Milton Cross Country Teams Conclude Season With Podium Finishes at State Meet

11/8/14

Carrollton, GA

By Andy Carr

The Milton High School Cross Country teams concluded their seasons at the GHSA State meet this past Saturday at the Carrollton Elementary School course and came away with the best team combined finish in school history & the only program that had both teams finish in the top-podium spots in the AAAAAA classification.

BOYS

The clean-shaven & Mohawk laden Eagles came into the meet after winning the Region title the week before and followed that up with their first podium finish since 2000! Milton (4th-170 pts) was in contention the entire race for a top-2 finish but fell just short as Marietta (1st-72 pts) took the team win as expected followed by a tight group of teams that included Brookwood (2nd-164 pts) & Mill Creek (3rd-169 pts) and the Eagles. Milton again bested region foes Etowah (5th-189 pts) & Walton (6th-194 pts) & took down #2-ranked South Forsyth (11th-282 pts). Running the race of his life, senior co-captain Connor Cole moved steadily thru the top-30 to finish 9th (16:51) and earn all-state honors. Following closely behind him, fellow senior co-captain Preston Meade (17th-17:04) improved almost 30 seconds on his time last year & moved up almost 20 spots! Junior Matt McGorrey (24th-17:13) was with Meade most of the race and held on for a strong performance that gave the Eagles a shot at a 2nd place team finish. Freshman Sam Bowers (56th-17:48) followed after being pushed around early in the race. Junior John Fravel (70th-18:00) concluded the scoring with a very strong finish. Also competing on the podium placing team for the Eagles were juniors Clay Marshall (92nd-18:10) & Jack Bluth (136th). 32 teams scored in the meet and 222 runners finished the race.

GIRLS

Another historic day ended for the Lady Eagles as they went from not qualifying for the state meet in 2013 to region champions to standing on the podium at the state meet! Milton (3rd-134 pts) finished their season as the most accomplished girls team in school history! County-foe Northview (1st-102 pts) & South Forsyth (2nd-114 pts) bested the Lady Eagles even though Milton was able to have 6 finishers ahead of both of those teams’ final team scorers! Milton also bested 28 remaining scoring teams to record their best-ever team finish at the state meet! For the first time this season, junior Riley Burr (18th-20:16) led the Lady Eagle effort but was closely followed by senior co-captain Amy Ruiz (23rd-20:25) & Juanita Pardo (25th-20:32). But again for Milton the strength of the team prevailed & put the Lady Eagles on the podium as juniors Charlotte Matt (39th-21:02) & Victoria Wagner (40th-21:03) along with sophomore Marie Repasy (44th-21:05) closed the team scoring for a 3rd place finish. Wagner was the 2nd-fastest 5th runner on any team to finish for the day & that includes all seven classifications & Repasy was the day’s top 6th team finisher, again in all-classes! Freshman Emily Bowers (108th) concluded the Milton effort. 213 finishers were recorded in the race.