Season concludes with 7th and 8th place finishes
11/4/22 | Carrollton, GA | by Andy Carr
The Milton cross-country teams concluded their 2022 campaign with the GHSA State Championship meet at the challenging Carrollton Elementary School course and came away with two top-10 team finishes!
BOYS
The 9th ranked Eagles of Milton (7th-185 pts) surprised many with one of their best team races of the season to finish 10 positions higher than in 2021 to grab a top-10 state meet finish. 5th ranked Marietta (1st-88 pts) dominated followed by #1 ranked Carrollton (2nd-122 pts) racing on their home course. Milton’s region placed 3 teams in the top-7 and all 4 in the top-14. 32 schools scored in the race of 223 finishers.
Senior captain Cory Chambers (4th-16:47) capped off a stellar season with his podium state finish. Never not in the lead pack, Chambers flirted with 3rd place for most of the race before hitting the finish line. Thanks to the smart running of the boy’s team, the Eagles were able to turn back teams ranked ahead of them coming into the race. Solid performances from sophomore Justin Sevel (30th-17:45), juniors Zach Patel (36th-17:50) and Danny Murray (50th-18:00) and seniors Keller Wilson (69th-18:22), Pearson Gillam (74th-18:27) and Oliver Stone (87th-18:38) pushed Milton ahead of their predicted team finish all the while Stone raced with only one shoe!
GIRLS
Milton (8th-232 pts) defeated 24 schools in besting their predicted finish while also finishing in the top-10 overall. Marietta (1st-33 pts) completed the dominating sweep of the titles in 7A with their region rival Harrison (2nd-101 pts) a distant runner up. All 4 of the region-6-7A teams placed in the top-10 team standings! The 9th ranked Lady Eagles were again led by senior captain Farrah Frith (8th-19:56) who returned to the state podium for the 2nd year in a row and came back from a foot injury that sidelined her for 2/3rds of the season. Frith was a high as 4th place in the middle of the race and was threatened repeatedly before pulling away comfortably to finish in the top-10 where she was not predicted to finish. Big races came from senior Sydney Anderson (31st-21:05) and junior Ella Grace Malcom (34th-21:11) to push Milton ahead of many programs that were slated to beat the Lady Eagles. Tough efforts by juniors Emerson Armistead (78th-22:39) and Calista Cacciatore (85th-22:52) put Milton solidly in the top-10. Also running for the Lady Eagles for the first time in the state meet were sophomore Ivy Rindt (115th-22:51) and senior Emmaline Kelley (133rd-24:24). There were 222 finishers in the 32-team field.
