Emma Dobson wins Pickens with late charge

 

JASPER, GA - Fall has settled upon North Georgia and that means we are in the prime of Cross Country! Cool dry air is welcomed after the hot and muggy summer we've had to endure. The War Eagles headed north to Roper Park in Jasper, Georgia to run in the Pickens N Grinnin' Invitational where 34 teams were entered into a variety of classifications.  What makes this race any different from when we ran here?  This time it was all under the lights.  That's right, night racing!  Temperatures dropped into the 50s as we approached the final Championship races of the meet.

Freshman Emma Dobson broke the school 5K record “under the lights” on her way to winning the Girls Championship race as she broke free with a late surge with about 800m to go. Her time of 18:41.20 bests a record held by Lindsey Grater since 2014.  Seniors Izzy Wintermantel and Kayleigh McBride finished together at 21:43 and freshman Bella McClenathen and junior Crystal Vaca finished out the scoring to bring the Lady War Eagles to a 6th place finish overall behind three 5A powerhouses that are Top-10 teams in the state.

Another big team story for the day was how FAST the course ran!  Our team saw 25 runners cross the finish line with the best personal times! Sophomore Mia Meija beat her personal best by over 4:30.  Freshmen Paola Salazar and Julianna Merced beat their personal bests by over 3 minutes.  Junior Kevin Martinez beat his personal best by over 2 minutes.  Freshman Abilene Sanchez and Senior Reyna Palacio bested their PRs by over 1 minute, and we had 9 other runners that beat their best times by over 30 seconds.  Great effort from all of our War Eagle runners!  The team celebrated afterwards by stopping at Waffle House on the way back to Gainesville.

Photo by Jonathan Ng (MileSplit)

INDIVIDUAL CXC FINISHERS (TOP 7 RUNNERS)

Medalists in Bold

VARSITY BOYS (Team: 15th Place, 386 points)
  1. Jefferson Sibrian, 60th (57)
  2. Easton Chaffin, 69th (66)
  3. Jonathan Smith, 83rd (76)
  4. Pedro Pedro-Martin, 102nd (91)
  5. Colton Blackburn, 109th (96)
  6. Romeo Vazquez
  7. Miguel Valdez

JV BOYS - OPEN RACE

  1. Israel Alcantar, 104th
  2. Roger Vasquez, 134th
  3. Zach Smith, 141st

VARSITY CHAMPIONSHIP GIRLS (Team: 6th Place, 195 points)

  1. Emma Dobson, 1st (1)
  2. Izzy Wintermantel, 43rd (41)
  3. Kayleigh McBride, 44th (42)
  4. Bella McClenathen, 56th (53)
  5. Crystal Vaca, 62nd (58)
  6. Kylor Stewart
  7. Natalie Menjivar

JV CHAMPIONSHIP GIRLS (Team: 5th Place, 176 points)

  1. Harper Irvin, 44th (27)
  2. Julianna Merced, 45th (28)
  3. Abilene Sanchez, 47th (30)
  4. Reyna Palacios, 67th (42)
  5. Briana Aguilar, 78th (49)
  6. Melanie Ceballos-Benitez

JV GIRLS - OPEN RACE (Team: 6th Place, 186 points)

  1. Alexa Rodriguez, 37th (28)
  2. BryAna Reyna, 50th (37)
  3. Beberly Domingo, 55th (39)
  4. Paola Salazar, 56th (40)
  5. Leslie Cruz, 60th (42)
  6. Mia Mejia

25 NEW PERSONAL RECORDS (PR)
  • Meija, Mia
  • Salazar, Paola 
  • Merced, Julianna 
  • Martinez, Kevin 
  • Sanchez, Abilene 
  • Palacios, Reyna 
  • Rodriguez, Alexa 
  • Sibrian, Jefferson 
  • Aguilar, Briana 
  • Menjivar, Natalie 
  • Chaffin, Easton 
  • Pedro-Martin, Pedro 
  • Valdez, Miguel 
  • Blackburn, Colton 
  • Moreno, Leilani 
  • Dobson, Emma 
  • Valdez, Vanessa 
  • Ceballos-Benitez, Melanie 
  • Vasquez, Romeo 
  • Stewart, Kylor 
  • Aguilar, Alison
  • McClenathen, Bella
  • McBride, Kayleigh
  • Vaca, Crystal
  • Irvin, Harper



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