Cross Country Success For Local Schools
CARTERSVILL, GA.- The local high school cross country teams certainly lived up to their namesakes by putting miles behind them in recent meets across the Southeast.
James Clemens participated in the Wingfoot Classic held in Cartersville, Ga., while both Bob Jones and Sparkman stopped at the Scottsboro Classic.
Hosted by the Atlanta Track Club and held at the Sam Smith Park in Cartersville, Ga., the Jets took fifth place in boys, seventh in girls, first place in boys JV and second in Girls JV. The boys were led by senior Patrick Neely with an 18th place finish with a time of 17 minutes, 48 seconds. Matthew Hill, sophomore, had a 21st finish with a time of 17:55. In girls, Elizabeth Holcomb, 12, posted a time of 22:00 for a No. 14 finish while Sara Shirley had a time of 23:12 to finish 39. There were 40 teams and 273 runners in the boys division and 34 teams with 227 runners in the girls’ competition.
In the JV races, six Jets dominated teams in the top 20 among 201 runners representing 10 teams to win the JV boys with a team score of 38. Aidan Brinkley, 9, had a team best time of 11:03 for a fifth place finish. Remaining finishers included 6. Garrett Nix, 11, 11:21, 7. Kody Shively, 11, 11:23, 10. Rajesh Patel, 12, 11:30, 15. John Fluder, 11, 11:40 and 17. Dylan Templet, 9, 11:42.
In JV girls, the Lady Jets took the runner-up spot blasting through the 40 teams and 272 opponents. The Lady Jets were topped by the following finishers: 7. Hollis Shereyk, 12, 14:44, 9. Harley Samsil, 8, 14:51, 10. Katie Gudgen, 8, 14:57, 11. Emmy Mattingly, 10, 14:57, 12. Brittain Mattingly, 7, 15:02 and 19. Ragan Sanders, 11, 15:38.
In Scottsboro, at John Esslinger Park, in nearby Jackson County, Bob Jones was No. 14 and Sparkman 21 behind No. 1 Huntsville in boys varsity while Sparkman was No. 17 and Bob Jones No. 22 in girls varsity behind No. 1 Mt. Brook.
Tops in boys were 23. Jean Pierre-LeRoux, 11, BJ, 17:00, 45. Omar Myers, 11, SP, 17.38, 79. Shafi Muhammad, 12, BJ, 18:20 and 84. John David Ray, 11, SP, 18:24. There were 31 teams comprised of 441 runners in the 5K event.
In Girls, 65. Hannah Thuss, 11, BJ, 22:15, 97. Lauren White, 11, SP, 22:58, 111. Caroline Moody, 12, SP, 23:21 and 138. Gloria Trapane, 11, BJ, 24:14. Overall, the girls has 292 participants from 25 schools.
