(contributions by Andy Carr & all photos by Matt Almand of Ga.MileSplit)
If one was not at the Nike-Fleet Feet Coach Wood Invitational, you missed some high caliber racing Saturday on an absolutely perfect Fall morning. Most of the top 10 All-Class ranked teams duked it out on the Gainesville College course, which will make ranking teams very easy in a couple of days. Also, Nike athlete Chanelle Price was a big hit-very personable and friendly! The best XC event in the state and one of the most, if not the most, competitive. Course and layout were both wonderful and meet management & timing top-rate!
Championship Girls- Lindsay Billings found some redemption on the slightly hillier layout at Gainesville College, putting down the hammer, winning the Overall title in 17:41, leading Northview to a well deserved team title and soon to be #1 ranking All-Class & 6A. Billings ran a dominant race to show that last week was apparently an anomaly..
Savannah Carnahan had a another great race leading South Forsyth to a strong 2nd as a team
Kaylee Dupont pushed it to the limit for South Forsyth as well taking 3rd Overall
South Forsyth gave the Titans all they could handle only 9 points back... Savannah Carnahan led the Eagles placing 2nd in 18:04, along with team mates Kaylee Dupont in 3rd (18:12) and Milicent Bergey 9th at 18:51. Mill Creek was a strong 3rd, led by Hannah Petit's 10th place effort in 18:51. Marist placed 4th and Milton 5th teamwise. Having great individual efforts in the top 5 were Lovett's Serena Tripodi taking 4th overall in 18:14, followed by Brookwood's Lauren Flynt in 5th at 18:33.
Serena Tripodi was back in form this Saturday placing 4th Overall for Lovett
Lauren Flynt of Brookwood (rear) pushed Dupont & Tripodi much of the race
Post Race Analysis: Northview & South Forsyth are closer than they appear. Northview & South's top-girls are what are driving these teams. Northview has no depth and if one of their top-5 falters they are very vulnerable. Same with South. Big gap after number 4 hurt them today. Mill Creek can steal state if their top-2 are up there, they have the best next 3. Marist is strong when it comes to big meets. Depth and re-building and is the best of any non-6A school in Georgia, period! Milton has a big a gap after #3 and will need to close it to make the podium. West Forsyth is the only unanswered question..It's the Lindsay & Savannah show still & will be all the way to state. Besides Annie Kelly & Allie Bulchalski, have region rivals raced so many head-to-head times in one season??
Championship Boys- What can one say about Marietta's boys now? The Blue Devils have now begun to resemble their 2014 State Champion squad completely dominating the team race beating some very sound squads badly... Black Jack's squad had 5 runners in the top 15 places, led by Carlos Torres' Overall runnerup effort in 15:45 with Tullos Hayden back at 8th in 16:08.
Coach Coleman commented, "We've had high goals all season and my hope is we can stay healthy having an opportunity to compete well at state and beyond. We appear focused and ready to give it our best. The guys ran a good race overall with the best work coming in the 2nd half of the race as they had a good last mile. Coach Wood is the biggest meet to us outside of State and Nike Regional this year, so winning it is an honor. Coach Christie does such an outstanding job with the meet and creates a festival like atmosphere for the teams. He is such a blessing to the running community in North Georgia."
Frank Pittman from Marist was a beast once again, winning the Overall title in 15:42, holding off a late charge down the stretch by Torres, leading the 4A War Eagles to 3rd place as a team. Mill Creek had a tighter 1-5 Split though, good enough to take 2nd place team honors led by Sr Sam Costa's 7th place finish in 16:07. There was an incredible battle for the next 3 team places with Milton prevailng by 3 points over St.Pius X and Brookwood 6 points back. This should certainly shakeup 6A & All Class Rankings this week...
Having great races individually were Zach Israel of Brookwood placing 3rd at 15:49, Johnathan Schwind of Lambert 4th at 15:55, Jake Shewbert from Flowery Branch 5th in 15:57 and Allatoona's Colton Page 6th at 15:59.
Carlos Torres led the Blue Devils to victory placing 3rd Overall
Johnathan Schwind from Lambert continued having a great Fall placing 4th Overall
Jake Shewbert and Colton Page had another duel at Coach Wood Saturday placing 5th and 6th.
Post Race Analysis: Marietta is a class above everyone else but there is no depth. Otherwise, their top-5 is the best in the Southeast. Only 17 points separated 2nd-6th with 4 teams having runners upfront. In 4A the Marist - St.Pius battle is a toss up but no upfront strength hurt Pius today. This will make for an exciting next 3 weeks as both can win at Carrollton. Depth of the field will play a big factor of course. Milton, Mill Creek and Brookwood are interchangeable, but all have gaps between 2-3, or 3-4 or 4-5. It will be the strength of the team that will propel them at Carrollton. Expect these teams to all make region more of a workout as they prepare for state.
Frank Pittman avenged his loss at Wingfoot, with a decisive win against the strongest assembled field anywhere. The 6A boys race at state is going to be amazing with Torres, Schwind, Costa, Bluth, Isreal and throw in John Green of West Forsyth, it's gonna be a barn-burner... With the state meet course, the stronger, tougher runner will be the favorite over the speedy track runner...
Elite Performances
Below are the performances entered for the meet that met the national silver standard.
49 National Elites. 160 Elites.