Milton Cross Country Teams Finish Strong at Covered Bridge Invitational

The Eagles of Milton travelled to the friendly confines of Garrard Landing Park in Roswell on Saturday, Sept. 8th to compete in the 3rd Covered Bridge Invitational this past weekend along with 24 other schools including a few top-state championship programs and came away with two runner up finishes and two victories along with many impressive performances.

Varsity Girls Take Second Place

The Lady Eagles came into the meet as the #4 ranked All-Class team in Georgia (#2 ranked in AAAAAA) and were narrowly defeated by the Lady Lions of Peachtree Ridge (#5 ranked in Georgia and #3 in AAAAAA) 68-73.

Host Roswell was third (106 pts) followed by Lakeside-Evans in fourth (144 pts). A total of 21 teams competed. Milton was headed by the overall victory of senior tri-captain Annie Kelly, who completed the course in 19:06 to win by over 17 seconds. Kelly has yet to lose a race this season. The race was a see-saw battle with Milton & Peachtree Ridge exchanging the team lead several times as the race progressed. The Lady Lions eventually prevailed, but not until after some strong performances turned in by the Lady Eagles.

Senior tri-captain Maddie Butzer held off both of Peachtree Ridge’s top runners to record a ninth place finish (20:14) and was followed by sophomore Amy Ruiz (15th-21:01) and senior Blair Gelb (20th-21:08).  Sophomore Juanita Pardo (28th-21:23) and Junior Abbey Jordan (31st-21:29) rounded out the scorers for Milton in this very close team battle.

Milton Varsity Boys Lose by Slim Margin

The battle continued as the Lions of Peachtree Ridge (#5 ranked All-Class team in Georgia and #3 ranked in AAAAAA) pulled off the upset and defeated the Eagles of Milton (#3 ranked All-Class and #1 ranked in AAAAAA) by the slimmest of margins, 46-49.

Considering the field included 23 scoring teams, this race looked more like a dual meet than a big invitational.  The Lions, led by their 1-2 finish (Josh Brickell-15:48 & Kevin Mills-16:30) were the big factor in getting Peachtree Ridge the win.

Milton countered by finishing all 5 of its scoring runners first (and in the top-17, out of 210 runners in the field) but it just was not enough.

Lakeside-Evans was a distant third (88 pts) and way further back was North Cobb (4th-199 pts). The Eagles were led by senior Nathan Riech who kept close to the Lions top-2 and eventually held on for third (16:48). Senior Miles Dayoub continued his strong season with 17:21 good for 6th place. Senior tri-captain Ryan Kelly led Milton’s strong pack as he was 10th (17:31). Anchoring the Eagles were freshman sensation Brad Bannister (13th-17:36) and senior tri-captain Alex Marshall (17th-17:41).

JV Girls Dominate Peachtree Ridge Lions

The Lady Eagles continued their Junior Varsity race dominance this season and recorded a convincing 23-point win over the Lions of Peachtree Ridge and 20 other schools to win the race.  Milton put its top-3 runners in the top-5 positions overall to secure the win.

Freshman Riley Burr contended for the overall win and eventually settled for 3rd in a personal best of 22:41.  Juniors Rachel Cronin (4th-22:43) and Addie Luxton (5th-22:44) followed and were supported by sophomore Michelle Pick (11th-23:13) and junior Katie Robinson (16th-23:49) who completed the victory for the Lady Eagles.

JV Boys Defeat 22 Schools to Win

Milton’s depth showed again as the junior varsity boys won convincingly by placing 9 finishers in the top-16 places to record a low point total of 35 in defeating 22 schools. Peachtree Ridge was a distant second (88 pts).

Leading the charge for the Eagles was freshman John Fravel’s near win (2nd-18:18) losing the overall race by less than a second.  Backing up Fravel was junior Brendan Kemple who led numerous times during the race and eventually finished 6th out of 319 runners in the race. Kemple’s 18:33 led a flurry of Eagle finishers that locked up the meet win as Milton runners  took  the next 5 finishing positions.  Senior’s Zach Bailey (12th-18:55), Justin Thornsberry (11th-19:09) and Adam Jackson (12th-19:09) bookended freshman Matt McGorrey (9th-19:00) and Jack Bluth (10th-19:07)!

Lady Eagles Place Third in Open Girls

The Lady Eagles garnered a strong 3rd place out of 8 scoring schools. Milton (74 pts) was led by a trio of sophomores with Mackensey Skouson (9th), Sarah Lesley (13th) and Laurie Xiao (15th) leading the charge as Johns Creek (1st-40 pts) and Pope (2nd-55 pts) just bested the Lady Eagles.

3 Eagles in Open Boys Finish in Top 10

Milton (2nd-49 pts) lost a close team race with the Greyhounds of Pope (1st-37 pts) even though the Eagles placed 3 finishers in the top-10!  11 teams scored in the race. Brock Schutt led the charge and led a few times in the race to record a solid 4th place finish (20:51) out of 181 finishers. Evan Neenan followed (8th-21:26) along with John Jurgens (10th-21:30).