The Aubrae Gunderson Invite was the other big race this weekend held at the Georgia International Horse Park in Conyers. Below is a recap of the meet in pics as MileSplit GA was onsite shooting photos by Marc Logan's Flash Forward Photography.
Athanasius Tesfaye of Loganville (above) was running in his own private Idaho Saturday as the senior put the hammer down disapearing from the chase pack recording a time of 16:13 on what is not a patsy course by any means. The Red Devils also took the team win in the Small School race having 2 other harriers in the the top 10 including William Greene 12th in 17:07 and Austin Sekowski 9th at 17:32
Oconee County had a strong showing placing 2nd as a team only 4 points back led by William Stansell (2510) who was overall runnerup in 16:55 and Scott Seuser took 6th place at 17:22 Mike Rosenbluth from Druid Hills was 3rd overall going 16:57 and Thaddee Barge of Clarkston (c) finished 4th at 17:06
Grady easily won the Boys Large School race having 5 runners in the top 12 spots. This showing could move them up in the Week 6 rankings. Allatoona was 2nd in the team standings followed by Greenbrier.
Brams Mansbach of Grady (2034) won his first invitational this Fall leading the Knights' efforts posting a time of 16:59 followed by team mates Kavi Jakes at 17:25 and Everett Schroeder going 17:29 Kyler Prioleau of host Heritage HS placed 4th overall in 17:30 with Ethan Kurilko from Lakeside Evans 5th at 17:33
Sophomore Lena Cook of Clarke Central took the Large School girls Overall win crossing the finish line at 20:21 helping the Gladiators to a 4th place team finish.
Allatoona won the Large School team title led by frosh Marianna Bechtold's runnerup finish of 20:33. The Bucs' had 4 girls in the top 7 positions leaving no doubts.
Lucy Yeomans of Clarke Central couldn't quite catch up with another Allatoona frosh Abby Hohl (r) who took 3rd place in 20:35.94 besting Yeomans by .08 ! Ashley Annis of Archer rounded out the top 5 going 20:44 helping the Tigers to 3rd place as a team. Lakeside Evans ran well as a squad taking 2nd on the awards stand.
2 of the best young runners all classes dueled for nearly the entrire Small School race as Cara Joyce of AIS and Oconee County frosh Emma Champer put on a show. Joyce ended up taking the win clocking a 19:05 with Champer having to settle for 2nd place at 19:12
OC's top 5 consumed the 2 thru 6 spots amassing a grand total of 20 points. Pictured above is junior Phoebe Brodrick who was 3rd overall in 16:55. The Warriors are currently ranked 3rd in 4A behind powerhouses Marist and St. Pius X and 6th All-Classes. Loganville and Druid Hills were a distant 2nd/3rd respectively.
Freddy Baehre (2148) an 8th grader from General Ray Davis MS put a hurtin' on the HS jv's as he pulled away for the Overall win in a nice time of 17:59
Iziq Thomas (another 8th grader) from Lakeside Evans had a strong 2nd place showing of 18:22
Allatoona nearly perfect scored the JV girls race having 16 points. They were led by Overall winner junior Dani Shamoun who turned in the winning time of 23:14. Pictured are a pair of freshman, Maggie Miller (2nd) and Anna McGee (3rd)
Montana Archer of Social Circle MS has won 3 races this season all at different distances. This time it was on the 3000m layout at Aubrae Gunderson dominating from the gun going 10:59
Christian Fowler from Pike County MS was overall runnerup posting an 11:41 leading Pike to the team title
Azalea Snell of GISA school Loganville Christian won her 4th race of the Fall Saturday clocking a 12:25 for the Lions.
Summerour MS out of Norcross had great depth winning the MS Girls team crown putting 5 gals in the top 12 places