1A Private
Private School Boys
In contrast to 1A Public, the Private school competition has been ferocious, with many teams not qualifying for State who would have dominated the Public school races. In fact, 1A is much stronger than 2A excluding Westminster and would even give 3A a good run for their money with the exception of the St.Pius, North Hall and Woodward Boys. Athens Academy's boys beat a very strong North Oconee squad at the Clarke-Oconee Championships 2 weeks ago and emerge as the favorites to bring home their 1st team title in the history of the school. The Spartans best State finishes go back to Team runnerups in 2002 and 2004. I suspect the Macon venue will be a treat for Athens Academy after many tough outings on their home course. The trio of Henry Dwyer, Kurt Crymes and Adam Hearn have led their solid performances this season with Dwyer a strong contender for the Individual title with a pr of 16:03 at the Children's Home course. Darlington and Galloway are very closely matched and either could push Athens Academy and perhaps make this a very interesting race. The 4th and final Podium spot is wide open with Athens Christian, Mount Pisgah, Lakeviw Academy and Whitefield having a slight edge over the remaining field.
FRIEDMAN DWYER
Reilly Friedman of Galloway has a great opportunity to win an individual State title and ran very well at the Area Meet hosted by Our Lady of Mercy and actually beat Henry Dwyer head to head at Aubre Gunderson by :17 though Dwyer got the best of Friedman a week earlier at the FPD-Warner Robins Run Wild Meet by a margin of :07 so its whoever wants it the most between these studs. With all the course disparity many of the top athletes have pr's on, the chase pack may include John Raville of OLM who placed 2nd at the Area 3 Meet as well as Pace's Josh Rogers, Warner Ray of Holy Innocents and Tommy Hamlin of ELCA. Out of Area 2 Athens Academy's Kurt Crymes and Adam Hearn, Morgan McNeill of George Walton and Morgan Bishoff of ACS. Joey Carr of Mount Paran Christian easily won the Area 4 meet at Darlington in 16:36 and Michael McCormack of Aquinas was all by himself the entire race winning the Area 1 title in 17:17 on the Children's Home course.
Private School Girls
The complexion of this Class Individually has changed completely upon the announcement that Foot Locker National Finalist and All-American (3rd) Grace Tinkey would not be competing in GHSA competition this Fall. But, it will not affect the quest for the team title very much. Coach Bill Thorne of Landmark Christian has once again put together a small group of girls that consistently have been a notch above everyone else in 1A Private this Fall. Landmark Christian has a season best team average of 19:45 achieved largely at Asics, but no other A school has pushed them in any race. Darlington has ran well this season easily winning the Small School Division at the 9th Annual Darlington XC Festival and in the Area 4 championship just held off a game Mount Pisgah squad by 3 points ending the regular season ranked #2. Providence Christian came on like gangbusters seizing the Area 2 title over higher ranked Athens Christian who may have something to prove after that race. Athens Academy has steadily improved and was only 4 points behind ACS last week and very evenly matched position by position. FPD won Area 1 handily on their home course and could use that to their advantage as well. If Landmark runs well, its going to be a battle for the 2-4 team Cups!
Can anyone beat FOREMAN?
2 of the reasons Landmark is such a big favorite is fantastic frosh Kathryn Foreman and senior Lindy Long who was the A Individual Champion back in 2009 and finished 2nd to Tinkey in 2010 with an 18:39 run. Her experience will be a factor for the Eagles. Foreman has been a little machine, often resembling Grace and has been untouchable in A competition with a season best at Bob Blastow in 18:09 Others contending for All-State honors and in a nice chase pack could be Caroline Henry of Galloway, Tayler Tuttle of Providence Christian, Stephanie Murphy of Hebron Christian, Breck Jones of North Cobb Christian, Kinslee Clevenger of Darlington and Shannon Fair of Aquinas who won the Area 1 meet on the State Course in 19:54 and a host of others.
1A Public
1A Public has been a mystery this season as many of the teams that fielded a squad did not compete in Invitationals or Area Championships that reported results. MileSplit has reached out to these outlying schools with little success for several years now with the State meets often being the 1 event of the season these programs and athletes are recognized.
Public School Boys
Georgia Military Prep has emerged as the favorite to win the Boys title after their impressive win in the Area 4 meet with a 20:22 team average on the challenging Athens Academy layout winning by almost 2 minutes over previously #2 Gordon Lee. Baconton Charter may give them a run for the title with their best team race coming at Westover with a 18:36 team average. Others looking to make the Podium (well, the Pavillion stand) are Commerce who barely nicked Gordon Lee at the Area 4 meet, Schely County and from the swamp tiny Echols County. The top runner this season on the Boys Public side is Bryton Wenzel from Baconton Charter after his 14th place finish at Westover a few weeks ago in 16:24. Other contenders for All-State Honors will be Hayden Bailey of Lincoln County, Will Archer and Tom Drew of Georgia Military Prep, Dylan Smith of Gordon Lee, Dylan Baker also of Baconton Charter, Jose Rodriguez of Commerce and most likely a couple of athletes with no Profiles.
Public School Girls
Towns County seems to be a clear cut favorite to win the Public School Girls title after their win at Area 4 on the tough Athens Academy course with a team average of 25:22 beating Gordon Lee by over 2:00 team average wise. Towns has qualified a few times in the past for the State meet and now is there time to shine perhaps after racing against good competition like ACS and Athens Academy for many years. They could run well enough on the easier Macon course to lower their team average time by a minute perhaps. Other teams contending for Cups should be Gordon Lee, Georgia Military Prep, Trion and perhaps another mystery school with no results reported this Fall. The race for the Individual title could be close, but Towns County's Ansley Vardeman may be the favorite after her win at Area 4 in 23:10 Teamate Caitlin Sheffield was a minute behind her and Crystal Lee of Trion had a pr of 22:49 earlier in the season at Darlington