Marietta Distance Carnival Wrap

It was another very competitive version of the 6th Annual Marietta Distance carnival this past Saturday. More athletes than ever before competed, including 146 boys in the 1600m race! Coach Nicholas Houstoulakis commented, "Through out the past six years, this meet has grown in both numbers and quality of competition. This year, we were extremely excited to add the steeplechase to the list of events as it was a fun and unique event for the athletes to participate in and the spectators and coaches really enjoyed watching it as well!! We feel that the Distance Carnival is great way to kick off the season as teams have unlimited entries in 800m, 1600m and 3200m events. Visiting programs use it as a time trial to allow their distance athletes to compete against other schools and measure their progress from all the work they put in during the winter months in preparation for the 2019 track season."

Jalen Murray, Bama' signee from Richmond Hill swept the 800m (2:00.17) with team mate Bryson Saunders a couple of strides back at 2:01.73 Murray later won a hotly contested 1600m race going 4:25.53 over Marietta's Kamari Miller at 4:26.19  Miller, later came back and took 1st in the 3200m at 9:31.43 besting Justin Wachtel from Mary Persons at 9:42.

Chase Condra of Peachtree Ridge set a school record in the 2000 Steeplechase at 6:30.24 with Jack Voss of St. Pius X 2nd in 6:33.43

Ellie Hall (file pic)

NXN National XC finalist Ellie Hall raced to a win in the 3200m at 10:52.18 edging McKenna Trapheagen of Woodland Cartersville at 10:55. The Girls 1600 was a tight 3 way race for 1st, with Anna Burnett of Woodstock HS taking the win in 5:05.28 with Hall of Marietta 2nd at 5:09.78. Junior Kayla McGuire from Richmond Hill took a narrow 800m win posting a 2:18.42 over Marietta's Ami Henderson at 2:19.54