Milton Invitational

Heat, hills and humidity. Two out of three of these were present on Saturday at the Milton Invitational. A quick check of the weather at the start of the JV Girls race showed that runners would have to compete against a tough course and 91% humidity. But, at least there was cloud coverage.

JV Girls

The gun sounded and 113 JV girls from 12 teams took off to attack one of the more challenging courses in the state.  After the first 100 meters, the runners had to tackle the steepest and longest hill on the course and due to the short distance from the starting line, the pack was still rather large.  After the first 1,000 meter lap, the pack had thinned some and Ansley Rogers was the top War Eagles followed by Isabelle Cadeau, Emily Barnes and Pragna Veeravelli who were running about 30 meters behind.  After tackling the hill for the second time, the runners entered the forest for the first of two 2,000 meter laps and at this point, Pragna had made up several spots and was out front for South. Pragna put in a solid final lap and was the first of our runners to cross the finish line 27th overall with a 25:38.  Ansley Rogers was next (35th / 26:00) followed by Emily Barnes, (51st / 26:36), Ally McGlaughlin (53rd / 26:51) and Shea Czajkoski (58th / 27:17). Druid Hills won the JV girls team title with 41 points and the War Eagles were 8th with 195.

JV Boys

After the short sprint to the big hill, several South runners (Colin McClelland, Mark Martin, Patrick Kukucka, Devin Schmuckal and Brett Dunlap) were well positioned as they beat most of the large pack up the big hill. Several of our runners, headed by Mark in second place, held their positions after the first lap and Colin, Patrick, and Devin were all in the top 15 as they headed into the forest for the final two laps.  The eventual winner of the race would begin to pull away from the rest of the runners on the final lap but we were still looking strong. Mark had a solid finish as he was the first South runner to cross the line in 19:07. This was good for second place overall and was also about ten seconds faster than Mark had ever run on this course.  Patrick was next (6th / 19:32) followed by Devin (8th / 19:35), Colin (23rd / 20:27) and Harris Garmon (37th / 21:15). Of the 177 runners from 16 teams who started the race, we managed three top ten finishes. Lambert had a strong showing as their 33 points earned them the team title. South finished with 71 points which landed us in third place.

Varsity Girls

One hundred twenty eight girls toed the line waiting for the gun to sound  Notably absent from this pack of runners was Madelynne Cadeau and Sophia Baker. As you could imagine, not having your top two runners would be visible in the teams scores but remember, there is quite a bit of depth on this team. Midway up the big hill, our runners were in great position and were not in danger of being boxed in as they ran off into the trees. Sydney Copeland was the first War Eagle to complete lap one.  Next came Carmel Yonas and Caroline Patterson was just a few steps behind. Emma O’Conner, Ashley Hunt and Bella Rhone were all in great position as they headed into the final two laps. As the runners climbed the hill for the last time, Sydney, Carmel, and Emma were all running in the top 15 and they were within 50 meters of one another. Caroline was our fourth runner up the hill and Bella was less than 10 meters behind. As a team, we looked to be in great position. As the runners entered the chutes, Regan Mahoney from Atlanta International School was the winner of the race for the second week in a row. Carmel put together a great last lap and was the first War Eagle across the line at 21:51 (7th overall).  Emma was next (9th / 22:00) and she was followed by an exhausted Sydney (12th / 22:09), Caroline (20th / 22:50) and Bella (24th / 23:02).

Milton captured the team title with 55 points and South was second with 67. To me, this was an impressive showing against some tough teams especially as we were missing our top two runners. There are not many teams in the state that could perform this well considering these circumstances.  

Boys Varsity

One hundred-fifty two runners headed across the field and up the big hill to start the final race of the day. Once again, we had several runners well positioned as they ran into the woods for the first lap. I was pretty amazed when I saw the runners emerge from the forest at the end of lap one. Although the pack had spread out some, numerous runners were still bunched together and no one had broken away from the crowd. Brennan Bower and Mikey Patterson were among the top group at this point and Joe Pontrelli was following a few seconds back. After the second lap, two runners, Athanasius Tesfaye of Loganville and Brennan had turned it into a two person race as they had distanced themselves from the rest of the field. As they headed into the trees, Brennan was two seconds behind the Loganville runner but he seemed to be running comfortably. As a team, we were well positioned as Mikey, Joe, Nate Verska, Ben Bergey, and Harrison Siegel were all in the top twenty. As the race drew to a close, it was Brennan who had broken away and was all alone at the finish, winning by nearly 20 seconds as he captured his first high school victory with a 17:27 on a very difficult course (the 11th fastest time ever on Milton’s course). Mikey put together another strong race (7th / 17:52) and was followed by Joe (13th / 18:15), Harrison, who made up lots of time with an impressive last mile, (14th / 18:21) and Nate (16th / 18:30).  

South managed to defeat 16 other teams and win the championship race with 47 points. This was enough to best Lambert who landed in second place with 83, but the Longhorns were missing their number one runner this week.  

Although it was another great day for the War Eagles, we could not manage to hold onto the Eagle Cup as Lambert walked away with the honors of the best overall team this year as determined by all six races. On Friday night we will have a chance to defend another trophy and if we race well, South will be in the running for the prestigious Wingfoot Cup.

Wingfoot

Cross country geeks like myself look forward to Wingfoot all year as it is a special race in many ways.  The race is hosted by the Atlanta Track Club and they put together quite an experience as it is just as much of a festival as it is a race. The ultra-competitive race attracts the top teams in Georgia as well as several quality teams from the southeast. It is truly a battle of the finest as the fastest teams are seeded and placed in the Championship race. Standout individuals from teams not entered in the race are also invited so that the best of the best have a chance to compete against one another. Racing after sundown will also add some allure to the Championship races as well. If you have never been to Wingfoot, make sure to allow ample time for parking as there will literally be thousands of cars headed to the same destination. Parking is $10 and they only take cash. Here is the schedule:

6:10 PM Freshman Boys

6:40 PM Freshman Girls

8:05 PM JV Championship Boys

8:35 PM JV Championship Girls

9:05 PM Championship Boys

9:25 PM Championship Girls

As for the preview and predictions, I am going to leave that to the Atlanta Track Club as they will likely do a much more thorough job than this poor hack of a journalist.  Click HERE for the Wingfoot preview from the Atlanta Track Club.

I will make one prediction though.  If we have all of our runners in the Championship races run strong, there is a solid chance that we can once again win the Wingfoot Cup again. This is no small deal and it will take a strong effort from both the boys and girls varsity teams in this race to pull it off.  

I am certainly looking forward to Friday under the lights! That’s it for now, see you at the races.