Brantley County’s Lady Herons and Herons, Pierce County’s Lady Bears and Bacon County’s Lady Red Raiders qualified for the cross-country state finals during Sectional meets Saturday.
Brantley County’s crosscountry teams competed in Hazlehurst in Class A Division 1 Sectional for Regions 1, 3, 4 and 8. The Lady Herons placed fourth in the 15-team girls’ event hosted by Jeff Davis while the Herons finished ninth in the 21-team boys meet held November 1.
The Lady Red Raiders recorded an 8th-place showing while the Red Raiders finished 20th in the field.
The Lady Bears recorded a 10th-place finish in the 15-team girls’ Class AA Sectional for Regions 1, 2, 3 and 8 hosted by Commerce at East Jackson High School. The Bears missed the cut placing 14th in the 19-team boys’ meet.
Ware County’s Lady Gators were represented by two runners in the Class 4A Sectional for Regions 1, 2, 3 and 4 at the Jones County Cross-Country Course in Gray. The Gators finished 16th in the 23-team boys’ field.
The top 12 teams in each of the two Sectionals for each classification advance to the state finals scheduled to begin Friday, November 7 at Carrollton High School for Class 5A, Class 4A and Private (1A-3A).
Class 6A, Class 3A, Class 2A, Class A DI and Class A DII will compete Saturday, November 8.
The first 20 individual finishers from each Sectional in all classes qualify for the state meet regardless of whether they are a member of a qualifying team.
Class 4A
GRAY — Harris County and host Jones County captured Sectional crowns in the girls’ and boys’ divisions respectively.
The Lady Gators were represented by Faith Williams (99th; 29:32.40) and Bronwyn Bennett (112th; 37:25.47) in the field of 112 runners. The winning time for the girls’ event was 18:52.66.
Finishing behind Harris County (73 points) to earn spots in the finals were Starrs Mill (80), Maynard Jackson (87), Pace Academy (93), Jones County (122), Midtwon (127), Ola (195), Woodland-Stockbridge (215), Locust Grove (245), Central (253), Union Grove (279) and Perry (349). The rest of the field included Wayne County (415), Warner Robins (415) and Griffin (452).
The Gators were led by the 66th-place finish of Brayten Hood’s time of 18:22.60 in the field of 166 runners. The winning time was 15:37.07.
Hood was followed by Brock Payne (95th; 19:38.93), Wesley Frye (107th; 20:13.33), Silas Faith (108th; 20:13.45); Lorenzo Harris (123rd; 20:37.08), Damari Bennett (128th; 20:55.05) and Giovanni Solorio (131st; 20:59.08).
Jones County posted 62 points for the victory. Joining the Greyhounds at the state meet are Pace Academy (76), Maynard Jackson (93), Starrs Mill (94), Midtown (137), Harris County (178), Benedictine (203), Union Grove (211), Woodland-Stockbridge (278), Central (281), Warner Robins (301) and Stockbridge (336).
Also competing were Northside-Columbus (343), Locust Grove (421), Drew (436), Ware County (488), Perry (532), Wayne County (551), Mays (553), Creekside (620), Ola (646), MLK (661) and Forest Park (678).
Class A DI
HAZLEHURST — Host Jeff Davis made a clean sweep of the girls’ and boys’ titles.
The Lady Yellow Jackets posted a team score of 44 points to easily run away from the field claiming four of the top nine spots.
They were followed by Jasper County (79), Vidalia (121), Brantley County (141), Banks County (148), Rabun County (171), Toombs County (198), Bacon County (204), Barrow Arts & Science Academy (218), Woodville-Tompkins (219), Fitzgerald (244) and Berrien (297).
Also competing were Social Circle (372), Worth County (373) and Thomasville (399).
Julia Miller paced the Lady Herons finishing 11th in the field of 108 runners posting a time of 22:51.70. The winning time was 19:50.
Miller was followed by teammates Jaelynn Evans (22nd; 23:25), Linzi Parker (34th; 24:44.80), Klara Banes (39th; 24:53.30) and Delaney Lloyd (44th; 25:08.80).
In the boys’ meet, the Yellow Jacket totaled 77 points with all five runners inside the top 25. They were followed by Vidalia (83), Toombs County (142), Barrow Arts & Science Academy (148), Worth County (151), Oglethorpe (181), Jasper County (181), Lamar County (202), Brantley County (221), Social Circle (255), Woodville-Tompkins (261) and Berrien (263).
The rest of the field included Commerce (341), Elbert County (351), Fitzgerald (373), Rabun County (404), Banks County (442), Thomasville (501), Swainsboro (507), Bacon County (554) and Putnam County (606).
Nathan Howell topped the Herons placing 27th with a time of 18:36.30 in the field of 143 runners. The winning time was 16:15.20.
Howell was followed by Grant Middleton (28th; 18:39.90), Brayden Middleton (39th; 19:08.50), Max Herrin (63rd; 19:52.70), Hayze Evans (69th; 20:02.80), Eli Nielson (91stl 20L42,70) and Jayden Simmons (126th; 22:26).
BCHS had four runners participate in the junior varsity event. Evinrude Green (15th; 21:32.80) led the way and was followed by Carter Lentz (16th; 21:40.50), Cayson Lentz (25th; 23:17.50) and Bryan Chevalier (32nd; 27:25).
Class 2A
COMMERCE — Savannah Arts Academy’s Lady Panthers and Columbus High posted victories here at East Jackson High School.
The Lady Panthers continued their season dominance finishing with 32 points having five members finish in the top 11 postions. They were followed by Columbus (48), host East Jackson (98), Franklin County (165), Pike County (183), Morgan County (196), Spencer (206), Hart County (234), Jackson (238), PCHS (253), Appling County (272) and Shaw (276).
Also running were Tattnall County (293), Cook (307) and Jordan (375).
The Lady Bears were paced by Nevaeh Grant’s 35th-place showing with a time of 24:50.97 in the field of 97 runners. The winning time was 19:37.16.
Grant was followed by Selah Griffis (40th; 25:13.15), Baylee Rose Tippins (58th; 26:35.82), Rillie DePratter (59th; 26:36.46), Ana Llamas-Diaz (69th; 27:47.75), Myla Martinez (79th; 30:04.66) and Addison Folette (80th; 30:16.36).
Columbus clipped East Jackson 54 to 58 to win the boys’ meet. Columbus had three of the top six finishers while East Jackson’s top three finished fifth through 10th.
Also earning state berths were Savannah Arts Academy (102), Franklin County (112), Morgan County (143), Hart County (176), Crisp County (203), Pike County (215), Tattnall County (228), Spencer (263), Jordan (306) and Callaway (330).
The rest of the field included Cook (335), Pierce County (352), Appling County (402), Shaw (412), Jackson (482), Stephens County (500) and Kendrick (585).
Brandon Yepes (52nd; 19:25.90) topped the Bears. The winning time was 16:13.30 in the field of 131 runners.
Yepes was followed by Breck Benton (61st; 19:51.20), Jared Watson (66th; 20:01.50), Samuel Carrillo (88th; 21:10.60), Jeb Bradley (89th; 21:17.30), James Alonso (99th; 21:47.30) and Jaxson Williams (105th; 22:16).
