Boys Varsity
The “Region of Doom” reared its ugly head at the Region 5-AAAAAA boys race as a 6th-man tie breaker ended up deciding the 4th place team that qualified for state at Carrollton. Woodstock looked to have the upper hand but a late rush by the Raiders of Walton brought home their 6th-man ahead of the Wolverines to secure the final spot to Carrollton. The Eagles of Milton won handily with three runners in the top-6 and all five in the top-13. The race of the day was the second place effort from the Hornets of Roswell. Predicted to only be 5th or 6th, Roswell put 4 in the top-15 to punch their ticket to Carrollton. Etowah was a distant 3rd holding off both Walton & Woodstock by only 4 points.
Basically leading wire-to-wire, Milton senior Jack Bluth captured the title in 15:55. He was pressed by eventual 3rd-placer junior Andrew Singh of Walton (16:02) for most of the first half of the race. Running a strong 2nd-half, Milton sophomore Sam Bowers (2nd-15:59) passed Singh late in the race and held on for a strong runner-up finish. Also auto-qualifying for Carrollton was Cherokee senior Taylor Scarbrough (4th-16:13), senior Parker Roberts of Roswell (5th-16:17) and Milton senior captain Matt McGorrey (6th-16:23).
Varsity Girls
Not much surprise here as the Lady Eagles of Milton controlled the race early on and finished three in the top-6 to easily defend their title. Milton finished their top-5 before most teams had even three runners in and were clearly dominant. The Lady Greyhounds of Pope made a strong effort pay off with four finishers in the top-18 to finish the runner-up. Walton’s solid pack running was good enough to get third and projected favorite Etowah struggled home 4th but was way clear of 5th place Roswell.
Lady Eagle senior captain Riley Burr (1st-18:45) of Milton led wire-to-wire to easily capture the region crown. A group of three made a strong rush at the finish to overtake Milton’s 2nd & 3rd runners to claim the next three spots! Woodstock freshman Brynne Sumner was the strong runner-up (2nd-18:54) just edging Roswell senior Rachel VanAmburg (3rd-18:54) and teammate Kara Coulter (4th-18:57). The Milton duo of freshman Taylor Cushman (5th-19:00) & junior Marie Repasy (6th-19:01) concluded the auto-qualifiers for Carrollton.
JV Girls
Sydney Runyan (1st-19:12), the 8th grader from Etowah, was the clear winner and was never headed. Milton senior Emily Velez (2nd-20:32) & Milton sophomore Annie Gallagher (3rd-20:33) followed. The Lady Eagles of Milton (1st-21 pts) put 12 finishers in the top-16 to take the overwhelming victory with Etowah (2nd-89 pts) & Roswell (3rd-98 pts) trailed.
JV Boys
Milton (1st-19 pts) went 1st thru 4th and then 9th & 10th to capture the title and complete the sweep of races at Region 5-AAAAAA. Woodstock (2nd-74 pts) & Walton (3rd-80 pts) followed. Junior Valera Stettner (1st-17:07) of Milton captured his 3rd race victory of the season (Fulton County & Furman/Gene Mullin JV champion). Senior John Fravel (2nd-17:10) & sophomore Cam Harman (3rd-17:28) of Milton followed.
