The Milton Cross country teams traveled to Rome, GA to compete in the annual Berry College Invitational. With more than 80 teams entered in the annual early-season invite, it is the largest meet the Eagles will run in this season. Milton’s results were mixed, with many great individual performances along with team performances that show there is room for improvement as the season continues.

Varsity Girls: Look for Them in Georgia Top-Ten Rankings

The Lady Eagles rocked in this big meet, finishing 9th (259 pts) out of 45 teams. Milton’s team finish is an early-season surprise as they were able to knock off top-ranked teams including 8th-ranked arch-rival Roswell (11th-330 pts) and 9th-ranked Chattahoochee (13th-368 pts). They finished only two points behind 4th-ranked Centennial (7th-257 pts) and 10th-ranked Mill Creek (8th-257 pts), and were only 12 points away from 5th-ranked Parkview (6th-247 pts). This performance will more than likely lead to a top-10 ranking in the state AAAAA classification. Leading the charge for the Lady Eagles was the senior duo of Chelsea Weiermiller (28th-20:25, her 2nd best time ever) and Stephanie Butzer (34th-20:40, her all-time best). Backing them up were strong finishes by sophomore Lindsay Gruca (56th-21:04) and freshman sensation Maddie Butzer (57th-21:06, her all-time best). Closing out the scoring for Milton was a strong pack of Lady Eagles: sophomore Amanda Lockwood (98th-21:44), senior co-captain Cori Deutsch (100th-21:44) and freshman Olivia Koerner (101st-21:45). Also running varsity were freshman Jacqueline Mahoney (107th-21:50), Brynn Weiermiller (168th-22:30, her all-time best) and sophomore Heather Harman (187th-22:49). There were 413 finishers in the race.

Varsity Boys: Freshmen Follow Leader Tyler Tomy

Milton showed they are in a major rebuilding year as the Eagles finished a respectable 25th (656 pts) out of 51 schools. Leading the Eagles was the strong run by Tyler Tomy; his 16:38 was good for 18th out of 462 finishers and was 15 seconds faster than he ran in 2008. With impressive runs in their first big meet, the freshman duo of Miles Dayoub (144th-18:19) and Alex Marshall (151st-18:22) contributed to the team scoring. Senior Boyd Guttery followed with 18:29 (166th) and senior co-captain Andrew Barris rounded out the scoring with 18:52 (219th). Also running varsity were Chris Blauvelt, John Britt Easterling, Matt Foley, Jacob Raymond and David Hasslinger.

JV Girls: Blue-Ribbon Effort

In the surprise race of the day, the Lady Eagles had six finishers in the top 20 and dominated the contest. Even though no official team scores were kept, Milton would have won with 52 points (raw score), easily outpacing the Mountain Brook (AL) team with 109 pts for second place. Also falling to the Lady Eagles were Brookwood (146 pts), arch-rival Roswell (148 pts) and Etowah (202 pts), all traditionally strong running teams. An outstanding and smart race by sophomore Alyssa Strom (6th-22:18) led to her all-time best performance. Alyssa passed ten runners to snag a top-10 finish in the race and lead the Lady Eagles in scoring. The strong pack of Julia Campolong (9th-22:50), Lauren Schmidt (10th-22:55) and Samantha Rate (11th-22:55), followed closely by Maddy Hassett (16th-23:15), newcomer Ginsie Britton (17th-23:16) and Kelly Albano (21st-23:38, secured the Milton win. 305 runners finished the JV girls race.

JV Boys: A Cool Second Place Finish

Milton followed the example of the JV girls with their outstanding second place effort. Had team scores been kept they would have shown the Eagles (81 pts-raw score) lost a close team battle with Mountain Brook (AL) (65 pts) and dispatched strong programs from Lovett (99 pts), Wesleyan (106 pts), Westminster (131 pts), arch-rival Roswell (214 pts) and South Forsyth (216 pts). Two top-ten finishes secured Milton’s place. Alex Salvatierra led Milton with an outstanding tactical race, pacing himself and slowly moving up throughout the race to finish sixth (18:52). But the race of the day had to have been the run by Kegan Baird. In 36th position after the first mile, Kegan moved up 22 spots in the second mile, then passed a few more runners in the last mile to record an all-time best and snag tenth place (18:55)! Chris Chernick (15th-19:10) placed a solid third for Milton after being among the top-ten runners for the majority of the race. Senior Ryan Guilbault (19th-19:16), senior Jodi Hirschi (31st-19:36), the surprise performance by Danny Shawcross (32nd-19:37), and Sam Martinez (41st-19:48)—who moved up twelve spots during the final two miles of the race—rounded out the top seven for Milton. 452 runners completed the race.

Next Meet Saturday, September 12 at Marist
Next up for the Eagles is a return to The Marist School in Dunwoody for the Double-Dip Invitational. Eighteen school are expected to compete, with strong teams and state-champion front-runners among them. Double-Dip competitors will be from Chamblee, Charlotte Catholic, Eagles Landing Christian Academy, Galloway, Holy Innocents, Lakeside Dekalb, Lakeside Evans, Lambert, Lovett, Marist, Milton, North Cobb, North Cobb Christian, Ola, Pope, Riverwood, Southwest Dekalb, and Wesleyan.

The Milton Cross country teams opened up their 2008 season at the Berry College Cross Country Invitational in Rome, GA hosted by Berry College. The meet is the traditional opening contest for many Georgia high schools cross country programs and a good preview of many of these teams. The 2008 edition saw a major course change and a new meet race schedule which made for mixed results for the Eagle squads.

Varsity Girls
The Lady Eagles started things off with a solid 22nd place finish among 50 teams. The race featured most of Milton’s region foes along with top team Mountain Brook of Alabama (featuring the 2007 Nike Team Nationals Individual Champion). Chelsea Weiermiller led the Lady Eagles with her 52nd place (21:22) which was 26 seconds faster than 2007. Large gaps hurt Milton as Stephanie Butzer’s 22:18 was a 13 second improvement over 2007 but her place (117th) was the Lady Eagles second scorer. Milton did show a strong team presence with a great pack of close finishes. Freshman Lindsey Gruca (146th), senior co-captain Jamie Chandler (147th), Cori Deutsch (154th), Julia Campolong (160th) and Freshman Amanda Lockwood (165th) all finished within a 13-second span which shows great promise as the season progresses. Also competing in the varsity race for the Lady Eagles were the much improved Katie Winkel (205th-23:12), Samantha Rate (246th-23:52) and first year runner Maddie Hassett (262nd-24:08). Close to 460 runners finished.

Varsity Boys
The Eagles stepped to the line with some of the strongest teams in the state and region and came away with a hard fought 17th place out of 60 teams competing. Mountain Brook continued its winning ways as out of state teams took 3 of the top-4 team spots. Getting a first look at region and Fulton County foes the Eagles finished with mixed results. Tyler Tomy continues to impress with his front running as the junior ran to a 19th place finish (16:51). With no solid pack of Milton runners, the Eagles score suffered but many on the team ran solid performances they know they can improve on. Running a very strong race and showing all that summer mileage was worth the effort, senior Ryan Price followed in 66th (17:44). Seth Tomy ran with Ryan most of the way but was unable to stay with him in the later stages of the race and finished 86th (17:58). Also figuring in the scoring for Milton were Alex Keeter (145th), Adam Zucker (181st), Andrew Funari (191st) and senior co-captain Ryan Winkel (195th). Also competing in the varsity race for the Eagles were Travis Turner (234th), Joe Hogg (247th) and Mitchell Foley (286th). There were 541 finishers.

JV Girls
The Lady Eagles showed great promise for a successful season by placing 4 runners in the top-40 for a solid showing. Even though no team scores were kept, Milton would have finished in the top-5 teams that did compete. Close to 400 runners completed the race. The Lady Eagles were led by Freshman Heather Harmon whose 12th place finish (23:32) was impressive as she went out with the leaders and never fell back! Milton’s top-40 finishers also included Rachel Gravlee (21st-23:59), Brynn Weiermiller (24th-24:06) and Olivia Tusa (39th-24:44).

JV Boys
The Milton Eagles made a big statement by placing its top-5 runners all in the top-25 for an impressive team showing. If team scores were kept Milton would have been the run-away winner. Close to 600 runners finished the race. Milton was led by the recovered Alex Salvatiera (17th-19:00) who brought with him a very close pack of Eagle finishers. Following Alex were Anthony Machan (18th-19:00) who moved up the entire race passing 24 runners in the last 2 miles alone! Right behind was the incredible runs by Brandon Halls (19th-19:01) and the much improved Andrew Barris (20th-19:02). Finishing just a few seconds back of this group was Jody Hirschi (22nd-19:07).

Next stop for the Milton Cross country team is the flat and very fast course at Boling Park in Canton, GA at the Warpath Invitational hosted by Cherokee High School on Saturday, September 13th. The Eagle teams look forward to this traditional and much smaller meet on one of the fastest courses they will run all year.

The Milton Cross Country teams traveled to the annual Clara Bowl Meet at Berry College this past weekend. The Clara Bowl is a traditional early/opening season meet featuring huge fields and many of the top teams in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.

Varsity Girls
The Lady Eagles shocked everyone by WINNING the Varsity girls race besting 66 schools! Upfront running and a solid pack put Milton ahead of Girl’s Prep School (TN), Whitewater and 2 other schools from Alabama. The Lady Eagles 1st place is their best finish at this meet in recent history as the 2005 team had placed 4th. Leading the way was freshman Lauren Jones. Her 13th place finish got Milton started as she was followed by hard-charging Jamie Chandler (35th), Chelsea Weiermiller (39th), senior captain Susannah Hardy (70th) and the smart-running Cori Deutsch (73rd). Also contributing to the victory were Stephanie Butzer (82nd) and Monique Rollocks (156th). Over 560 runners finished the race. This is a SIGNIFICANT well-earned win for the Lady Eagles!

JV Girls
Having to run almost 2 hours later in the heat did not deter the JV Lady Eagles from some solid performances. Even though no team scores were kept, Milton finished a well-earned 2nd to perennial Hoover (AL). The JV Lady Eagles were led by a front-running race by Anika Scholz. Anika’s 9th place finish led a strong group of Milton runners all finishing in the top-20! Maddie Cook (12th), a breakout race by Shannon Sevcik (16th) and a solid group effort by Kelsey Campolong (18th) and Audrey Grichting (19th) led Milton to a runner-up finish!

Varsity Boys
The Eagles followed the girls result with an IMPRESSIVE runner-up finish besting 70 schools! Mountain Brook (AL) was the dominate team but Milton held it’s own with victories over rival Centennial (3rd), ranked teams such as Lakeside-Dekalb (4th), Eagles Landing (6th) and AA power Lovett (11th). Tyler Tomy showed he is one of the top runners in the state with his 6th place finish! In a large meet the keys to victory include having a front-runner, and a tight finish “pack” and the Eagles had both! Following Tyler’s strong individual performance, Milton secured 2nd with finishes by senior co-captain Christian Scholz (32nd ) who passed many runners after a slow start, Alex Keeter (34th), the improving Seth Tomy (54th), and Ryan Price (55th). Also contributing to Milton’s 2nd place team finish were Brandon Halls (114th) and the surprising Fraser Reade (147th).

JV Boys
Milton again ran a strong team race in the last race and hottest part of the day and even though no team scores were kept, the Eagles finished 2nd to Hoover (AL). Led by Jody Hirschi’s 10th place finish, Milton placed 4 runners in the top-20! Award winning performances were turned in by senior co-captain Max Spartz (15th), Bryan Pike (19th ) and Andrew Finari (20th).

The Milton Cross Country teams now head to the annual Warpath Meet at Boling Park in Canton, hosted by Cherokee High School. The Boling Park course maybe the fastest course the Eagles will run on this season and has been host to the region meet in the recent past.

Milton Cross Country had a strong early season showing at the Clara Bowl Invitational Meet this past Saturday at Berry College. The Milton varsity boys came in 6th out of 79 teams. Strong running up front with a great pack of four, led Milton to the 6th place finish at this early season competitive meet. Lead by Christian Scholz (13th), Seth Tomy (27th), Tyler Tomy (37th) and Ryan Price (47th), Milton put four runners in the top fifty to improve 14 places from their 2005 finish at the Clara Bowl.

For the Milton varsity girls, solid pack running pushed Milton to a 7th place finish out of 71 teams. The team was led by Sarah Foreman (30th), Megan Hirschi (37th) and Jamie Chandler (57th), all top sixty finishers. This put Milton ahead of many strong cross-country programs. Next week, the Lady Eagles will compete at the Clemson Invitational where they finished 2nd in 2005.

With five runners in the top 20, the Milton JV boys dominated the race and took 1st place. Let by Mitchell Foley’s 2nd place finish and strong finishes by Curt Ellison (8th) and Alex Warner (11th), Milton was the team up front at the start and remained that way throughout the race.

Milton’s dominance was clearly evident as Lady Eagle racers placed two JV girls in the top 20 to lead Milton to a 2nd place finish. The Lady Eagles eventually had 5 runners in the top-30 and were led by Cori Deutsch (13th), Anika Scholz (15th), Jennifer Hawe (22nd), Kelsey Campalong (24th) and senior newcomer Carly Randolph (27th). Milton had the majority of the runners in the race that had 275 finishers! Most Lady Eagle runners ran their best & fastest race of the season at this very competitive and early season meet.