2008 Region Meet
The Eagles are returning to the state meet! The Milton boy’s cross country team finished a strong 3rd (101 pts) out of 10 schools to qualify for the state meet. The 10th ranked Eagles fell to 5th ranked Walton (1st-46 pts) and 7th ranked Lassiter (2nd-65 points) and easily handled Centennial (4th-114 pts) and surprising Alpharetta (5th-122 pts). Tyler Tomy again was the top Milton finisher as he ran with the leaders most of the race and eventually finished 11th (16:50). Senior co-captain Fraser Reade followed (18th-17:04) in a very gutsy effort. Running their best race of the season, the two Alex’s (Alex Salvatierra 22nd-17:16 and senior Alex Keeter 24th-17:18) ran all-time bests! Senior Ryan Price was within 4 seconds of his all-time best finishing 26th (17:22). Seniors Seth Tomy (30th) and Travis Turner (43rd) concluded the Milton runners who qualified for the state meet.
The Lady Eagles finished an impressive 5th place (142 pts), besting 5 schools to conclude their season. Alpharetta (1st-56 pts) upset Walton (2nd-57 pts) by one point to win the meet! Roswell finished 3rd (92 pts) with Centennial 4th (129 pts). Running their best team average of the season (21:01) and with their smallest spread (29 seconds from their 1st to 5th runner), Milton contended for the last state qualifying spot the entire race! The freshman again were the story as the Lady Eagles were led by the trio of Heather Harman (22nd-20:48), Lindsay Gruca (23rd-20:50), and Amanda Lockwood (29th-21:02) all running lifetime bests! Backing up this group was a strong run from Stephanie Butzer (32nd-21:06) and another incredible finish by senior co-captain Jamie Chandler (36th-21:17) as she passed as many as 7 runners in the final 300 meters! Also contributing to the Lady Eagles were Junior Cori Deutsch (49th-22:04) and a gutsy finish for Junior Chelsea Weiermiller (61st at 22:53) recovering from her end of season injury.
2008 Marist Class Clash
Overall Team Results
The 6 competing schools were divided into 2 teams: The Black Team of Marist, South Paulding and Milton pitted against the White Team of Northview, North Forsyth and Blessed Trinity. Also unique to this race is that the girls start their race only 4 minutes before the boys start and the scores are tabulated by the first 12 runners from each of the 2 teams to finish, boy or girl. In the overall score the Black Team won 275-325 combining the boy’s and girl’s scores. The White team won the very close girl’s race 145-155 but the boy’s race was dominated by the Black Team 120-180 thus securing the overall team victory.
Varsity Girls
With Milton resting their varsity runners for the upcoming region meet next Thursday, the Lady Eagles toed the line with their top-JV athletes and made a very respectable showing racing against 5 other team’s varsity athletes. Milton finished 4th (107 pts) besting North Forsyth (115 pts) and South Paulding. Leading the Lady Eagles was an all-time best of 22:40 (17th) by Brynn Weiermiller. Brynn got out well and continued to pass runners the entire race on the way to her all-time PR! Finishing their strong seasons, Samantha Rate (20th-23:11), Julia Campolong (21st-23:25) and freshman Lauren Schmidt (22nd-23:34) made up Milton’s pack. Also running the varsity race were Rachel Gravlee (27th), Maddy Hassett (28th) and Allie Amos (34th).
Varsity Boys
Like the girls, the Eagle’s varsity runners rested for the upcoming region race on Thursday so Milton’s top-JV athletes rose to the challenge and raced with varsity athletes from 4 other schools and came away with a amazing 4th place finish (81 pts) narrowly losing to Blessed Trinity’s JV (72 pts). Marist totally dominated the affair winning with 19 pts with Northview 2nd (65 pts). The Eagles bested North Forsyth (5th-147 pts) and South Paulding (6th-185 pts) varsity squads!! Leading the way for Milton was a true team effort as senior Adam Zucker (13th-18:40) led the Eagles as all-7 teammates finished in a span of only 25 seconds! Following Adam’s performance was senior co-captain Ryan Winkel running another solid effort (15th-18:43). Jody Hirschi (16th-18:44) and freshman Anthony Machan (17th-18:51) followed closely behind and were supported by Andrew Barris (20th-19:01), and seniors Brandon Halls (22nd-19:02) and Andrew Funari (25th-19:07).
JV Girls
The Lady Eagles showed their consistency again with another strong finish to back up their performances at County and Coach Wood with a solid 3rd place showing (63pts) losing to Northview (2nd-43 pts) and winner host Marist (35 pts) and besting Blessed Trinity (4th-84 pts). Moving up the entire race and passing many runners in the last mile, Meredith Naylor finished in an outstanding 5th place (23:10) running an all-time best and just getting nipped at the line by the 4th place finisher! Her performance was followed by a season’s best by Anika Scholz (9th-23:33) and a 2nd best all time performance by senior Christina McLeod (12th-23:35). An inspiring run by Lisa Bluth (17th-24:04) as she passed as many as 10 runners in the last mile (5 alone in the last 400m) to almost snag Northview’s #5 runner and thus kept it close in the team scoring! Rounding out the scoring for Milton was another impressive run by Elizabeth Bunn (23rd-24:29) as she also moved through the field the entire race.
JV Boys
The depth and strength of the Eagle boy’s team showed with a 2nd place (66 pts) besting Northview (76pts), Blessed Trinity (85 pts) and North Forsyth (155 pts) losing only to host Marist who scored a perfect 15pts. Team running propelled Milton to the runner-up finish as John Britt Easterling led the charge (10th-19:12) and was followed by 6 more Milton runners in a span of only 11 seconds!! Joe Hogg (12th-19:21), Chris Chernick (13th-19:24), Ryan Guilbault (14th-19:27) and Boyd Guttery (17th-19:30) concluded the scoring for Milton. An outstanding run by Justin Jackson (18th-19:31) and David Hasslinger (19th-19:32) concluded the top-7 finishers for the Eagles.
Next up for Milton is the Region 6-AAAAA meet (for varsity runners) on Thursday, Oct 30th on the Corps of Engineers Property in Acworth, GA to determine the region representatives for the Nov 8th GHSA State Meet to be held at Carrollton ES. The top-4 teams and top-6 individuals will qualify from the region meet to the state meet. The region race will include the following teams: Roswell, Alpharetta, Centennial, Pope, Kell, Wheeler, Walton, Campbell, Lassiter and Milton.
2008 Coach Wood
The Lady Eagles had a tough fight on their hands with all the Fulton County teams in attendance and came away with a solid 4th place finish (126 pts) out of 19 scoring teams. Milton got by Centennial (5th-127pts) but fell to Alpharetta (1st-53 pts), Northview (2nd-102 pts) and Chattahoochee (3rd-113 pts) even without their number 1 runner who failed to finish. Leading the way for the Lady Eagles was Stephanie Butzer. Her 19th place finish (20:57) was close to an all-time best and was a great rebound from her race a week ago at Furman. The freshman trio followed with all-time bests run by Heather Harman (25th-21:09), Lindsay Gruca (26th-21:15) and Amanda Lockwood (27th-21:17). But it was the running of the number 5 & 6 runners that held off Centennial as Cori Deutsch finished 34th (21:37) followed closely by senior co-captain Jamie Chandler in 35th (21:37). Also running in the varsity race and recording all-time best performances were Rachel Gravlee (21:56) and seniors Kelsey Campolong (also co-captain) (22:10) and Katie Winkel (22:34) who closed out their career at Milton with this race.
After being ranked for the first time in a few years, the Eagles showed why they are a top-10 team in the state of Georgia by winning the Varsity Division!! Their 83 points easily dispatched region foe Kell (2nd-99 pts) and AAAA power Lakeside-Dekalb (3rd-103 pts). This was a sweet win for Milton after 2 straight years of being runner-up at this meet. Leading the Eagles to victory was the front running of Tyler Tomy. Facing his rivals from the Fulton County meet 2 weeks previous, Tyler made a big move at just before 2 miles and never looked back and WON the race in an all-time best of 16:15! Tyler’s win came over Fulton County Champion Blake Kennedy of Alpharetta and 3rd-placer Spencer Carter of Northview. Milton then showed its strength with a flurry of all-time bests on the way to the team win. Senior co-captain Fraser Reade followed and broke that elusive 17 minute barrier with a fine 16:57 good for 9th place! Another all-time best was recorded and needed by senior Ryan Price (20th-17:18) as the Eagles did not run their normal #2 runner. The Alex’s continued their great season also recording all-time bests as senior Alex Keeter (24th-17:27) and sophomore Alex Salvatierra (29th-17:38) contributed heavily to the victory. Also breaking 18 was senior Travis Turner whose 17:52 was good for 38th place. 221 runners competed in the race along with 26 scoring schools. Also running varsity for Milton were senior Adam Zucker (53rd-18:06), an all-time best by senior co-captain Ryan Winkel (59th-18:08), senior Brandon Halls (67th-18:16) and freshman Anthony Machan (81st-18:23).
Continuing right where they left off after the Fulton County meet, the Lady Eagles continued their successful season with a 2nd place (41 pts) losing narrowly to arch-rival Northview (1st-26 pts) but besting 7 other schools including a deep and strong Marist squad (3rd-89 pts)! Leading the charge for Milton was the continually improving Samantha Rate. Her 22:17 put her up near the front (5th) the entire race. First-year runner Maddy Hassett kept close to Samantha and ran an all-time best (22:27) in finishing 8th! The Lady Eagles had a strong pack and it showed as the next Milton 6 runners finished in the next 35 seconds, many if not all in all-time best performances! Julia Campolong was next in a superb 22:39 (10th) followed by freshman sensation Lauren Schmidt (12th-22:44). Showing she is recovering from her weak ankle and from being sick Brynn Weiermiller ran her best time of the season (17th-23:04) and was followed by the outstanding effort of Allie Amos (18th-23:09) and senior Christina McLeod (20th-23:12). Also running in the JV race and recording season or all-times bests were Lisa Bluth (21st-23:14), Meredith Naylor (26th-23:26) and Shannon Moss (40th-24:28).
The Eagles again proved they are one of the top JV squads in the state with a hard fought 3rd place (87 points) falling to a very strong Marist squad (1st-30 pts-who ran their top-JV, runners #8-14) and narrowly losing to AAAA power Lakeside-Dekalb (85 pts). Milton has now only been beaten by 4 schools all season! Leading this power-house squad was senior Andrew Funari whose 13th place finish (18:25) may have been an all-time best! Jodi Hirschi closely followed (14th-18:31) along with another fine performance from Andrew Barris (15th-18:32). Very impressive finishes were run by David Hasslinger (20th-18:43), Chris Chernick (27th-18:59) and John-Britt Easterling (28th-19:00). The Milton freight-train continued with outstanding runs by Curtis Hildebrant (29th-19:04), Boyd Guttery (30th-19:05) and Ryan Guilbault (31st-19:06). Closing out the Eagle runners was freshman Matt Foley (40th-19:22) who ran some of the race with just one shoe but with help from some teammates was able to get it back on and finish with it!!
Next up for the Eagles is the always fun Nike Marist Class Clash on Saturday, October 25th where Milton will run their top-JV in the main race and combine with 2 other schools in a 2 team race against 3 other schools and will rest the varsity for the region meet which will be held the following Thursday, October 30th.
2008 Furman Invitational
The Milton Eagle Cross Country teams traveled to Greenville, SC for their annual overnite trip and to compete in the 38th running of the Furman University Invitational Cross Country Meet held on the school’s golf course, the site of two NCAA championship meets and were rewarded with some great team finishes and many strong individual performances.
JV Girls
To follow-up their amazing 2nd place finish at the Fulton County meet a week ago, the JV Lady Eagles continued their strong team running with a solid 4th place (113 pts) finish (just missing third to The Bowles School-109 pts) out of 23 scoring teams. Solid team pack running was the main factor in Milton’s high finish. The Lady Eagles were led by Samantha Rate’s 23:02 run good for 12th place in a field of 290 runners. Samantha started with the Lady Eagle pack and steadily moved up the entire race just missing the top-10. Milton’s pack was strong as evidenced by their tight finish. Leading the group was Julia Campolong (24th-23:39) whose outstanding 2nd half of the race really helped the Lady Eagles stay together and finish very strong. Coming in just behind Julia was a freight-train of Eagle runners: Katie Winkel-27th, 23:46, Lauren Schmidt-29th, 23:47, senior co-captain Kelsey Campolong-30th, 23:48, and Maddy Hassett-33rd, 23:54. Rounding out the top-7 was a strong run by Meredith Naylor (66th).
JV Boys
Going into this meet the JV Eagles had lost only to one team (Walton) all season and their top-team finishes continued with an incredible runner-up finish (94 pts) losing only to power-house Parkview (21pts) which dominated the race. Milton’s 2nd place bested 25 other schools including strong programs from Georgia schools that included Chapel Hill, Alexander, Grayson and Harrison. This is a significant team result for the JV Eagles! This group showed great patience in their race and were not phased by the large field (374 runners) and steadily moved up the entire race to place it’s top-7 runners in the first 35 finishers and only had a spread of 32 seconds between them! Leading this group was senior Travis Turner (10th-18:42) who rebounded well after his race at the county meet a week ago. Senior co-captain Ryan Winkel followed (15th-18:52) running again close to his all-time best. Freshman sensation Anthony Machan continued to impress with his gutsy 20th place effort (18:55). The Eagles then saw the next 4 finishers in a span of 8 seconds with senior Brandon Halls (26th-19:07), Andrew Barris (27th-19:08), Jody Hirschi (30th-19:12) and the surprising John Britt Easterling (32nd-19:14).
Varsity Girls
Even running without their number one runner, the Lady Eagles ran a very strong team race and kept some of the tough Georgia teams in sight and finished a very respectable 12th (338 pts) out of 41 scoring teams. Leading the way for Milton was the freshmen, who were the story of the day as these ladies finished as Milton’s top scorers! Rebounding after a tough race the week before at the County Championships, freshman Heather Harman looked and ran strong the entire race and her performance (48th-21:47) was close to an all-time best and led the Lady Eagles. The freshman duo of Amanda Lockwood (65th-22:05) and Lindsay Gruca (66th-22:05) followed and caught Stephanie Butzer right at the line (67th-22:06) after she had fallen about halfway through the race. Smart & tough running most of the race by Cori Deutsch (100th-22:38) kept the Milton pack together but eventually senior co-captain Jamie Chandler (97th-22:34) caught Cori near the finish with her terrific stretch run over the last 600 meters.
Varsity Boys
The last race of the day proved to be the warmest and it affected the Eagle runners but some strong performances led Milton to an 8th place (274 pts) in a field of 45 schools. Tyler Tomy continued his outstanding season with a hard-fought 12th place finish in a field of 306. Tyler was in the lead pack for the majority of the 1st half of the race and held on for a good finish. Large gaps in the Eagle team were the story of the race as senior co-captain Fraser Reade followed (36th-17:48) Tyler. Hamstring and ankle issued bothered senior Ryan Price but his 18:06 performance brought him in at 65th place. The Alex’s ran most of the way together with senior Alex Keeter (75th-18:14) besting sophomore Alex Salvatierra (86th-18:19). Senior Adam Zucker ran a very solid 18:42 (120th) and senior Seth Tomy concluded the Milton finishers (164th).
The Milton Cross Country teams next travel to Gainesville College this weekend for one of the team’s favorite meets, the Coach Wood Invitational where Milton has done very well these past few years and expects to do the same this time around.
2008 Fulton County Championship
The Milton Eagles Cross Country teams ventured over to Alpharetta’s Webb Bridge Park this past Saturday for this annual contest among the schools in Fulton County to crown a county champion and Milton came away with 2 team titles and the Best Overall Fulton County Program Award!
Open/JV Race
In this non-team scoring race, schools with more than 29 junior varsity runners ran this race, boy’s & girls together and Milton runners were the majority and came away with some impressive results. Senior Sarah Seanor won the girl’s race with Milton placing 9 runners in the top-10. The boy’s also commanded their race with many runners finishing in the top-15!
JV Girls
In the first race that counted towards the Best Overall Program Award, the Lady Eagles beat back Roswell (3rd) who had beaten them 3 weeks ago at WarPath and lost a tight battle with Northview to finish an impressive 2nd of 7 scoring teams!!
Up front, Rachel Gravlee was in the lead group the entire race and had a very good chance to win and ended up 3rd in a lifetime best (22:23). Following up Rachel’s effort were 4 more Milton runners in the top-21. The continually improving race by co-captain Kelsey Campolong (9th-23:06) led outstanding efforts by: Samantha Rate (15th), Brynn Weiermiller (16th) and senior Katie Winkle (21st). Also contributing to the Lady Eagles runner-up finish were Julia Campolong (25th) and Maddy Hassett (28th). Milton’s 2nd place finish scored 2 points towards the Best Overall Program Award.
JV Boys
Entering this meet the JV boys had lost only one race (Battle of ATL) all season and were very confident and the results showed it. The Eagles placed their top-7 runners in the top-18 positions to score an impressive win (38 points) over 7 other scoring schools.
Literally leading Milton to the team win was the Overall Win by Alex Salvatierra. In a two-way battle with a Centennial runner, Alex pulled away over the last half-mile to secure first place (18:31). The Eagles then showed their dominance as our next 6 runners finished in a span of 15 seconds! The hard-charging Andrew Funari (6th-19:11) passed many runners on the straightaway finish and was supported by freshman Anthony Machan (9th-19:17), senior co-captain Ryan Winkel (10th-19:17), Andrew Barris (12th-19:19), Chris Chernick (15th-19:26) and senior Brandon Halls (17th-19:26). This resounding win contributed 3 points towards the Best Overall Program Award.
Varsity Girls
With 3 teams ranked in the top-10 in the state in AAAAA the Lady Eagles knew the race would be a tough one but Milton rose to the occasion and finished an impressive 3rd besting #8 ranked Centennial and losing to the dominate Alpharetta (ranked 3rd in AAAAA) squad (1st) and to Roswell (ranked 7th in AAAAA) who was 2nd. The Lady Eagles were again led by Chelsea Weiermiller. Her 8th place finish was a season’s best time and 19 seconds faster than a year ago at this meet (20:51) and put her on the 2nd-team All-County. Milton’s pack materialized and supported Chelsea’s effort to propel the Lady Eagles to an unexpected 3rd place finish. Leading this group was Stephanie Butzer (19th and a 17 second improvement over 2007), freshman Lindsay Gruca (22nd-in a lifetime best of 21:52), freshman Amanda Lockwood (23rd-in a lifetime best of 21:55), and the ever-present Cori Deutsch (30th-running close to a seasons best of 22:10). Contributing to this incredible team effort was senior co-captain Jamie Chandler (31st) and freshman Heather Harman (42nd). This result netted 2 more points towards the Best Overall Program Award.
Varsity Boys
The defending champions showed why they are a team to be reckoned with these next few weeks with a solid win (55 points) over 11 other scoring schools. Up front, junior Tyler Tomy battled the last 2 miles with Alpharetta’s Blake Kennedy for the overall win and came up just short in finishing 2nd (16:56). Tyler’s race up front made Milton’s team victory very important as the Eagles placed a total of 4 finishers in the top-15 (their goal) and secured the title for the 4th time in the last 5 years! Senior co-captain Fraser Reade showed he is finally recovered from a late-summer & early season injury with his frantic finish and nailing down 8th place (17:56)! Seniors Ryan Price and Seth Tomy continue their tandem racing by finishing 10th and 13th respectively and that put 4 Milton runners in front of Chattahoochee’s #2 runner to garner the team win. Solid efforts by seniors Alex Keeter (22nd) and Adam Zucker (23rd) supported the team effort. Senior Travis Turner (40th) concluded the Milton finishers. The boy’s victory added 5 points towards the Best Overall Program Award.
Best Overall Program Award
Milton’s complete team effort in all 4 races and scoring in all 4 races (a 3rd, a 2nd and two 1st places) brought back this award after a 3 year absence. Milton has now won this title 3 of the last 5 years (2004, 2005, 2008) and considers this one of the most prestigious awards any team or program can win in a season.
The Eagle Cross Country teams next travel to the Furman Invitational in Greenville, SC next weekend to compete against some of Georgia’s top programs and many of South Carolina’s top teams in their annual overnight trip.