Cool weather in the morning allowed for some top flight competition at the 2nd Annual Coach Wood Invitational. Parkview\'s boys earned a commanding win over 2nd place Mill Creek HS and 3rd place Oconee Co. as Michael Winston and Patrick Ollinger took 1st and 2nd to lead the Panthers to victory.
A compilation of rankings for the state of Georgia for divisions A-AAAAA. These rankings do not necessarily reflect the views of the webmaster so please reserve your comments for the message board! Thanks!
en Hubers posted the 2nd fastest time ever at Wild Horse Creek Park as he was crowned Cobb Co. Champion over a valiant effort by Jay Heller of Walton as both runners crossed the line under 16 minutes with Huber taking the win in 15:46 to Heller\'s 15:53. But while McEachern claimed the individual champion, Walton took home the team title in a close battle 59-64.
Mother Nature played havoc with this weekends races as teams from Georgia faced tough conditions at several large meets this weekend. At Furman, a muddy course provided quite a challenge for several of the states top teams competing against an elite field from multiple states. Throw in an SAT weekend and you had the makings of a real test for Georgia teams.
Boys and Girls Team Rankings for 10/2
Lakewview-Fort Oglethorpe\'s lady Warriors placed 7 in the top 15 and all under 22:00 to take the team title at the Ridge Ferry Invitational. Justine Evatt and Kaitlin Shaw led the way with 2nd and 3rd place finishes in 20:40 and 20:45. Sarah Lee Kelly, of LaFayette, was the overall winner in an impressive time of 20:10.
In honor of their fallen teammate, the Heritage high school cross country team participated at the Athens Academy Invitational on Saturday. Many members of the family of Aubrae Gunderson were their in support. It\'s been an emotional week for the Patriots of Heritage but they reminded us all of what this great sport is all about. Kudos to you, Heritage. Coach Smith and Coach Wade have a remarkable group of athletes to work with and they celebrated the life of Aubrae Gunderson and did honor to her memory. It was a prvilege to compete with you on this day and best of luck to you all the rest of the season.
Marist put together an exceptional race to take down Parkview at the 1st Asics Invitational held under the lights!
When the results were announced, you could see the disapopintment on the faces of the Oconee runners. Through a scoring error, St. Pius was originally announced as the winners of the Spartan Invitational. After some careful checking, it was discovered that the boys from Oconee had indeed won, thanks in part to the effort of Bradley Thomas.
The competition was outstanding at the Athens Academy Spartan Invitational on Saturday as the girls race came down to the 6th runner to decide the winner. South Forsyth, ranked #9 in AAAAA, relied on the finish of Chelsey MdDade to hold off Blessed Trinity, #2 for AAA girls. Jennifer Barbi led the way for South Forsyth with a 3rd place finish in 20:27 behind Whitney Bishoff, last years state champ in A, who finished in 20:10 and freshman Megan Steinocher, of Mill Creek High School, in 20:19.
In a bit of an upset, the #9 ranked North Gwinnett boys pulled off a big win over the #6 ranked boys from Lassiter at the Westover Invitational. Despite trailing at the 1 and 2 positions, North Gwinnett used great races from their 3,4 and 5 runners to hold on for the win.
The Grayson girls won in impressive fashion at Westover on Saturday, placing 4 girls in the top 9 of the 200+ runners and 6 in the top 20. Abby Self led the way with an impressive 18:25 to take a 46 second win over Brandi Luongo of Northgate who finished in 19:21. Brandi found herself in the midst of a Grayson invasion as Meredith White (19:21) and Mandy Tennyson(19:23), also of Grayon finished 3rd and 4th.
Several top 10 teams will do battle on Saturday at the Athens Academy Invitational. Athens Academy (#3 in A), Athens Christian (#2 in A) , Blessed Trinity (#2 in AAA) , Oconee Co.(#3 in AAA) , Our Lady of Mercy (#4 in A) , St. Pius (#5 in AAAA) and South Forsyth (#9 in AAAAA) are all top 10 ranked teams in their respective divisions on the girls side. On the boys side, Oconee Co. and Blessed Trinity are ranked #2 and #3 in AAA while St. Pius X is ranked #2 in AAAAA. Our Lady of Mercy is ranked #2 in A and Oglethorpe Co. and North Oconee are both ranked in the top 10 in AA, while Hepzibah\'s boys are ranked #7 in AAA.
From all accounts, Aubrae Gunderson, was a coaches and teachers dream. Excelling in the classroom as well as in her athletic pursuits, Gunderson was the type of athlete that coaches dream of working with. Monday evening, while practicing with her team, young Aubrae, just 15 years old, was struck and killed by a motorist. Aubrae was one of the top members on a Heritage team that is considered one of the best in the state in their classification.
Top team rankings for the week of 9/26/2005.
Parkview boys finish 10th at Great American ROC! Collins Hill girls 8th in ROC girls race. Marist boys 12th.
The official 5A Rankings for boys and girls. 4A and 1A will come out tomorrow.
Emily Reese and Emily Borsare were at it again on Saturday and this time, the young lady from McIntosh found herself on the winning end both individually as well as in the team standings, as the McIntosh girls looked most impressive at the Boling Park Invitational edging out kennesaw Mountain for the win.
Jackie Drouin had a wake up call at the Carrollton Invitational as she found herself 10 seconds behind Abby Self of Grayson at the end of the race. Only a week before the Gwinnett Co. Championships, the talented sophomore from Grayson had delivered a powerful message. Ms. Drouin obviously took heed of that message as she ran a smart race to hold off Self for a 5 second win at Gainseville on Saturdya. More importantly, she led the way for an impressive 29 point victory for her team over their county rivals Grayson and Peachtree Ridge.
Another great day at Berry as the Clara Bowl once again lived up to expectations. The Parkview boys took the team title in the championship race over Brookwood by 3 points and yet the story of the day had to be the performance of two young ladies with the same first name. The Emily\'s put on a show before a huge crowd as they blazed through the course in a blistering 17:38 and 17:41 to take the top 2 spots. Reese had a large early lead but Borsare seemed to close the gap over the last mile. As they came over the last rise on the way to the finish line, Reese had a slim 3 second margin on the hard charging Borsare. These two young ladies have most definitely taken things to another level with their blistering performance.
As long as I\'ve been coaching, the Berry meet...uh...Clara Bowl Invitational, has held a special place in the hearts of many running fans in the state. For some, this will be their first experience with a big meet atmosphere. As a coach, the anticipation of seeing how the puppies handle the pressure always causes moments of anxiety but one thing is certain, the spectacle of the meet at Berry College is an experience that most will not soon forget.
We\'ve added free webpages for you and your team. Complete control of posting your schedule, updating your athletes, entering news items for your team, posting practice schedules and even giving each athlete on your team that meets the cut off standard a page of their own with a graphical look at thier season. Eventually, we hope to be able to add even more information to the athlete pages for college coaches to peruse and it\'s all free. So what\'s the catch?
COACHES - Control your team home page on this state site. Click here to find out more...
Looking to get published? GATFXC.com is looking for interested parties to help expand coverage to all areas of the state in order to provide more coverage for the athletes of Georgia. Students working on a school newspaper, local reporters or just someone who recognizes a good story...we are looking for the following:
After much debate, we will attempt to continue the team rankings list from years past. In order to complete this task, we need volunteers from the coaching community to make it happen.
When the Dekalb International Training Center decided they wanted to host an elite meet for local and international talent, they knew that Murray Sanford was the man who could put it all together. That vision has become a reality as athletes from as far away as Guatemala will compete at Georgia Tech on May 28th.
Another Georgia track season has come to a close and the boys state meet provided a fitting ending for a fantastic season.
GACS wins by 5.5 over Holy Innocents while Landmark Christian wins by 20 over Jefferson.
Carrollton girls win big in AAA. North Springs wins in convincing fashion in AAAA.
The ladies from Redan finished with a flourish to take the team title at the Georgia Girls state meet. Aleesha Barber led the way with two 1st place finishes in the 100 and 300m Hurdles. McEachern edged out Collins Hill for the runner up trophy but the day belonged to Redan and the Lady Raiders as they won in convincing fashion!