Milton Cross Country teams compete at 30th annual meet in Canton
Boling Park | Canton, GA | By Andy Carr
The Eagle cross country teams traveled to the friendly and flat confines of Boling Park to race some of the best teams in the north metro Atlanta area and came away with multiple top-10 team finishes.
Varsity Girls
In one of the most competitive fields the Lady Eagles will face all season, Milton (9th-180 pts) turned back 15 schools to finish in a close battle and only 30 points out of a team trophy position. Senior Macy Schadt (16th-19:42) once again led the Lady Eagles with junior Caroline Spain (28th-20:12) not far behind. Senior Ella Franke (37th-20:51) ran to an all-time best as the fast-closing freshman Kenley Sirras (51st-21:11) & Sadie Katekovich (52nd-21:13) followed. Katekovich notched an all-time best.
Varsity Boys
Even though Milton (3rd-141 pts) was short-handed, the Eagles took down 25 scoring schools to earn a podium spot. Only Denmark (1st-65 pts) and Lovett (2nd-136 pts) surpassed Milton. Junior Everett Lawder (10th-16:13) led the Eagles strong up-front presence and was followed by sophomore Will Chambers (20th-16:29), juniors Jayin Batra (24th-16:36) & Ryan Greathouse (41st-17:09), senior captain Robert Claypoole (46th-17:15) in an all-time best & senior Tomas Wilhelm (79th-17:44) also in an all-time best.
JV Girls
In the closest team race of the day, the Lady Eagles beat back 16 schools and just missed the team victory by 12 points! Milton (3rd-72 pts) was narrowly beaten by private schools Blessed Trinity (1st-61 pts) and Lovett (2nd-67 pts). The Lady Eagles put four finishers in the top-14 to just miss the win. Senior Rowan Katekovich (9th-22:08) caught sophomore teammates Rachela Weitzel (10th-22:09) and Ava Kane (11th-22:09) right at the finish and brought along senior Ashley Murray (14th-22:28). Weitzel and Kane raced to all-time best performances.
JV Boys
In one of the largest races of the meet, Milton (5th-140 pts) turned back 18 schools and was just four points out of third place. Sophomore Tyler Nix (12th-18:13) led the Eagles as he ran in the top-10 most of the race. Fellow sophomore Jace Kasteler (26th-18:35), junior Braxton Herndon (29th-18:39), sophomore Christopher Chen (33rd-18:44) and junior Malin Schadt (44th-18:53) all scored for Milton. Kasteler, Herndon & Chen all ran to personal all-time best times.
Open Girls
The Lady Eagles turned back 8 teams to win the team race! Milton (1st-33 pts) put all five scorers in the top-10 overall finishing positions. Sophomore Emily Chambliss (4th-23:46) led the Eagles.
Open Boys
Milton (1st-43 pts) was the easy team winner over 12 scoring schools. The Eagles had 3 finishers in the top-10 & all 7 scoring runners in the top-19 overall positions. Junior Tripp Beerbower (3rd-19:25) raced to a 1-minute personal best to lead the Milton effort.
Milton next sees action at the 10th Wingfoot Cross Country Classic next Saturday night, September 21st at Sam Smith Park in Cartersville, GA. The Eagles are the only 3-time Wingfoot Cup Champions in the meets history & will race schools from all over the SE United States in races under the lights.
