Milton HS Cross Country Competes & Finishes Well at Covered Bridge Invitational

Milton HS Cross Country Competes & Finishes Well at Covered Bridge Invitational

The cross country teams of Milton HS travelled to Garrard Landing Park in eastern Roswell to compete in the Covered Bridge Invitational hosted by Roswell High School and placed all their teams near the front of every race at the meet.

Varsity Girls

The Lady Eagles (ranked 8th in the state in AAAAAA) faced their toughest competition of this young season and finished a solid 4th place (113 pts) out of 19 scoring schools & just missed a team trophy by 11 points! 3rd ranked Etowah (1st-41 pts) held off a stiff challenge from unranked Centennial (2nd-55 pts) with 5th ranked Roswell (3rd-102 pts) who just edged Milton for the last trophy.  The Lady Eagles relied heavily on their top-4 runners and that kept them in the hunt for a team award. Leading the group was sophomore Riley Burr. Her 6th place finish (20:26) was a solid come from behind effort as she moved through the field the entire race.  Junior Juanita Pardo (17th-20:53) & senior co-captain Abbey Jordan (18th-20:53) closed the race together and were followed by junior Amy Ruiz (25th-21:22) and kept Milton in contention.  The Lady Eagles saw a strong performance from junior Hallie Howell (53rd-22:29) as she led in our final scorers in a very tight finish. Senior co-captain Rachel Cronin (57th-22:30) and senior Kim Toscano (58th-22:31) closed out the scoring. Also competing for Milton on varsity were Victoria Wagner (69th-22:47), senior co-captain Katie Robinson (78th-23:02) & freshman Alyssa Milton (89th-23:12).

Varsity Boys

A strong pack & team effort by the Eagles kept them in contention for a trophy spot but fell short with a very commendable 4th place finish (144 pts) out of 20 scoring schools.  With no finishers in the top-20, Milton relied heavily on its pack running and tight finishes to secure a very strong team finish.  Brookwood dominated the meet with 7 runners in the top-16 to easily win the meet (1st-37 pts).  Etowah (2nd-67 pts) & Roswell (3rd-77 pts) fought a close battle with the up-front presence of Etowah edging out the Hornets. The Eagles were a solid 4th place against a group of teams that are all ranked in the top-10 All-Class in the state!  Sophomore Clay Marshall again led Milton (25th-17:40) and led a very tight pack of Eagle runners that finished all their 5 scoring runners in a span of only 22 seconds!  Passing many runners the entire race, sophomore Jack Bluth (29th-17:49) brought along fellow sophomore Matt McGorrey (33rd-17:54) along with juniors Preston Meade (35th-18 flat) and Connor Cole (37th-18:02).  Completing the scoring for the Eagles were junior Mikey Newell (65th-18:35) & sophomore John Fravel (69th-18:37).  Also running for Milton on varsity were sophomores Brock Schutt (77th-18:51) & Jacques DuPlessis (82nd-18:57) and junior Nolan English (85th-19:02).

JV Girls

The Lady Eagles upset the very deep and powerful Etowah squad by a single point (86-87) to record a runner-up finish to Brookwood (1st-33 pts) and snag the last team trophy award!  15 schools scored in the race.  Junior Meagan Thistleton again led Milton and her race up front provided the much needed “low stick” to get the scoring rolling for the Lady Eagles.  Thistleton (2nd-22:35) was followed by a superb effort by fellow junior Michelle Pick (13th-23:30) who kept Milton close by finishing with Roswell’s & Etowah’s top runners. Big races from sophomore Anna Renko (22nd-23:57) and senior co-captain Addie Luxton (23rd-24:03) put Milton squarely even with Etowah.  The Lady Eagles moved ahead with terrific finishes from junior Hayden Estes (36th-24:35) & seniors Madeline Bluth (37th-24:35) & Sarah Hoffman (44th-24:42) to beat back Etowah’s 4th & 5th runner & get the 2nd place team trophy!!

JV Boys

Milton just finished outside of the team trophies with a great 3rd place finish (out of 16 schools) just edging out Northview (4th-110 pts) with 104 pts. This race concluded a banner day for the Eagles as all 4 teams finished 4th or better in the meet! Brookwood was the overwhelming winner (1st-18 pts) with Etowah a distant 2nd (73 pts). Freshman Michael McCarthy ran another personal best and led the Eagles with his medal winning 9th place effort (18:41). Senior Brendan Kemple followed (18th-18:55) after having a “run-in” with a tree!  Junior Connor Greisinger continued to show signs of improvement with his 19:06 good for 25th place. A strong pack of finishers then followed & put Milton in the top-3! Seniors Peter Randall (30th) & Co-captain Spencer Greene (31st) both recorded 19:26 performances & were followed by freshman Valera Stettner (34th-19:33).

Open Race

The meet concluded for Milton with the co-ed open race and saw sophomore Larry Liu run a huge personal best by over three minutes (21st-21:42) and freshman Harper Davis drop over four minutes (27th-28:07) to lead the Eagle runners.

The Milton HS cross country teams next see action this Saturday at the annual WarPath Invitational at Boling Park, Canton Ga. The meet, hosted by Cherokee HS, is a preview for the Eagles of the region meet course to be held at the same location on November 2nd.