The Milton Cross Country teams opened their regular season this past Saturday with some great team finishes at the Apalachee Opener Invitational on the Jaguars on-campus course.
Varsity Boys
Milton (3rd-106 pts) kept it close to the front and the meet win but unfortunately were overtaken by Jackson County (1st-95 pts) and Hebron Christian (2nd-105 pts) picking up the last award-winning position. The Eagles easily took down 19 scoring teams in this first early season test.
Staying in the top 3 the entire race, junior Will Chambers (3rd-15:58) challenged for the individual win and in turn was awarded a personal best and the 5th best performance on the course. Milton got top-finishes from senior captain Jayin Batra (7th-16:40), fellow senior Ryan Greathouse (12th-17:15) and juniors Logan Bradway (33rd-18:00) and Boston VanBelle (51st-18:38).
Varsity Girls
The Lady Eagles showed their superiority early and were never really challenged. Milton (1st-36 pts) took down 17 teams and were well clear of Buford (2nd-98 pts) and Lakeside-Evans (3rd-100 pts). Senior captain Caroline Spain (1st-19:24) continued her undefeated season by taking the lead just past halfway and then continued to run the 6th fastest time ever on the Apalachee course to take the overall race win. The Lady Eagles strong showing was due to the great races by sophomore Sadie Katekovich (4th-20:00) and juniors Lucie Gallagher (5th-20:02), Aarushi Dhawan (13th-21:37) and Ava Kane (15th-21:38). An impressive race by freshman Sloane Robers (20th-21:58) along with sophomore Kenley Sirras (26th-22:13) closed out the meet win!
JV Boys
Milton (2nd-62 pts) bested 13 schools in capturing a runner-up finish to South Forsyth (1st-20 pts). The Eagles had to come from behind but were led by freshman Noah Jenkins (7th-19:06), senior Malin Schadt (9th-19:20) and freshman William Gilbert (14th-19:34).
JV Girls
The Lady Eagles dispatched a few varsity programs as Milton (2nd-56 pts) beat out 12 schools to be the runner-up. Lakeside-Evans (1st-51 pts) squeaked out a narrow win as Jefferson (3rd-62 pts) raced their varsity but was turned away by both the Lady Panthers and Lady Eagles. Milton put all their scorers in the top-15 and were led by sophomore Samantha Megenity (8th-23:04) and juniors Cara Tenhundfeld (10th-23:33) and Rachela Weitzel (23:43).
Open Boys
The Eagles just missed out on a perfect team score as Milton (1st-18 pts) finished 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th to dispatch 6 scoring schools. Freshman Chase VanBelle (1st-20:51) took the lead early and went on to the race victory.
Open Girls
Milton (1st-20 pts) also just missed a perfect team score going 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th to turn back 3 scoring programs. Junior Medhya Sivaganesh (3rd-24:38) led 4 fellow Lady Eagles to top-10 finishes.
The Eagle cross country teams next see action against 31 schools Saturday at the Bob Blastow/Early Bird Invitational at the McIntosh Reserve Park in Whitesburg, GA.
