Gordon Lee sweeps at Walker Co. XC meet

The Gordon Lee Trojans had the top three finishers and four of the top seven as they won the boys’ team title of the Walker County Cross Country Championships at LaFayette High School on Thursday.

Jasper Wilson navigated the tough 5K course in 18:05, followed by teammates Ian Goodwin (19:12) and Jake Lee (19:41). Braxton Ledford (20:26) was seventh.

The rest of the Gordon Lee lineup included Jake Wright (21:50), Cole Collins (22:04), Tanner Wilson (22:16), Hunter Hartman (23:26), Beau Barrett (23:51), Erik Olofsson (24:25), Michael Hubona (24:57), Alex Stone (25:28) and Cody McCutcheon (25:44).

For the Ramblers, Josh Perea placed fourth overall, clocking in at 19:56. Matthew Newsom was sixth at 20:25, while Mason Burkett was eighth at 20:27. Devin Henderson ran a 21:20 to place 10th.

Also running for LaFayette was Andrew Long (22:03), Steven Sanford (22:38), William Sainthill (22:40), R.J. Sievers (23:41), Jordan Cappello (25:55), Sam Storey (28:26), Jordan Stansberry (29:27) and Dakota Mitchell (33:03).

For Ridgeland, Coby Voyles was fifth in a time of 20:02, while Eliot Jones’ 20:38 brought him home in ninth.

The rest of the lineup included Bode Tucker (21:25), Josiah Williams (21:27), Will Voyles (22:20), Beau Baker (22:55), Dakota Dehart (23:00), A.J. Walker (23:01), Gabe Ashley (24:24), Jacob Robinson (27:45), Cesar Pichardo (30:17), David Kernea (31:05), Jin Woo Park (31:11), Jayme Salisbury (37:10) and Logan Couch (38:38).

Gordon Lee won the title with 26 points, followed by LaFayette with 42 and Ridgeland with 54.

On the girls’ side, Gracie O’Neal continued her outstanding season by clocking in at 20:22 to win the individual title

for the Lady Trojans. Gordon Lee dominated the race as 12 runners placed in the top 15.

Riley Cash was second overall with a 25:22. Taylor McAllister (25:48) was fourth. Grayson Alexander (25:52) placed fifth and Kate Gilliam (25:54) was sixth. Also placing in the top 10 was Emma Cate Dendy in seventh (27:12), Kayelee Bell in ninth (27:52) and Chanler Hysell in 10th (28:08).

Kaylan Jackson (29:11) was 11th, followed by Michaela Russell (30:05) in 12th. Lexi Tennant (33:35) was 14th and Drew Presnell (34:03) was 15th.

For LaFayette, their lone top 10 finisher was Hannah Dearing, who ran a 27:49 to place eighth. Hope McClure (32:13), Brianna Minor (34:48), Sarai Parauhatsanon (36:47) and Bianca Rogers (38:34) all placed in the top 20.

The remainder of the lineup included Lauren Pike(40:33), Kate Watts (42:30), Rylee Stansberry (45:24), Rylee Henderson (45:58), Elisabeth Perkins (47:43) and Leah Phillips (47:46).

Macie Boren was third for Ridgeland at 25:30. The rest of the Lady Panthers’ roster included Katie Taylor (35:38), Marina Mosgrove (36:47), Abbie Morgan(38:53) and Kayla Coleman (47:43).

Gordon Lee won with 18 points, followed by LaFayette (75) and Ridgeland (86).

All varsity and JV runners competed together in the same race.

O’Neal fourth at Darlington XC Festival

A large number of schools from all over northwest Georgia and the metro-Atlanta area, both large and small, converged in Rome on Saturday for the annual Darlington XC Festival.

Gordon Lee was the only team from Catoosa or Walker County in attendance.

O’Neal continued to show why she is a threat to win the Class A Public School state title as she clocked in at 19:22 against a very good field to place fourth overall.

Gilliam was second for the Lady Trojans with a 23:06, followed by McAllister with a 23:27 and Alexander with a 23:34.

Also running for the Gordon Lee girls was Jackson (24:14), Dendy (25:27), Bell (25:31) and Maria Juan (31:42).

The Lady Trojans placed 20th in the team standings. White County won the team title with 52 points, easily outdistancing Lovett (108) and Holy Innocents’ (156) for the top spot. Individual honors went to Haley Rose (19:06) of Decatur High School.

In the girls’ JV race, Hysell ran a 26:08, followed by Russell (26:29), Tennant (30:21) and Makenzie Bailey (33:59).

In the boys’ varsity race, Jasper Wilson turned in a very solid 16th place showing as he completed the course in 17:16. Goodwin (18:25) and Lee (18:38) also came in under 19 minutes.

Also running for the Trojans was Ledford (20:01), Wright (20:40), Collins (20:43) and Hartman (22:00).

Michael Smith of Northview High won the individual race, clocking in at 16:13. Grayson won the team title with 75 points, followed by Northview (108) and Collins Hill (130).

In the JV boys’ race, Tanner Wilson ran a 20:39 for Gordon Lee, followed by Barrett (21:24), McCutcheon (21:30) and Stone (23:27).

Gordon Lee is not scheduled to race again until the Front Runner Championships, hosted by the Baylor School in Chattanooga, on Oct. 19.