Girls 4th & Boys 6th at final meet of the season
November 3, Carrollton, GA
Led by the Lady Eagles 4th place team finish, the Milton Cross Country teams concluded their season yesterday at the GHSA State Championship Meet on the grounds of Carrollton Elementary School.
BOYS
In the first race of the day, Milton (6th-180 pts) could not overcome a tough start and just missed out on a trophy-winning performance by just 7 points while besting 18 schools. South Forsyth (1st-86 pts) prevailed & was the easy winner of Lambert (2nd-161 pts). Walton (3rd-164 pts), West Forsyth (4th-174 pts) & Brookwood (5th-174 pts) followed in a very tight team battle for the podium.
Individually for the Eagles, senior co-captain Luke Bonneville (10th-16:46) led Milton with a stirring last stretch finish to snag the final medal-winning position. His final kick brought him home just ahead of South Forsyth’s first runner by less than 2/10ths of a second! Sophomore Hayden Marshall (26th-17:07) moved steadily through the field to be Milton’s 2nd finisher. Senior Anish Gupta (42nd-17:25) had a very strong performance and was a key factor in the Eagles team scoring. Fellow senior Gary Halverson (56th-17:35) followed but was hampered by conditions at the start and passed as many as 75 runners to finish in the top-third of the race. Junior Spencer Watry (68th-17:43) was the Eagles final scorer and was followed by close finishes of senior co-captain Ben Reilly (89th-17:59) & junior Joe Pick (95th-18:03).
GIRLS
The Lady Eagles continued their streak as Milton (4th-122 pts) was again a podium/award winning team for the 5th straight year! The Lady Eagles have placed either 3rd or 4th at the state meet in 6 of the last 7 years! Marietta (1st-49 pts) was the easy winner defending their state title over South Forsyth (2nd-81 pts). Area rival Walton (3rd-118 pts) just edged Milton as the Lady Eagles held off a determined West Forsyth (5th-129 pts) squad.
Two top-10 finishers led Milton as junior Nyah Hernandez (5th-19:12) was in the lead pack until just past the 2nd mile of the race. A very strong, come-from-behind performance by senior Taylor Cushman (8th-19:34) brought her to a top-10 finish as she moved from outside the top-20 to a podium placing as the race played out. Junior Abby Rindt (19th-20:08) also moved up steadily through the field & gave the Lady Eagles three finishers in the top-20 overall. Senior co-captain Faith Wagner (47th-20:52) along with sophomore Audrey Nichols (50th-20:57) worked together to move up during the race to help secure Milton’s 6th state trophy in the last 7 years! Senior co-captain Samantha Lenox (60th-20:21) bested many schools top-5 scorers in solidifying Milton’s team result and was followed by senior Maddie Erbey (135th) who became Milton’s 2nd girl to be a part of a state-trophy winning team in two different sports (Lacrosse 2017/2018) & Cross Country (2018)!
