Milton High School Teams Sweep team titles & win two individual races in early season test
The cross country teams at Milton High School had an easy time of it this past weekend as the Eagles swept all six team races and saw two individual winners over a field of close to 45 schools competing at the Bob Blastow/Early Bird Invitational in Whitesburg, GA.
Varsity Boys
The day started off with a dominant team win for Milton (1st-37 pts) over 23 scoring schools. The Eagles had an easy time of it dispatching Forsyth Central (2nd-88 pts) & South Forsyth (3rd-139 pts) by placing their 5 scoring runners in front of every team’s 2nd finisher. As he has done all season, senior Jack Bluth (1st-15:34) led the team to victory. Bluth’s time is the fastest time ever run at Milton (since 2005). Bluth bided his time and with less than a half-mile to go pulled ahead of Sam Bowie of LaGrange (2nd-15:44) to record the overall win. Behind Bluth, the Eagles placed all 5 scorers in the top-13, many with personal best efforts, to secure the team victory. Sophomore Sam Bowers (4th-16:06) narrowly missed his personal best while senior captain Matt McGorrey dropped 3 seconds on his best (7th-16:16) for the 7th fastest performance at Milton! Junior Michael McCarthy’s run (12th-16:27) moved him into the top-10 all-time (10th) and was closely followed by senior Jacques Du Plessis (13th-16:30).
Varsity Girls
In a race with 3 of the top-10 ranked teams in the state All-Class, the Lady Eagles rose to the occasion and placed 7 finishers ahead of every team’s 5th finisher to record a big win (1st-51 pts) besting 19 schools. Defending 6A state runner’s up, South Forsyth (2nd-56 pts) and much-improved Pope (3rd-59 pts) made it a close affair for Milton. The duo of senior captain Riley Burr (3rd-19:16) & junior Marie Repasy (4th-19:20) led the Lady Eagles with a very well-planned race effort of moving through the field and catching many faltering top-10 runners by 2.5 miles. Burr & Repasy’s last surge took them past South Forsyth’s state podium finisher to put the Lady Eagles in a position to pull-off the upset. With her strong race as well, senior captain Victoria Wagner (12th-20:01) helped bring along freshman Taylor Cushman (15th-20:07) to beat out South Forsyth’s 4th finisher. The final scorer for Milton was sophomore Emily Bowers (19th-20:27) but it was the 6th & 7th finishers for the Lady Eagles that made the difference as they added points onto the other schools totals to propel Milton to the team title. Fellow seniors Charlotte Matt (22nd-20:43) & Emily Velez (25th-20:47) beat out South’s 5th finisher and that made the difference in the final tally.
JV Boys
Milton (1st-33 pts) had a very easy go of it by placing all seven of their runners in the top-13 to beat out 23 scoring squads. South Forsyth (2nd-59 pts) & Oconee County (3rd-65 pts) were closest to the Eagles. Sophomore Cam Harman (2nd-17:35) led a few times and was up front most of the race but was caught late to get the runner-up spot. What followed was a sea of red as Milton put 5 finishers in the top-10. Junior Joey Brovont (6th-18:07), sophomores Hayden Fravel (7th-18:09), Nick Hopcroft (8th-18:12) & Dru Milton (10th-18:16) closed out the scorers. Junior Andy Butzow (12th-18:26) & sophomore Jack Rush (13th-18:27) also picked-up individual awards. There were 203 finishers.
JV Girls
After their impressive win last week at Allatoona, the Lady Eagles did not let up and by putting 6 finishers in the top-10, Milton (1st-15 pts) easily won the team title over 17 scoring schools. Pope (2nd-73 pts) & North Paulding (3rd-75 pts) trailed. After missing the Lady Eagles first meet, junior Brooke Aumer was on a mission and finished a strong runner-up (2nd-21:34) to lead the Milton cavalcade. A strong stretch run brought freshman Faith Wagner (4th-21:41) in front of a group of 3 more Lady Eagles. Senior Morgan Curtis (5th-21:56), freshman Claire Buchanan (6th-22:00) & sophomore Sophie Matt (7th-22:07) followed. Fellow juniors Alyssa Milton (10th-23:05) & Madison Sutton (19th-23:34) concluded the Milton effort. 143 finishers were recorded.
Open Race
The second individual title came from sophomore Lincoln Tady (1st-18:42) as he won the largest race of the day (320 finishers). He led a strong group of Milton runners that finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 8th to lead the Eagles (1st-18 pts) over 17 scoring squads. Freshman Maddie Erby (2nd-22:29) put the Lady Eagles squarely upfront to stay with teammates finishing 3rd, 4th, 5th & 8th to lead Milton (1st-22 pts) again over 17 scoring schools. There were 189 recorded finishers in the girls race.
The Eagle cross country teams do not race again until September 12th with the team splitting its efforts at the Knights Crossing Invitational in Salem, VA and the Mizuno Covered Bridge Meet at Gerrard Landing Park in Roswell, GA.
