Heritage sweeps inaugural NGAC cross country meet

A large crowd gathered at Heritage Middle School last Tuesday to watch and cheer on runners in the first-ever North Georgia Athletic Conference sanctioned cross country meet.

Over 100 runners took part in the 2-mile race and it was the home team that emerged victorious.

The Heritage boys finished with 21 points, finishing ahead of second-place Ringgold (71) and Dade County (112). Trion (122) was fourth, followed by LaFayette (166), Lakeview (200), Saddle Ridge (244) and Rossville (271).

On the girls’ side, Heritage scored 32 points to edge out Dade County (46) for the win, followed by Trion (113), Ringgold (141), Saddle Ridge (163), Rossville (249), Lakeview (NA) and LaFayette (NA).

Gavin Chandler of Heritage won the boys’ race with a time of 12:29, beating out Ringgold’s Brent Bowman (12:32) by three seconds. A trio of Heritage runners rounded out the top five with Will Waldrop (12:43), Davis Justice (12:55) and Noah Lovell (13:25).

The rest of the top 10 included Dade County’s Andy Breeden (13:25), Ringgold’s Kale Davis (13:30), Heritage’s Josiah Cook (13:37), Heritage’s Christian Morris (13:47) and Lakeview’s Chris Wehunt (13:50).

Dade County’s Anna Ballard (14:03) edged out her teammate Madi McMahan (14:05) by a narrow margin, while Trion’s Alexis Dover (14:18), Heritage’s Gracie Murray (14:25) and Heritage’s Carol Anne Giannamore (14:44) filled out the top five.

The next five included Heritage’s Emma Tennyson (14:48), Heritage’s Emily Woody (15:01), Rossville’s Isabelle McGill (15:35), Lakeview’s Katie Bono (15:42) and Heritage’s Kalei Howard (16:03).

Several NGAC teams will take part in a meet at Baylor this Tuesday, Sept. 5, starting at 4:30 p.m.