The Bleckley County pack was just too much for anybody else to handle at state
The 2024 GHSA State championships are unfortunately over. But since we just can't get enough of amazing XC races, let's take the week to recap what happened at the meet. Also, don't forget to check out the state meet hub for full coverage of the meet including results, photos, and videos. Or go back to the preview articles to see just how accurate (or inaccurate) the predictions were:
State Meet Hub
Or you can go check out some of our other coverage like the most Improved Athletes from State or vote on the best performance from the state meet:
Ok. On to the recaps. 1A finishes up our recaps with division 1 and division 2.
1A Division 1 Boys
Well I definitely thought this team race would be closer. It turns out that Bleckley County just knows how to show up and run well at Carrollton. It as close enough early on, but it didn't take long to realize that Bleckley was in control. Their 2-3-4 just looked so strong during that second loop and kind of slammed the door on anybody's chances of competing with them. Armuchee put up as much of a fight as they could, but it just wasn't enough to knock off a powerhouse like Bleckley. Instead Armuchee ran well and was able to settle for state runner up. In 3rd place Bremen showed that their season was a good predictor of their state success. But the final trophy went to Vidalia who had the best race of their season.
Individually Caleb Darsey took all of the drama out of this thing. He ran a smart first loop and then just looked unbeatable during that second loop. It was a strong repeat performance from the defending champion. The runner up definitely caught me off guard though as Rush Hatcher was in the mix the whole way and just pulled away for 2nd place. Ben Owens continued to run well but just wasn't quite able to hang with Hatcher and would have to settle for 3rd this year. Juan Luna also snuck in there and upset some of my picks by placing 4th overall while Sam Lindley was able to hang on for 5th place to make the team battle tight up front.
1A Division 1 Girls
In the race that closed out day one at Carrollton, it went about as you expected it to go up front. Bleckley County girls just looked invincible in this one. The only way you can hope to beat a team like that is if they do something stupid during the race, and that's just not the case. This team is well coached and knows how to run their best race at Carrollton. They looked great yet again and went home with another state title. But it was the race for 2nd place that stole the show. Only 17 points separated the next 3 teams and it could have finished in any order, it just came down to a few seconds here and there. In the end Fannin County got the runner up finish behind a strong finish from their 1-2 that gave them a big early lead. their 5th was able to hold on just enough to go home with the 2nd place trophy. Jeff Davis and Bremen were even closer in 2nd and 3rd and it could have gone either way here as they averaged just over 1 second apart from each other. It was a super tight finish.
Individually this one ended up being pretty interesting, and we were very close to having a surprise upset win here. Ella Gibbs got out hard as she always does and opened up a gap from the very beginning. But her teammate Lily Farrell was also running strong. In fact, they were two of only 5 girls who would end up breaking 19:00 all weekend. It was a slow course this year so to see two girls on one team break 19 is pretty impressive. I think most people thought Gibbs was a shoe in for the win from 2 minutes into the race, but Farrell kept hanging around, and probably ran a little smarter. She never let the gap get too big, and when it came time to leave it all out there on the course, Farrell made her move, closing hard on Gibbs in the final 400m. As she rounded the top of the hill it was obvious she was running faster and had enough space to catch Gibbs. But the competitor in Gibbs took over as she heard the crowd and she threw in one last burst in the final 50m to barely hold off her teammate for the win. You always wonder how teammates are going to approach racing each other, especially in a situation like this. They're most likely training partners, so to see them fight until the very end was alot of fun. Kudos to both ladies on a fantastic race. Lindsey Holloway ran yet another strong race, mostly in a vacuum, that proves she's still one of the better runners in the state. It's just hard to compete with two of the best runners all class. Ansley Moore also ran where you expected her to run while Georgia Meredith scored a minor upset to take 5th place.
1A Division 2 Boys
What a great team race! I got the top four teams correct, but definitely blew the order here. Georgia Military showed up and proved that their program's long term experience was not to be messed with in Carrollton. For years, decades really, they've run well at the state meet in this classification. And at state they brought their A game and upset the two teams I thought would be battling for the win. Their top 3 runners just took over this thing and went 1-2-6 to establish an insurmountable lead where their 4-5 just had to do enough to hang one. It was an excellent showing a very deserving of the win. Atlanta Classical did what they could as their top runner had a good showing and they had a tighter 2-5 pack to that finished in front of GMC's 4th man. But it was just too much of a lead to make up for in the end, and Classical had to settle for runner up this year. Furlow Charter also showed their mettle as they not only beat one of my 3 favorite teams, but they also finished closer to the win than I predicted them to. Atkinson County had a tough day, but they at least still get to go home with a trophy which is at least a consolation prize.
Individually, not only did Julian Council do his thing by taking home the win in very convincing fashion, he must have inspired his teammate to run well too as Grady Meier was able to just barely beat out Jack Kalmanowicz for state runner up. Jack had a strong showing by taking 3rd place for the second year in a row. Ian Burke also had a solid Carrollton debut in 4th place while Connor Williams held on for 5th place.
1A Division 2 Girls
In this race Atlanta Classical was able to take care of business in rather impressive form. They just looked great form top to bottom and proved that nobody else can run with them as a team. They put 3 girls in the top 10 and all 5 in the top 20, it was just too good of a performance for anybody to be able to hang with. Furlow Charter and Lake Oconee were able to take 2nd and 3rd like I predicted, but Wilcox County scored the upset to go home with the final trophy.
Individually I've run out of superlatives for Averi Lowen. But I'm not exaggerating when I say that her performance on Saturday might have been the best in state meet history. As I've mentioned, there have been many different versions of Carrollton over the years. And at this point it's best to basically just group them into two different categories - fast and slow. Now we all know that there's no such thing as a fast version of Carrollton. It's a brutal course with so many hills and it's always been that way. The cross country purists, like me, love it. Cross country should require strength, not speed, and Carrollton provides that for us at the most important meet. I love this course so much. But there's about 10-15 years where it's run a little faster than other years for a variety of reasons, but mostly just minor alterations to the course itself. Most of us generally accept the fast versions as about 20-25 seconds faster than the slow versions. Last year we got a fast version for the first time since 2011. But then this year it was clearly back to a slow version, and Lowen still ran super fast. There have only been 6 girls who have ever broken 18:00 on this course, and none of them did it on a slow version of this course. So while this wasn't quite the course record, it's only 7 seconds off of the record on what is almost certainly a slower version. So that's why I think she might have just run the best state meet in Georgia history. Of course time will tell if that turns into something big at the next level, we've got Nike and Footlocker regionals both coming up so we will see how she does there. But something tells me she's got what it takes to do something special.
And I don't want to take away from the other performances either. Flora Tyler ran well taking 2nd place, also basically all alone. Kenzie Dykes proved my predictions wrong by taking 3rd while Brooke Crickard and Dileta Hunlen proved me right by taking 4th and 5th.
The Bleckley County pack was just too much for anybody else to handle at state
The 2024 GHSA State championships are unfortunately over. But since we just can't get enough of amazing XC races, let's take the week to recap what happened at the meet. Also, don't forget to check out the state meet hub for full coverage of the meet including results, photos, and videos. Or go back to the preview articles to see just how accurate (or inaccurate) the predictions were:
State Meet Hub
Or you can go check out some of our other coverage like the most Improved Athletes from State or vote on the best performance from the state meet: