Martinez wins at Grove Level for LFO
The LFO boys’ cross country team placed 13th in the team standings last Tuesday, but still walked away with something to smile about.
Junior Erik Martinez, a two-time Class AAA state qualifier, covered the 3.2-mile Grove Level course in Whitfield County in a time of 17:40 and won the individual boys’ title by nearly a half-minute in a Chattanooga Cross Country League meet.
Cole Milliard (Cleveland) came across the line in 18:06, a full 28 seconds behind the Warriors’ top runner.
Southeast Whitfield went on to win the boys’ team title with 77 points on Tuesday. Cleveland (106) was second, while host Coahulla Creek (111) was a close third. Heritage finished seventh overall, one spot ahead of LaFayette. Ridgeland was 10th and Ringgold ended up in 17th place.
Caleb Boyd was 13th overall for the Generals, clocking in at 18:55. Also competing for the Heritage varsity on Tuesday was Joel Lewis (19:40), Dakota Carter (19:56), Nhan Le (20:36), Caleb Buckler (21:12), Luke Shackleford (21:18) and Lance Marshall (21:19).
LaFayette had two top 15 finishers in Mason Burkett (12th, 18:50) and freshman Josh Perea (15th, 19:06). Also running for the Ramblers was Matthew Newsom (20:17), Steven Sanford (21:04), Andrew Long (21:20), William Sainthill (21:42) and R.J. Sievers (22:43).
For the Panthers, Coby Voyles led the way with a 19:50, while Gabe Ashley came in with a time of 20:12. Josiah Williams (20:17), Eliot Jones (20:27), Beau Baker (21:40), Will Voyles (22:00) and Dakota Dehart (22:19) also ran for Ridgeland.
Also racing for the Warriors on Tuesday was Brandon Guzman (21:20), Roc Hammonds (21:46), Christian Amiotte (22:16), Blake Arrellano (22:42), Zane Carter (22:49) and Jackson Moore (24:03).
Ringgold was paced by Jared Brunner’s time of 21:58. Cooper Shull (22:14), Jairo Gonzalez (22:18), Dau Dau (22:25), Alex Gomez (22:29), Alex Bales (23:15) and Dylan Simpson-Rister (23:16) also ran for the Tigers.
Ryan Craft was third overall for Heritage in the JV race, clocking in at 19:43. Also racing for the Generals in the JV race was Zack Locke (20:44), Andrew Song (21:08), Jonathan Manion (21:32), Tyler Tomey (21:41), Christian Merrell (21:50), Matthew Vowell (21:53), Tim Grayson (23:23), Garrett Aaron (23:40), Hunter McCrary (24:29), Jake Krajeskiy (24:51), Simon Rhodes (25:49), Josh Lynch (25:49), Jacob Stanley (26:03), Ethan Clark (26:26), Gabriel Leal (26:27) and Will Kelly (28:07).
Devin Henderson (19:53) was fourth for LaFayette in the JV race. Also competing for the Ramblers was Sam Storey (24:11), Mason King (25:36), Gunner Barenklaw (25:38), Jordan Stansberry (28:51), Kris Witherow (32:17) and Seth Hutchens (32:22).
Leading the way for the LFO junior varsity boys was Brian Castro (25:07), followed by Avery Murphy (25:42), Javier Gomez (27:05), Daniel Frausto (28:28), Charles Chambers (32:40), Joseph Moon (37:55), Prem Patel (37:57) and Drake Boynton (39:45).
Ridgeland’s top JV boys’ runner on Tuesday was Edward Westbrook (24:40). Also racing for the Panthers was David Kernea (26:31), Jacob Robinson (26:59), Evan Boeding (28:11), Tristan Card (30:39), Cesar Pichardo (33:10), Logan Couch (34:23) and Jamey Salisbury (37:47).
And for the JV boys’ runners from Ringgold, Skyler Lohmann set the pace with a 23:47, followed by Edward Cho (24:39), Seth Pittman (25:34), Ethan Rohrer (25:37), Austin Ross (25:39), Mason Wiechec (28:12), Taylor Cribb (30:11) and Matthew Hodgkins (33:44).