JV Girls lead the way with a perfect score as program wins 6th-straight title
9/20/15 – By Andy Carr
On their home course, the Eagles of Milton won their 6th-straight Best Overall Program Award in cross country as Milton won 5 out of 6 team races and had race winners in 4 out of 6 individual races.
Varsity Boys
The defending champion Eagles of Milton (1st-28 pts) were an easy winner dispatching 12 scoring schools. The Titans of Blessed Trinity (2nd-51 pts) were a strong runner-up with Cambridge (3rd-116 pts) and Roswell (4th-126 pts) following. Senior & defending champion Jack Bluth (1st-17:08) took down the course record by 22 seconds going wire-to-wire for the easy win. Milton sophomore Sam Bowers (2nd-17:32) passed Cambridge senior Bjorn Leicher during the 2nd mile to earn the runner-up spot & become the 3rd-fastest performer ever on the Milton course. The Eagles depth of putting all 7 of their runners in the top-14 was too much for any school to counter. Next for Milton was senior captain Matt McGorrey (6th-18:01) followed by fellow senior John Fravel (9th-18:19) & sophomore Michael Malkowski (10th-18:21).
Varsity Girls
The Lady Eagles (ranked 4th All-Class & 3rd in 6A) took on their toughest field to date and came away with their second-straight runner-up finish (2nd-72 pts). Defending champions Northview (1st-57 pts) ranked 7th All-Class, were able to fend-off Milton & Lovett (3rd-84 pts), who was ranked 3rd All-Class! Landmark Christian (5th-139 pts), ranked 1st in 1A put up a tough fight upfront but wre not able to match the power of the larger schools. Senior captain Riley Burr (6th-20:50) ran the 3rd-fastest Milton time ever on the course to lead the Lady Eagles. Burr ran in the top-5 the entire race keeping tabs with Northview’s & Lovett’s top-runners in route to close to a minute personal best on the course. Freshman Taylor Cushman (9th-21:15) ran close to a 2-minute course best to keep the title hopes alive. Senior captain Victoria Wagner (17th-22:10) & junior Marie Repasy (18th-22:11) scored crucial points and sophomore Emily Bowers (22nd-22:26) brought Milton five finishers ahead of any other schools scorers!
JV Boys
A tough fight with the Titans of Blessed Trinity (2nd-36 pts) the Eagles of Milton (1st-32 pts) took the top-3 spots individually and their final two scorers were right behind the final scorer from Blessed Trinity to defend their title! For the fourth year in a row, a Milton runner won the race with junior Valera Stettner (1st-18:34) pulling away from junior Michael McCarthy (3rd-18:48) in the last 400 meters. Sophomore Ryan Beitzell (2nd-18:47) also caught McCarthy near the finish to give the Eagles a one, two, three finish. After the Titans five scroring runners, Milton countered with senior Jake Galvilanez (12th-19:38) & junior Andy Butzow (14th-19:43) to secure the very close victory!
JV Girls
After a very conservative start that saw no Lady Eagles in the top-25 in the first mile, Milton (1st-15 pts) ran-away from 10 scoring schools to record the 3rd perfect score of 15 points ever in Milton cross country history! The Lady Lions of Lovett (2nd-80 pts) trailed. In a thrilling race for the individual title, sophomore Annie Gallagher (1st-23:06) outsprinted junior Brooke Aumer (2nd-23:08). Continuing to impress many, freshman Faith Wagner (3rd-23:28) was next 7 was followed by sophomore Addy Prescott (4th-23:42). Senior Morgan Curtis (5th-23:44) continues to have an amazing season with her part of the perfect score and school history! 138 runners finished.
Open Boys
For the first time at the Fulton County schools meet, an Open division was added to accommodate the influx of private schools and Milton (1st-23 pts) showed its depth again. By placing 8 runners in the top-12, the Eagles dispatched 9 schools on their way to the meet win. Blessed Trinity (2nd-54 pts) followed. Juniors Chase Callaway (2nd-20:11), Jacob Jordan (3rd-20:28) & Brice Baird (4th-20:31) led the Eagles as 215 runners completed the race.
Open Girls
The meet started off with the Lady Eagles of Milton (1st-21 pts) dominating 10 schools for an easy team victory. Roswell (2nd-86 pts) was a distant runner-up. Milton placed 8 finishers in the top-10 overall spots to secure the title. Freshman Payton Stanley (1st-24:12) was coming off a strong performance at Covered Bridge and won the race by close to 50 seconds! Fellow freshman Haley Roberts (3rd-25:11) & Emma Pettit (4th-25:11) led the Lady eagles upfront in a race that saw 193 finishers.
Best Overall Program Award
Unique to this meet is this team award given to the best school program based on their team finishes in all 6-races contested at the county meet. The Eagles of Milton (1st-18 pts) were a clear winner after winning 5 of the 6 races contested. Both Blessed Trinity & Northview had 6 points to finish in a tie for 2nd. This is the Eagles 6th-straight title and 9th in the last 12 years!
The Milton cross country teams next competes in the Inaugural running the Atlanta Track Club Wingfoot Cross Country Meet at Sam Smith Park in Cartersville, GA on Saturday, September 26th. A Community race is being run first with the school that has the most participants wining a special VIP area for the meet for their school to be held later that day! The Wingfoot Cup will be presented to the team that has the lowest aggregate score from all 4 team (Varsity girls & boys, junior varsity girls & boys) races being contested.
