JV teams lead the way as varsity relay squads win and place 2nd in a unique race format
The cross country teams at Milton High School travelled to the site of their upcoming region meet in Allatoona, GA and came away with 3 team wins and a runner-up finish against 12 schools on a 2-mile race course.
JV GIRLS
In the first race of the day, the Lady Eagles made it known who was the strongest and deepest team in attendance as Milton (1st-20 pts) went 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th & 7th to easily dispatch 11 scoring squads! Leading the way for the Lady Eagles was sophomore Annie Gallagher (2nd-13:25). Gallagher steadily pulled away from a chase pack of seven runners just passed the mile and eventually led a group of Milton girls with a sweep of finish spots in the top-10. In an exciting finish, the pack of Lady Eagles all passed a lone runner from Roswell to secure the dominant team victory! Sophomore Mary Grace Coyle (3rd-13:36), freshman Claire Buchanann (4th-13:37) & Faith Wagner (5th-13:38), junior Alyssa Milton (6th-13:39) & senior Morgan Curtis (7th-13:41) all finished in a span of 5 seconds to secure the team victory.
JV BOYS
Following suit, Milton (1st-22 pts) scored a big win to outpace 10 scoring schools. Upfront was the duo of senior John Fravel (1st-10:51) & sophomore Ryan Beitzel (2nd-11:03). Fravel took the lead just prior the ¾-mile mark and extended it as the race wound its way through Allatoona Creek Park. Beitzel responded to Fravel’s moves and by 1.5 miles was in 2nd where he stayed until the finish to lead the Eagle effort. Moving through the top-10, sophomore Cam Harman (5th-11:14) eventually caught & passed Kennesaw Mt’s top-3 runners with less than 200 meters remaining to secure the team win for Milton. Just like Harman, fellow sophomores Hayden Fravel (7th-11:24) & Drew Milton (8th-11:24) gained many spots in the last 300 meters of the race to help the Eagles put all their scorers in the top-10.
VARSITY BOYS & GIRLS
Racing in a relay/team format with 2 teams each of 4 runners a piece, with each running the 2-mile Allatoona Creek Park course, the Milton Boys Red team (Matt McGorrey-10:20, Valera Stettner-10:51, Sam Bowers-10:09, Jack Bluth-9:45) came from behind in the 3rd leg to get the overall team win (1st-41:07 for 8 miles) besting 22 teams! In the top-3 until Bowers was on the course, the Eagles took the lead for good as Bowers passed the top-2 teams in his 2nd mile and Bluth ran one of the fastest splits of the day to lead Milton to victory. The Milton Boys White team (Jacques Du Plessis-10:35, Michael Malkowski-10:38, Clay Marshall-10:42, Michael McCarthy-10:36) battled for 3rd most of the race and finished an agonizing 4th place (42:33). Milton Girls Red team (Riley Burr-11:56, Marie Repasy-12:01, Addy Prescott-13:07, Charlotte Matt-13:19) led early on but eventually got passed just before the 6-mile mark and finished a strong runner-up (2nd-50:25) out of 20 teams. Milton Girls White team (Victoria Wagner-12:32, Taylor Cushman-13:01, Emily Velez-12:55, Emily Bowers-14:28) were in the mix for a top-3 finish and finished a strong 5th place (52:57) after running close to a quarter mile off-course.
The Milton HS Cross Country teams next see action on Saturday, August 29th in Whitesburg, GA at the McIntosh Nature Preserve running in the always fast Bob Blastow/Early Bird Invitational on the flat course next to the Chattahoochee River.
