All Eagle Teams Finish in the Top-5
8/28/21 – Boling Park (Canton, GA) – by Andy Carr
The Milton Cross Country teams traveled to the familiar confines of Boling Park for the Cherokee County Classic meet and came away with five top-5 team finishes in their third race of the season.
Varsity Boys
The Eagles struggled to keep pace with the 7A schools of Harrison (1st-79 pts), Hillgrove (3rd-93 pts) and region-foe Etowah (4th-96 pts) along with 6A power Pope (2nd-89 pts) as Milton (5th-136 pts) was still able to fend off 17 scoring schools. Junior Cory Chambers (3rd-16:39) continued to lead the Eagles and was in contention for the win through 2.5 miles of the race. Chambers recorded an all-time best performance. Sophomore Zach Patell (18th-17:29) followed as senior Dylan Bowden (30th-17:45) along with juniors Oliver Stone (42nd-18:01) and Pearson Gillam (43rd-18:02) closed out the Eagle scoring. Senior captain Charlie Reynolds (68th-18:45) and junior Jack Rea (69th-18:45) contributed to the team’s final placement.
Varsity Girls
Milton (4th-118 pts) turned back 15 schools as Hillgrove (1st-56 pts), Pope (2nd-79 pts) and Harrison (3rd-83 pts) all got the better of the Lady Eagles. All those programs were on the state podium this past season and are some of the current top-ranked teams. Sophomore Ella Grace Malcom (8th-19:44) used her strong late-race kick to again set an all-time personal best and lead the Milton squad. Junior Farrah Frith (10th-19:49) also ran to a personal best and kept pace with Malcom the entire race as they have done so for this season. The Lady Eagles were able to finish their seven scoring runners before anyone else with sophomore Leelah Dennis (33rd-21:11, a personal best), senior Megan Stechschulte (37th-21:27), sophomore Calista Cacciatore (38th-21:31), senior captain Jessica Albregts (39th-21:32) and fellow senior Genevieve Trainor (45th-21:44) in a big personal best performance!
JV Boys
The Eagles kept it close to a top-3 finish while beating 11 schools. Milton (4th-106 pts) was edged-out by Hillgrove (3rd-105 pts) as well as Harrison (1st-21 pts) and Pope (2nd-59 pts). Leading the way was junior Keller Wilson (8th-18:57) fronting a large pack of finishers that included sophomore Luke Erbey (26th-19:49), senior captain Jorge Fabregas (27th-19:50), junior Benji Watry (28th-19:51) and sophomore Daniel Murray (29th-19:51) to push the Eagles to a top-4 team finish.
JV Girls
Milton (2nd-47 pts) made a big push the entire race and fell just short of the team win to Harrison (1st-45 pts). The Lady Eagles still had the first team with all seven runners finishing before anyone else and turned back 13 schools. Senior captain Ellie Dickenson (5th-23:01) moved up steadily all race long and was followed by fellow senior Shelby Howerton (10th-23:24), freshman Rowan Katekovich (11th-23:26), junior Ella Butler (12th-23:28) and senior Ella Rindt (14th-23:35).
Open Races
Boys-Milton (3rd-63 pts) bested 2 schools in the final race of the day. The Eagles were led by sophomore Oliver Begali (4th-20:08).
Girls-Milton (2nd-64 pts) defeated 5 programs with sophomore Adason Lambert (8th-26:03) being the Lady Eagles top finisher.
The Eagle cross country teams next see action on September 11th as they host their home invitational for the 8th time with 28 schools scheduled to compete.
