Eagle Cross Country Teams Qualify for state meet and defend region titles
Boling Park, Canton, GA – By Andy Carr/Photos by Angie Butzow
The Milton High School cross country teams traveled to the friendly confines of Boling Park in Canton, GA and successfully defended on region two region titles and were victorious in four out of six team races and qualified both the girls and boys varsity teams to the GHSA State meet to be held November 4th in Carrollton, GA.
Varsity Girls
The Lady Eagles repeated as region/area champions and bested 2nd ranked South Forsyth (2nd-60 pts) with another close victory over their rivals. Milton (1st-53 pts) was in a tight battle with South Forsyth the entire way but was able to put four finishers in the top-10 to retain their title and ranking (1st-All-Class in Georgia & 5th in the SE USA)! The Lady Eagles topped 11 schools on their way to qualifying for the state meet. Senior captain Marie Repasy (4th-18:28) ran a personal best to lead the way for Milton. Freshman Faith Bobak (6th-18:33) ran close to a 30-second personal best and moves to third all-time performer ever at Milton. Fellow freshman Abby Rindt (9th-19:06) followed, also a personal best and now the 7th-best performer in school history! Junior Taylor Cushman (10th-19:07) made some strong moves late in the race to again individually qualify for the state meet (as the top-12 finishers were all auto-qualifiers for the state meet). Also running on the victorious team were junior Emily Bowers (21st-19:35), senior Brooke Aumer (25th-19:48) and sophomore Faith Wagner (27th-19:50). Bowers and Wagner notched personal bests.
Varsity Boys
Milton (2nd-68 pts) could not hold off the Longhorns of Lambert (1st-53 pts) in a race that showcased the state’s top-schools in 7A. The Eagles bested 10 schools on the way to area/region runner-up honors. In the performance of the day, junior Sam Bowers (1st-15:23) ran one of the fastest times ever on the Boling Park course and also broke the Milton school record performance by 13 seconds as he is now the fastest performer in Milton school history. Bowers took the lead just after the start and ran alone for the overall victory. Fellow junior Michael Malkowski (2nd-15:54) ran with Lambert’s top-2 runners the entire race and outkicked them both for runner-up honors and a 15-second personal best making him the 4th all-time performer for Milton. Also cracking into the top-10 was junior Ryan Beitzell (9th-16:09) as his strong finish brought him to the line as another individual qualifier for the state meet. Senior Valera Stettner (24th-16:39), senior captain Michael McCarthy (31st-16:45) and juniors Dru Milton (33rd-16:48) and Cam Harman (34th-16:50) concluded the Milton finishers with Stettner, Milton and Harman all running personal bests.
JV Girls
In their final race of the season the Lady Eagles retained their area/region title with a close 2-point victory! Milton (1st-53 pts) held off a strong challenge from West Forsyth (2nd-55 pts) and dispatched another 10 schools for the title! Junior Jessie Barnes (3rd-19:59) ran with the early leaders and got pulled along to a big personal best performance. Senior Capri Ligon (6th-20:26), freshman Kelly Scott (9th-20:47) and sophomores Samantha Lenox (14th-20:59) & Emma Petit (21st-21:15) all scored personal best times and concluded the scoring for the champion Lady Eagles.
JV Boys
The battle for area/region title was close the entire contest but South Forsyth (1st-26 pts) just bested Milton (2nd-36 pts) in their 6th race against each other this season. The Eagles did solidly defeat 10 other scoring schools. Milton placed 4 runners in the top-7 places to run their best team race of the season. The Eagles time spread among their scorers was only 16 seconds and ran their fastest team time average ever at 17:06 for their scorers. Senior captain Joey Brovont (3rd-17:00) led Milton’s effort with fellow senior Jake Vernon (4th-17:03), junior Andrew Blizzard (6th-17:05) and senior Pierce Baker (17:06) right behind. Junior Jean Moorman (16th-17:16) was the final Eagle scorer with all but Brovont nabbing all-time personal best performances.
Open Girls
The Lady Eagles most dominant team performance came in the Open Girls race where Milton (1st-21 pts) bested seven scoring schools. West Forsyth (2nd-66 pts) was a distant runner-up. Sophomore Maddie Erbey (1st-21:45) led wire-to-wire and was never challenged as she ran to the overall win! Scorers for Milton included juniors Jocie Toner (2nd-22:16) & Casey Hutchison (3rd-22:18), sophomore Haley Roberts (7th-22:37) & junior Mary Grace Coyle (8th-22:38) led Milton to 9 finishers in the top-15 overall spots.
Open Boys
Milton (1st-33 pts) dispatched 9 other scoring schools to capture the final race of the meet. Walton (2nd-44 pts) was closest. Final individual results were still not available at this time but an updated press release will be posted in the next few days.
Milton Cross Country races next in the GHSA State Meet at Carrollton Elementary School on Friday, November 4th to conclude their season.
