ROW' Zach Israel in 3rd Overall at 16:12 with running mate Gruem Tesfamariam tagging along at 16:13 and Zunair Manzoor 7th in 16:37.
Zach Israel (L) and Gruem Tesfamariam of Brookwood led the Broncos to another Gwinnett County team title (pic by Matt Almand)
Sam Costa was well rested and took advantage winning the Boys Overall title in 15:57 (pic by Matt Almand)
Mill Creek placed 3 guys in the top 9 spots including race winner Sam Costa who was well rested after racking his noggin'taking the ACT last weekend flyin' to the Overall title for the Hawks clocking a 15:57 on the Horse Park 'F' course, which has a difficult 'stepping stone' hill, out of view of only the hardiest fans and XC coaches. Fellow seniors Noah Hollis took 5th at 16:24 and Gavin Childers 9th in 16:40. The 'Ridge' was a strong 3rd 6 points behind the Hawks led by nate Reichard's fine runnerup finish in 16:07 along with Pedro Solares' 8th in 16:38. Rounding out the top 10 Individuals were 2014 champ Tyler Barber from Mountain View at 6th place (16:30) and James Cragin of Archer HS 10th (16:42)
Peachtree Ridge senior Nate Reichard seems like he has been around forever and had a great race taking 2nd overall at 16:07 (pic by Matt Almand)
Sr. Noah Hollis from Mill Creek continues to get better and showed it, taking 5th Overall posting a solid 16:24 (pic by Matt Almand)
JV PICS and more COMING SUNDAY EVENING !
MATT ALMAND FULL PHOTO GALLERY
ELITES
Below are the performances entered for the meet that met the national silver standard.
| HS Girls | |||
| 5,000 Meter Run | 18:36.49 | Camryn Petit | Mill Creek High School |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 18:44.26 | Hannah Petit | Mill Creek High School |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 18:47.59 | Lauren Flynt | Brookwood |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 19:09.37 | Yanely Gomez | Grayson High School |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 19:32.74 | Daniela Rodriguez | Dacula |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 19:32.86 | Kenedi Rodney | Dacula |
| HS Boys | |||
| 5,000 Meter Run | 15:57.74 | Sam Costa | Mill Creek High School |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 16:07.74 | Nate Reichard | Peachtree Ridge High School |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 16:12.69 | Zach Israel | Brookwood |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 16:13.12 | Gruem Tesfamariam | Brookwood |
| 5,000 Meter Run | 16:24.33 | Noah Hollis | Mill Creek High School |
11 National Elites. 52 Elites.