War Eagles hope late season success carries into Sectionals


BOGART, GA - The North Oconee Invitational marks the last race before postseason starts.   The War Eagles will have a little bit of a rest before 3A Sectionals takes place on November 1st up in Ringgold, Georgia.

The highlight of our business trip to North Oconee was freshman Emma Dobson beating her own school record a week after breaking it at Pickens by finishing 2nd today with a time of 18:31.52.  The girls showed some resilience as they had to make up the absence of senior Kayleigh McBride and we had strong finishes from Izzy Wintermantel, Bella McClenathen, Crystal Vaca, and Natalie Menjivar with 4 of our 5 scorers running PRs.  The girls finished 6th overall behind a mix of 3A and larger schools. 

For the boys, sophomore Jefferson Sibrian ran a team season best of 18:33.64.  Junior Easton Chaffin and senior Jonathan Smith both ran sub-20, but it wasn’t enough to move the team up further than 19th overall. 

The end of the regular season brings excitement of postseason races, but it comes bitter sweet as it marks the end of the JV season.  Our JV squads had some highlights of their own this year, one being a perfect team finish of 15 points at our own War Eagle Invitational in August.  These athletes represent the future build of our team and we look forward to welcoming them back for summer conditioning for the 2026 season. 
Now, postseason...what does that mean?
 
Unlike other sports, we don't have a tournament bracket based on rankings.  We have a Sectional and a State Final...and each runner is in charge of their own destiny.  In GHSA, there are 2 Sectional races for each class (we are 3A) held and all the teams are split into Sectional A and Sectional B.  We are running our sectional against all of the "B" schools.  Team wise, the Top-12 teams will advance to the State Meet in Carrollton on November 8th.  A bonus...the Top-20 individual finishers will also get an invite to the State Meet, regardless of how their teams finish.

Here is also the catch…we can ONLY run 7 runners at the State Meet in Carrollton.  So what happens if someone gets sick or can’t travel with the team to State?  In order to qualify for State, you are required to run in your sectional.  So we will be running our team of 7, plus some of the varsity reserve runners (they will run in a separate JV race) to make sure they all qualify in the event we need to call the reserves up. 

So now we will take a week off racing to get in some good workouts and mentally prepare for our business trip to Heritage-Catoosa High up in Ringgold on November 1st.  We race in the morning, so we will be doing an overnight trip with the team. 
That is all for now, but exciting times coming up for Chestatee XC.  Thank you all for your support of your student athletes and support of our program. 


INDIVIDUAL CXC FINISHERS (TOP 7 RUNNERS)

Medalists in Bold

VARSITY BOYS (Team: 19th Place, 545 points)
  1. Jefferson Sibrian, 89th (87)
  2. Easton Chaffin, 104th (102)
  3. Jonathan Smith, 112th (109)
  4. Pedro Pedro-Martin, 125th (120)
  5. Romeo Vasquez, 134th (127)
  6. Miguel Valdez, 135th
  7. Colton Blackburn, 145th


JV BOYS - OPEN RACE

  1. Israel Alcantar, 37th
  2. Jose Romero, 40th
  3. Zach Smith, 59th


VARSITY GIRLS (Team: 6th Place, 189 points)

  1. Emma Dobson, 2nd (2)
  2. Izzy Wintermantel, 47th (42)
  3. Bella McClenathen, 49th (44)
  4. Crystal Vaca, 51st (46)
  5. Natalie Menjivar, 60th (55)
  6. Kylor Stewart, 88th
  7. Alison Aguilar, 100th

JV CHAMPIONSHIP GIRLS (Team: 7th Place, 207 points)

  1. Leilani Moreno, 22nd (22)
  2. Vanessa Valdez, 38th (34)
  3. Harper Irvin, 41st (37)
  4. Abilene Sanchez, 59th (52)
  5. Julianna Merced, 71st (62)
  6. Alexa Rodriguez, 82nd
  7. Melanie Caballos, 88th


JV GIRLS - OPEN RACE

  1. Bryana Reyna, 61st
  2. Beberly Domingo, 72nd



14 NEW PERSONAL RECORDS (PR)
  • Jefferson Sibrian
  • Easton Chaffin
  • Jose Romero
  • Emma Dobson
  • Bella McClenathen
  • Crystal Vaca
  • Natalie Menjivar
  • Leilani Moreno
  • Vanessa Valdez
  • Harper Irvin
  • Abilene Sanchez
  • Alexa Rodriguez
  • Melanie Caballos
  • BryAna Reyna

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