Milton Cross Country Captures Area Title

10/21/17

Canton, GA

By Andy Carr

Photos by Angie Butzow

The Milton Cross Country teams are headed back to the state championship meet with the boy’s team capturing their 3 title in the last 4 years and the girls team finishing 2nd to the defending state champions.

VARSITY BOYS

Milton (1st-22 pts) wasted little time in taking command of the race as the Eagles (ranked 9th in USA) bested 11 schools in winning their 3rd title in the last 4 years. Walton (2nd-90 pts) & defending state champions Lambert (3rd-99 pts) trailed. Seniors Sam Bowers (1st-15:10) & Nicholas Yanek (2nd-15:15) took control of the race early and were never challenged as the duo broke the known course record on the Boling Park layout that has seen many top-level meets at this historic venue. Bowers separated from Yanek in the 3rd mile to defend his Area/region title. Milton was able to put their top-6 runners in the top-11 to automatically qualify for the state meet as seniors Michael Malkowski (4th-15:30), Dru Milton (7th-15:51) & Ryan Beitzell (8th-16:02) closed out the team scoring. Junior Luke Bonneville (11th-16:10) was also a auto-qualifier for the state meet and the final Eagle runner, freshman Hayden Marshall (15th-16:14) ran to a personal best for one of the top-teams in the country.

VARSITY GIRLS

The 3-time defending champion Lady Eagles of Milton (2nd-60 pts) ran up against a tough squad from South Forsyth (1st-30 pts) but still dispatched 10 schools to qualify for the state meet championships. Walton (3rd-92 pts) & Lambert (4th-131 pts) followed. Running in the top-10 the entire race, junior Taylor Cushman (7th-18:56) ran a personal best to become a 3-time state qualifier. Milton used a strong pack of 3 that all finished in the top-12 and qualify individually for the state meet to garner runner-up honors to the defending state champions. This group included sophomore Abby Rindt (10th-19:08), senior Annie Gallagher (11th-19:09) and junior Faith Wagner (12th-19:10). Senior captain Emily Bowers (20th-19:43) concluded the scoring for the Lady Eagles fellow senior Adriana Christensen (23rd-19:46) ran to close to a 50-second personal best! Gallagher & Wagner now become the 8th & 9th fastest performers in Milton history.

JV BOYS

Milton (1st-17 pts) used a big upfront presence in their race to overwhelm 10 scoring schools and recapture the title. Walton (2nd-53 pts) & defending champions South Forsyth (3rd-56 pts) were far in arears. By putting all 5 scorers in the top-6 overall positions, the Eagles were the dominant team. Going 1-2-3 in the race were overall champion junior Gary Halverson (1st-16:28), senior Camden Harman (2nd-16:43) and senior captain Andrew Blizzard (3rd-16:46) followed by junior Anish Gupta (5th-16:50) & senior Austin Mueller (5th-16:53).

JV GIRLS

The Lady Eagles fought hard against their region rivals and Milton (3rd-73 pts) finished tied for 2nd but lost the tie-breaker on the better 6th runner from each school. South Forsyth (1st-44 pts) & West Forsyth (2nd-73 pts) led the Lady Eagles as Milton still dispatched 7 scoring schools. Leading the Lady Eagle effort were juniors Maddie Erbey (6th-20:33) & Samantha Lenox (8th-20:48), sophomore Maggie Gibson (11th-20:58) & freshman Audrey Nichols (15th-21:04).

OPEN BOYS

Milton (2nd-58 pts) held their own with all 5 scorers finishing in the top-20. South Forsyth (1st-27 pts) bested the Eagles with Milton beating 9 schools. Senior Eric Franklin (3rd-18:13) was Milton’s top-finisher in the 247-finisher race.

OPEN GIRLS

The Lady Eagles again garnered another runner-up finish as Milton (2nd-45 pts) dispatched 6 scoring programs. West Forsyth (1st-20 pts) was the team winner. Sophomore Katy Dickinson (4th-21:56) ran a outstanding race to achieve a medal-winning spot. Junior Claire Buchanan (7th-22:26) & sophomore Claire Chojnacki (10th-22:28) as were podium finishers for the Lady Eagles.