Canes, Lady Cats win region XC titles

The Cartersville boys and the Woodland girls cross country teams won region championships Thursday while the Cartersville girls placed second and the Woodland boys earned a third place.

The Cartersville boys cross country team captured the 2019 Region 5-AAAA championship Thursday at Clinton Farms in Douglas County with Bill Archer (16:18), Sidney Stegall (16:24), and Alex Rios (16:37) taking the top three individual spots overall.

The Hurricanes other four competitors — Levi Booth (6th, 17:05), Colin McCann (9th, 17:22), Sam Peters (11th, 17:30), and Max Florence (12th, 17:44) all finished in the top 12 of 47 runners. Cartersville, with 21 team points, defeated runner-up LaGrange (40) by 19 points. Chapel Hill placed third with 88 points.

The Cartersville girls team finished region runner-up after being edged by LaGrange by only four points. Chapel Hill’s Frances Butts won the individual title in 20:15 with the Panthers finishing third in a tie-breaker with Cartersville. The Lady Canes’ top three runners were in the top eight led by a runner-up finish by McKinsey Spinks (20:22). Trinity Atkins (4th, 21:20) and Jaxiry Betancourt (8th, 21:40) were close behind in a field of 44 runners. Alice Terry (19th, 22:36), Trista Kelly (25th, 23:02), Samantha Herrera (28th, 24:19), and Metztli Munoz (33rd, 25:15) rounded out the Cartersville competitors.

The Woodland girls won the Region 7-AAAAA championship Thursday on their home course with the Woodland boys placing third. McKenna Trapheagen and Rylee Evans led the Lady Cats to victory by finishing first and second individually. Trapheagen covered the 5k course in 18:16. Evans’ time was 19:39.

The Lady Cats finished with 32 team points and five runners among the top 12 individuals. The Rome girls were second (48) and Carrollton (81) finished third.

Rounding out the Lady Cats competitors were Danielle Thayer (8th, 21:32), Marlee Bowles (9th, 21:36), Emma Segars (12th, 21:49), and Erica Boatner (37th, 24:12).

The Woodland boys (70) finished third behind region winner Rome (42) and runner-up Carrollton (53).

Carrollton’s Collin Jones won the individual race in 16:32.

Woodland was led by Patrick Bollwerk (8th, 17:19) and Tyler Jones (9th, 17:31). Dylan Stermer (11th, 17:36), John Forsyth (18th, 18:01), McKinley Chappell (24th, 18:16), Kameron Chappell (34th, 18:42), and Ian Van Order (38th, 19:05) rounded out the Wildcats finishes in the field of 60 runners.

Both Cass teams placed eighth.

Jessica Zukowsky led the Lady Colonels’ runners with a 38th place finish in 24:50. Ashton Johnson (44th, 27:03), Aislynn Leckwald (48th, 30:34), Melanie Armstead (49th, 32:27), and Angel Williamson (50th, 35:09) were the other Cass competitors.

Andrew Glaze led the Cass boys with a 12th place finish in 17:37. He was followed by fellow Colonels Prem Patel (35th, 18:53), Bryce Kresho (39th, 19:07), Jake Wright (51st, 20:32), Andrew Rampey (52nd, 20:33), and Tyler McKnight (53rd, 21:05).

The GHSA state cross country championships will be at Carrollton High School November 1 and 2.

The Cartersville girls and boys teams will compete in the Class AAAA races the morning of Friday, November 1. The boys race will be at 9 a.m. with the girls race to follow.

The Woodland girls and boys Class AAAAA races will be later that same day at 12 noon and 12:45 p.m.