Locals run well at Sandy Creek meet

By Caleb Tysor
Starr’s Mill Class of 2015

The annual Sandy Creek Fall Classic cross-country meet was held on Saturday, September 29, at Sandy Creek and several local teams including Sandy Creek, Fayette County, Landmark, Whitewater and Starr’s Mill participated in the meet.

Sandy Creek Head Coach Sean McNichols was excited to be hosting the meet. He said that the meet had been around for over five years now and he was looking forward to this newest chapter of this race which featured 14 schools and 600 athletes. He also stated that he enjoyed having home races because there is a home field advantage through fan support, having already trained on the course and the fact that there is no travel time for the home team. Coach McNichols believes that another benefit of having a home meet is that his team could see how they stacked up against many local schools. He thinks that Sandy Creek is in good shape compared to the rest of their region and is hoping his team will do well in the county and region meets.

The county championships will also be at Sandy Creek on Wednesday, October 17, and are a great opportunity to see how the teams in the county stack up against each other and see what school gets the bragging rights for the next year.
The course at Sandy Creek has two loops through the woods. Many runners enjoy the course because of the woods, while the rolling hills and a narrow course make for an interesting race. Another fascinating factor of this course is the finish where athletes must complete a lap around the track before finishing. The course difficulty is average, so it is a realistic assessment of a runners’ typical performance.

Times:
In the boys race, Starr’s Mill placed first overall with Sandy Creek in second, Landmark in eighth and Whitewater in ninth.
Starr’s Mill: Josh Warren, 16:55, 5th; Daniel Sims, 17:02, 7th, James Adams, 17:02, 8th; Alex Casado, 17:50, 11th and Adrien Porzio, 18:09, 18th

Sandy Creek: RJ Willis, 17:33, 10th; Kobie Lain, 17:57, 15th; Devin Hamill, 17:57, 16th; Dominick Chontos, 18:09, 17th and Connor Dial, 18:16, 20th

Landmark: Paul Orr, 17:32, 9th; Spencer Geerlings, 17:51, 12th; Daniel Wilson, 19:56, 48th; Austin Hoover , 20:22, 60th and Ty Janyaem, 20:55, 69th

Whitewater: Parker Nail, 17:52, 13th; Andrew Helvig, 19:37, 42nd; Greg Chafin, 19:59, 50th, Ryan Forse, 20:00, 51st and Matthew Morrisey, 20:17, 58th

Fayette County: Collin Nelson, 21:27, 74th; Aidan Fielding, 21:44, 80th and Brandon Henderson, 23:49, 88th

In the girls race, Whitewater placed first with Starr’s Mill in second, Landmark in third and Sandy Creek in seventh.

Whitewater: Mackenzie Nail, 19:13, 2nd; Alana Hood, 20:39, 6th; Kyah Eglitis, 21:47, 9th; Emma Brodzik, 21:48, 10th and Channing Thomas, 22:09, 15th

Starr’s Mill: Emily Sims, 21:19, 7th; Nicole Chrzanowski, 21:37, 8th; Kendall Taylor, 22:00, 11th, Tori Nails, 22:04, 13th; Sarah Phinney, 22:07, 14th

Landmark: Kathryn Foreman,18:56, 1st; Lindy Long, 19:55, 3rd; Courtney Gilliam, 22:13, 18th; Olivia Bouchard, 22:46, 24th and Kaylin Deel, 22:57, 26th

Sandy Creek: Alexis Willis, 22:30, 22nd; Hannah Hancock, 22:47, 25th; Amber Ugbo, 25:26, 37th; Sabrina Stevens, 26:16, 40th and Helen Davidson, 26:31, 43rd

Fayette County: Asia Green, 22:11, 16th; Mayah Booker, 26:37, 45th and Victoria Ward, 26:43, 46th

McIntosh’s boys and girls ran in the Aubrae Gunderson Invitational in Conyers. The boys took second in the White division behind Flowery Branch. The top five runners were Brad Hort, 1, 15:38.08; Sidney Speir, 2, 15:58.06; Artie McCarty, 14, 16:49.88, Andrew Jaeger, 33, 17:35.42 and Garrick Larson, 46, 17:55.27

McIntosh’s girls placed fourth in the Red division. The top five runners were Alyssa LeClaire, 4, 20:10.62; Taylor Snell, 10, 20:46.55; Samantha Roberson, 27, 21:58.95; Meghan Plunkett, 28, 22:02.32 and Maxine Hunter, 32, 22:22.37.