Baconton Charter's Bryton Wenzel strides to the Boys Individual title Image by Pinion Photography
A Public Boys
Class A Public Boys provided an interesting race with Georgia Military Prep emerging victorious as projected by over 2 minutes (team average) It was a well deserved State title for a school where discipline can payoff in cross country running. The Cadets placed all 5 scorers in the top 13 spots led by Will Archer's 18:15. Also earning All-State honors for Georgia Military Prep were Tom Drew and Matt Wilson. Bryton Wenzel of Baconton Charter displayed his talent earlier at Westover finishing 14th and he easily won the Boys A Public individual championship clocking a 17:36 leading the Blazers to a 3rd place Podium finish with 55 points. As predicted, a team would come out of nowhere (no stats for the Fall season) and have a breakout race and Jenkins County fit the bill racing to 2nd place in the team standings edging Baconton by 2 points. Flying around the course for the War Eagles was Mark Brannen who seized 2nd place overall in 18:06 Claxton came out of the woods to place 4th as a team with 137 points. Below are the A Public All-State Runners
1 Wenzel, Bryton Baconton 17:34.66
2 Brannen, Mark Jenkins Co. 18:06.45
3 Archer, Will Georgia Mili 18:15.22
4 Bailey, Hayden Lincoln County 18:33.23
5 Bledsoe, Robert Irwin County 18:34.45
6 Drew, Tom Georgia Mili 18:47.23
7 Smith, Bradley Towns County 18:48.34
8 Dykes, Sebastian Baconton 18:49.45
9 Wilson, Matt Georgia Mili 18:51.23
10 Bostick, Dylan Baconton 18:53.45
Ansley Vardeman of Towns County crosses the chip mat 1st for the Girls Individual title. Image by Pinion Photography
A Public Girls
After years of competing in one of the toughest regions in A, Towns County's Girls got their just rewards Saturday and thrashing the competition enroute to their 1st school State title in Cross Country. The Indians cut their average team time by 2 minutes after winning the Area 2 Championship on the tough Athens Academy course enroute to the title placing 4 runners in the top 6 including Individual champ Ansley Vardeman who clocked a 21:34 Also making the All-State team for Towns were Caitlin Sheffield, Sierra Nichols and Taylor Vardeman.Gordon Lee took a hard fought 2nd place Podium spot with 91 points paced by the 7th place finish of Abbey Bohannon. Claxton's Girls took more hardware back to Evans County taking the 3rd spot on the Podium led by Sally Aguilar's 9th place finish. Georgia Military Prep wasn't done and placed 4th overall behind individual runnerup Elizabeth Savage in 22:28. Below are your Class A Public All-State Team:
1 Vardeman, Ansley Towns County 21:34.37
2 Savage, Elizabeth Georgia Mili 22:28.81
3 Sheffield, Caitlin Towns County 22:40.54
4 Nichols, Sierra Towns County 22:47.21
5 Lee, Crystal Trion High School 23:11.46
6 Vardeman, Taylor Towns County 23:17.65
7 Bohannon, Abbey Gordon Lee 23:40.57
8 Hallender, Nikki Montgomery Co. 23:59.98
9 Aguilar, Sally Claxton High School 24:13.52
10 Rogers, Britian Hawkinsville 24:20.60