Jackie Drouin had a wake up call at the Carrollton Invitational as she found herself 10 seconds behind Abby Self of Grayson at the end of the race. Only a week before the Gwinnett Co. Championships, the talented sophomore from Grayson had delivered a powerful message. Ms. Drouin obviously took heed of that message as she ran a smart race to hold off Self for a 5 second win at Gainseville on Saturdya. More importantly, she led the way for an impressive 29 point victory for her team over their county rivals Grayson and Peachtree Ridge. With 3 of the top 4 finishers and four of the top 9. Collins Hill cruised to victory. Erin Guglielmo and Alexis Nichols went 19:31 and 19:42 respectively to back up Drouin\'s 19:09 winning time. Abby Self, the runner up in 19:14, led the way for Grayson which also benefitted from the 7th place finish of freshman Mandy Tennyson in 20:08. Tennyson wasn\'t the only freshman to experience success as Allyson McGinty, a freshman from Collins Hill, also cracked the top 10 with her 9th place finish. Peachtree Ridge placed two in the top 10 with Amy French and Whitney Hall posting 20:00 finishes to go 5th and 6th overall. Parkview also had a top 10 finisher as Sara Raiser went 20:09 for 8th place as she led her team to a 4th place finish, just ahead of North Gwinnett.
On the boys side, Michael Winston looked strong in leading the Panthers to a 20 point win over a surprising Collins Hill crowd. Most expected the showdown to be between Brookwood and Parkview but Collins Hill was able to put 3 in the top 9 led by Bryan Wilson\'s 3rd place 16:31. Amazingly enough, Collins Hill accomplished this without the benefit of their number one runner, Nathan Frazier, who is recovering from plantar fascitis. Brookwood was able to hold onto fourth place, just ahead of Mill Creek thanks to the efforts of Billy Mateker who was 2nd overall in 16:29. But the day belonged to Parkview as the boys in orange put 3 in the top 5 to ensure the win. Winston\'s 16:17 was backed up by Marcelis Lynch in 16:33 and Patrick Oilinger in 16:37. Martin Vaughan was Mill Creek\'s top finisher, also cracking the top 10 in 17:01. The race provided the 1st glimpse at what promises to be an interesting region meet in 7-AAAAA as five teams are within mere seconds of each other as Collins Hill, Mill Creek, North Gwinnett, Dacula and Duluth will battle it out in a little over a month for a chance to compete at state. Duluth, finished a mere 16 points behind Dacula in a preview of what promises to be an exciting region race.
GIRLS
1. Collins Hill 33
2. Grayson 62
3. Peachtree Ridge 67
4. Parkview 112
5. N. Gwinnett 165
6. Brookwood 165
7. Wesleyan 227
8. Norcross 241
9. Mill Creek 262
10. C Gwinnett 278
11. Dacula 298
12. Providence 327
13. S Gwinnett 329
14. Duluth 364
15. Shiloh 406
16. Berkmar 449
Boys
1. Parkview 42
2. Collins Hill 62
3. Brookwood 69
4. Mill Creek 106
5. N Gwinnett 163
6. Dacula 215
7. Duluth 231
8. Shiloh 249
9. C Gwinnett 265
10. Wesleyan 268
11. Grayson 285
12. Peachtree Ridge
13. Norcross 322
14. GAC 324
15. Berkmar 343
16. S Gwinnett 427
17. Providence 496