(photos by Marc Logan)
Seth White of Pickens, George Adams and George Blaha finish strong
It was Pace Academy vs Pope HS for both team titles this past Saturday at Roper Park. 3A Pace Academy announced their presence with authority as they beat 6A defending champ Pope. They did it by having more depth and a :47 1-5 split. Edward Blaha led the pack taking 8th place in 16:52, followed from 10-12 by George Adams, George Blaha and Robert Mallis. Pope swept the 3-5 spots including Cole Heron, William Brown and KC Heron. Ben McGinnis from Dawson County showed his mettle coming from behind taking the Boys Overall title going 16:24 with new team mate Collin Killgore 6th pushing the Tigers to a 4th place team finish. Caleb Hall of North Forsyth came up just short taking runnerup honors at 16:26
Ben McGinnis of Dawson County held off Caleb Hall of North Forsyth winning Boys Overall at 16:24
Pope's Cole Heron, William Brown and KC Heron
Pope has 2 runners in the Girls lead pack
Pope's girls won the Varsity team title by having more firepower upfront in their top 5 taking a 4 point win over a game Pace Academy squad. The Greyhounds ate up positions 4-6 led by frosh Charlotte Dunn (20:17), veteran Sophie Boice (20:22) and Lorel Golden (20:28) Pace established themselves as a 3A force to be reckoned with, 3 girls in the top 11 including Laura Arenth 8th at 20:47, Sr. Payton Payne 9th (20:24) and Jordan White 11th (21:08) Makenna Kulzer of North Gwinnett led the Bulldogs to a 4th place team finish by winning the 1st invitational in her HS career clocking a 20:02. Sr. Sydney Runyan of Etowah was individual runnerup at 20:07 and Makenna Calbert placed 7th sparking Etowah to a 3rd place team effort. Madison Watts of Mountain View placed 3rd overall clocking a 20:13.
Makenna Kulzer of North Gwinnett won the Varsity Girls race in 20:02
Ian Vinson of Great Strides Club is seen here winning the individual race going 11:23
Fielding a group all MS All-Stars, Great Strides dominated the team race taking 7 of the top 8 spots with a perfect score of 15. Ian Vinson led the way winning the Overall title in 11:23, followed by Adam Zorko-11:40, Liam Nicholason- 11:45, Hayden Nicholasen-11:47 and Reid Latimer also 11:47.
Lauren Fath of Creekland won the MS Girls race clocking a 12:37
Lauren Fath of Creekand MS took the Individual win in a great time of 12:37.49. She's shown great improvement since 2018 MS XC State where she placed 28th (14:09) It was tight race for the MS Girls team title with Dean Rusk taking the win by 12 points over Club squad Great Strides. Leading the way for them were Lilly Savage in 4th and Addison Higgins at 8th. Morgan Grace Sheffield was Overall runnerup for Great Strides with Paige Harden 9th.
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