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Health & Fitness

Milton Cross Country Boys Qualify for the State Meet!

The Eagles 3rd place effort earns them trip to Carrollton, Lady Eagles just miss, placing 5th.

 

Varsity Boys

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The Eagles smart racing and pack running proved to be the difference as Milton (3rd-84 pts) qualified for the GHSA State Meet next weekend by knocking off rival Roswell (4th-115 pts) which was ranked 8th in the state in going into the meet. Walton (1st-51 points) was the clear winner as the Eagles of Etowah (2nd-72 points) were runner-up.  Even with no finishers in the top-10, Milton put all of it’s scorers between 11th-21st and all within 45 seconds to propel them to the state meet!  Sophomore Jack Bluth led the charge. His 16:38 for 11th spot may have missed the individual medals but it did move him up the record board to become tied with the 8th best performance in school history!  Fellow sophomore Clay Marshall ran upfront for the Milton pack and his effort (16:49-16th) played a major role in the team’s final standing.  Junior Connor Cole ran a personal best (16:50-17th) to solidify the Eagle showing. Strong finishes by senior co-captain Kevin McGorrey (19th-17:06) and his brother Matt McGorrey (21st-17:13) put Milton in a close battle for the runner-up spot.  Strong races by fellow sophomores John Fravel (27th-17:24) & Jacques DuPlessis (30th-17:28) help put all seven of it’s runners in before Roswell had 4 finishers.

 

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Varsity Girls

The Lady Eagles fought a gallant effort but fell just short of qualifying for the state meet. Milton (5th-86 pts) was in contention the entire way as the Wolverines of Woodstock (4th-82 pts) grabbed the qualifying spot with two top-10 finishers to lead their effort.  In the most competitive and deepest region in the entire state and in any classification the so-called “region of death” proved its moniker and the Lady Eagles concluded their fine season.  Walton again was the winner (1st-59 pts) but held off a very strong Etowah team (2nd-60 pts) whose #1 runner did not finish the race.  The Lady Hornets of Roswell (3rd-68 pts) had 3 finishers in the top-10 to lead their effort.  Senior co-captain Abbey Jordan represented Milton well and fought for a top-10 finish but it was not to be (11th-20:11).  Fellow juniors Juanita Pardo (14th-20:27) and Amy Ruiz (16th-20:32) tried to help duplicate the pack running the boys were able to use.  Sophomore Anna Renko ran her 2nd best performance ever (21st-20:42) and senior Kim Toscano made a big charge in the final half-mile to run an all-time best (24th-20:58) and pass three Woodstock runners in the process.  Senior co-captain Rachal Cronin (29th-21:12) concluded the scoring for Milton.   The Lady Eagles were able to put all five of their scoring runners in front of Etowah, Roswell & Woodstock’s 5th finisher but those teams upfront strength, each with at least two runners finishing in the top-10 of the race, were too much for Milton to overcome.

JV Boys

In a back & forth affair with Etowah (3rd-57 pts) for the runner-up sport, Milton (2nd-57 pts) was able to receive a team trophy based on the 6th-runner tie breaker. The Raiders of Walton were the clear winners (1st-24 pts) but the Eagles of Milton made it interesting with 3 finishers in the top-10.  Junior Preston Mead ran upfront the entire race and his all-time best by close to 40 seconds (4th-17:23) led the team.  Fellow junior Mikey Newell also countered with a lifetime best (6th-17:31) to keep Milton in the mix.  Freshman Michael McCarthy continued his fine season as his effort put him on the medal stand (10th-17:42).  Senior Brendan Kemple (19th-18:02) led a close running pack of Eagle runners as sophomore Brock Schutt (21st-18:05), senior Peter Randall (20th-18:07) and finally senior co-captain Spencer Greene (24th-18:08) were close behind. Senior Peter Randall was able to defeat Etowah’s 6th finisher (25th) for Milton to be the 2nd place team.

 

JV Girls

The Eagles of Milton (2nd-42 pts) made great in-roads and narrowly lost to the Lady Raiders of Walton (1st-32 pts) to snag the final team trophy spot. A year ago Walton perfect scored Milton (15-50) at this same meet! Both Walton & Milton had all 5 of their scorers in the top-14 places.  Running a solid race together the entire way, sophomore Victoria Wagner (4th-21:12) and junior Hallie Howell (5th-21:12) led the Lady Eagle effort.  Milton then put in 3 scorers in a span of 12 seconds to secure the runner-up spot! Junior Meagan Thistleton (10th-21:45) led the group with senior co-captain’s Katie Robinson (11th-21:53) & Addie Luxton (12th-21:57) right behind her.  A superb final season ending race by sophomore Emily Velez (18th-22:20) and the gutsy effort by junior Michelle Pick (27th-22:52) concluded the scoring for Milton.

 

 

Up next for the Milton Cross Country boy’s team is the GHSA State Cross Country Championships which will be run on Saturday, November 9th at Carrollton Elementary School.  The AAAAAA boys race is scheduled for 12 noon.

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