Eagle Cross Country Successful at Early Bird Meet

By Andy Carr

Photos by Angie Butzow

Whitesburg, GA

August 25th

The Milton High School Cross Country teams travelled to the friendly confines of McIntosh Reserve Park in Whitesburg, GA for the Bob Blastow/Early Bird Invitational and came away with a individual race win, two team runner-ups, two team 3rd places and two team victories.

VARSITY GIRLS

Lady Eagle junior Nyah Hernandez (1st-18:28) wasted no time and went straight to the front and was never headed as she became the third fastest performer in school history. Her performance actually ties the 2nd best performer (Marie Repasy ’17) from the 2016 race. Hernandez built up a lead of almost 100 meters as she cruised the first mile (5:34) and then went on for the meet win! Team-wise, Milton (3rd-66 pts) faced off against two defending champions, Cambridge (1st-43 pts) from Class 6A & McIntosh (2nd-50 pts) from Class 5A. The Lady Eagles did defeat 16 scoring schools as senior Taylor Cushman (8th-19:07) and junior Abby Rindt (9th-19:13) followed Hernandez. Completing the scoring for Milton were senior captain Faith Wagner (26th-20:31) & sophomore Audrey Nichols (30th-20:43) in a new personal best performance! Senior captain Samantha Lenox (32nd-20:51) & fellow seniors Olivia Lawson (43rd-21:12) and Maddie Erbey (21:30) followed for the Lady Eagle effort.

VARSITY BOYS

Running a valiant team effort, Milton (2nd-69 pts) fell just-short of the team and meet win. The defending 7A state champions were just 5 points from defending 6A state champions and cross-town rivals Cambridge (1st-64 pts) in a very tight battle! The Eagles did dispose of 22 scoring programs on their way to runner-up honors as North Oconee (3rd-159 pts) was the closest. Leading the Milton charge was senior captain Luke Bonneville (5th-16:04) running his 2nd best time and was closely followed by the big personal best of fellow senior Gary Halverson (7th-16:09) and sophomore Hayden Marshall (9th-16:12) who tied his personal best! It was the solid racing by senior Anish Gupta (17th-16:52) that kept the Eagles in the team title hunt. Senior co-captain Ben Reilly (31st-17:19) & junior Spencer Watry (35th-17:26) provided strong support. JV race winner from last week, Joe Pick (50th-17:42) was close to 40 seconds better than his last week’s effort and senior Gavin Roman (83rd-18:36) concluded Milton’s finishers.

JV GIRLS

The Lady Eagles (3rd-78 pts) could not hold off strong efforts from Cambridge (1st-38 pts) & North Oconee (2nd-62 pts) but beat out 8 scoring schools. Even with no finishers in the top-10, Milton held off McIntosh (4th-78 pts) with a stronger 6th team finisher. Leading the Lady Eagles were juniors Maggie Gibson (13th-22:04) & Katy Dickinson (16th-22:31) along with freshman Jessica Albregts (18th-22:43).

JV Boys

Milton (2nd-58 pts) put all its scorers in the top-17 but were soundly beaten by Cambridge (1st-17 pts). The Eagles did dispatch 18 schools in their runner-up finish. Junior Liam Wagenbrenner (8th-18:09) & freshman Davis Hobbs (10th-18:16) & Dylan Bowden (11th-18:18) were Milton’s top-finishers.

OPEN BOYS & OPEN GIRLS

The Eagles lone team victories came in both open races as the Milton (1st-36 pts) boys bested 11 schools and the Milton (1st-28 pts) girls overcame 6 scoring programs! Juniors Griffin Ramsey (4th-19:29) and Aidan O’Hare (3rd-23:21) led the Open Eagles team efforts.