NEGA Championships Return After A Four Year Hiatus

Bruce Taylor


Its been a while since so many teams and runners visited the Athens Christian campus, not since August 2015, but the NEGA Championship is finally back and had a good turnout with 31 total schools competing. Coach Tim Cummings came back to ACS this summer and with help from his daughter Coach, Caylee Cummings has gotten the meet back on its feet again.

Coach Cummings commented, "I think the overwhelming sentiment was: Man - it's just great to be running again! The coaches in Northeast Georgia are not only many of the most accomplished in the state,  but are also sincerely decent and honorable people who care about their kids and are great with them, which I got reminded of again today. Yeah, the course was a little slow - (we have had about 2 feet of rain in the last 72 hours) and one of the bus drivers got stuck for a little while, but the weather was perfect and the kids did really well for the third week of August."


Andrew Jones had a strong outing winning the boys championship race in 16:07

North Hall's program came away with four overall titles, sweeping the Championship and middle school races. North Hall head coach Sam Borg commented, "It's August so Andrew ran a little labored, we have been working very hard. His fitness is at a great level right now. Luke Gaddis (Chestatee) ran an excellent race for 2nd. Caylee's fitness is in a great spot right now and she is racing under control like a mature runner should. The race was fun to watch upfront with a very talented Heinz running a great race as well."

Pace Academy put class 2A on notice as their boys and girls won the championship team titles. The boys had 3 runners finish in the top 10, including Edward Blaha 3rd (16:51), Robert Houser 7th (17:10), George Blaha 10th (17:13) beating 7A Brookwood by 27 points.


Edward Blaha of Pace placed 3rd overall.


Luke Gaddis of Chestatee pushes hard to runnerup in the championship race at 16:15


Caylee Wagner was the girls' championship winner at 19:42.


Susannah Heinz of Augusta HS did well against stronger northeast Georgia competition and the hills placing 2nd overall in championship girls.


Pace's Caroline Hood and Hanna Vincent

Pace's girls' squad was not to be outdone by the boys as the Lady Knights held off a tough 7A squad in Mill Creek taking the team win by 2 points. Pace slid three runners into the top 6 spots led by Laura Arenth's 3rd place finish of 20:55, and the duo of Hanna Vincent taking 5th in 21:27 and Caroline Hood 6th at 21:28. 


Leo Lopez of Greene County took a year off from XC in 2019, and won his first race since being the 2A state champion in 2018 clocking a 17:49.


Hunter Martin of Greenbrier placed 2nd in the varsity race posting a 18:21.


Katie Wadsworth from Oglethorpe County was the varsity girls champ in 21:53.


Lizzie Wadsworth of Oglethorpe wasn't far behind taking 2nd overall in 21:57. 


Bryant Young of North Hall MS had a great race taking the middle school title in 11:31.


Clodaugh O'Bryant made it four individual titles for North Hall's program winning the MS race in a time of 12:25. Team-mate Jessie Dubnik placed 2nd in 12:35.