(all photos by Marc Logan)
Varsity Boys
Pope packs it in near the Mile mark
It was a serious 'Battle of the Bigs' at Warpath in the Varsity boys race between #1 All-classes St. Pius X and last week's #2 6A squad Pope. The Greyhounds tighter 1-5 spread at :20 proved to be the deciding factor for a 9 point team victory. Sr Axel Mateo led the way taking 6th overall in 16:07 with team mates William Brown 9th (16:15) and Cole Heron 10th (16:17) Sr Rowan Wiley was the top Golden Lion for Pius finishing 4th at 15:57.
Calan Gizelbach took control of the race early
It got intense for the Individual title, as Calan Gizelbach of Central Forsyth was headed in for the win, but Sully Shelton of Harrison made a furious charge down the stretch catching him and leaned in for the win clocking a 15:40.10 pushing the Hoyas to 3rd in the team standings. Gizelbach was probably a bit closer than the 15:40.20 posted if you look at the photo finish.
Gizelbach and Sully Shelton lean at the mats in a 'photo finish'
Whitefield Academy's Devin Wade continued to have a strong season placing 3rd overall in 15:55 and Alex Thomas from North Oconee took 5th at 15:59. 3A Lovett ran very well again placing 4th with 3 runners in the top 20.
Varsity Girls
St. Pius X Girls celebrate their team win
4A St. Pius' girls made a statement winning the Girls team title by 8 points over 6A Harrison. The Lady Golden Lions had 3 runners finish in the top 11 spots including: Maggie Yankovich in 7th (19:16), Catherine Breault 9th (19:19) and Mary Brady 11th (19:28) The Lady Hoyas charge was led by Riley Perlakowski as she crossed 8th posting a 19:17.
Makena Gates of Creekview was flawless
Makena Gates of Creekview was never challenged, taking control of the race early and won going away clocking a 18:02, helping push the Grizzlies to a 3rd place team effort and Alysa Miles had a strong race taking 6th at 19:14. Oconee County seems to be getting stronger every race when at full strength taking 4th as a team led by Caroline McArthur's 4th place effort of 19:08. Rounding out the top 5 were overall runnerup Regan Mahoney of Atlanta International at 18:36, followed by Haley Hooper of Lovett in 3rd place going 18:44.
Most of the top 10 Varsity Girls
MS Races
William Newman of Junior Hoyas is the MS Boys Champ
William Newman led the Junior Hoyas to the MS team title taking the overall win in 11:27. Jake Labasi from Dean Rusk MS was overall runnerup in 11:37 just edging out Diego Santiago of Taylor Road MS at 11:38
Kelsey Grass was the MS Girls Overall Champ
Kelsey Grass of Allatoona Junior Bucs was the MS girls titleist taking a narrow win at 12:44 over Bekah Wise of Junior Dragons at 12:45. Dean Rusk won the team title as Addison Higgins raced to 3rd (12:52) followed by Lilly Savage 4th (13:01)