Heritage girls, Dade boys take XC victories
Cross country runners in the NGAC finally got out on the course for their first league meet of the season at Heritage Middle School last Tuesday and it was the home team taking first place in the girls’ race and second in the boys’ race.
The Lady Generals won with 34 points, beating out Ringgold (64), Dade (91) and Lakeview ( 183) for the top spot, while Dade scored 31 points to win the boys’ race. Heritage (53) was second, followed by Ringgold (102), Saddle Ridge (118), Trion (127) and Rossville (251).
Despite a runner-up finish in the girls’ team standings, Ringgold had two of the top three times overall.
Tori Epps won the race in 14:05, while Lilly Harthorn (15:50) was third. Heritage ended up with five of the top 10 spots, including runnerup Audrey Potter (15:23), sixth-place Paityn Guthrie (17:11), seventh-place Piper Collins (17:21), ninth-place Colivia Talley (17:23) and 10th-place Kellie Boehm (17:30).
The remainder of the top 10 featured fourth-place Kailey Pardue (15:52) of Dade, fifthplace Avi Chamlee (16:40) of Trion and eighth-place Emma Martz (17:22), also of Trion.
Also contributing in the Lady Generals win was Aubrey Walls (18:00), Emily Ray (18:51), Adison Steadman (18:53), Alyssa Brown (21:35), Charlotte Hayen (21:49), Holland Brown (23:29), Jenna Elam (23:31),
Sadie Robison (23:32), Ava Bulmer (26:25), Hannah Bulmer (26:51), Mary Anne Stallings (28:22) and Elisabeth Wynne (29:28).
Ringgold also got an 18:52 from Danika Coleman, while Kinley Cross (19:19) and Bette Goldsmith (23:33) also ran for the Lady Tigers.
Macy Tisdale paced Lakeview with a 22:46, followed by Dakota Dickey (23:42), Anna Medley (23:52), Nikky Lin (28:08) and Mallory Spatafore (28:17).
Saddle Ridge was led by an 18:30 from Adi Hudson, while Megan Shirley (21:50) and Melinda Ramsey (21:56) also competed for the Lady Mustangs.
Candy Bautista (21:54) set the pace for Rossville, followed by Rayne Rose (23:34), Dominga Bautista (23:38) and Chelsey Swaney (27:27).
Neither Saddle Ridge nor Rossville had enough runners to qualify for team points.
On the boys’ side, Dade’s Tanner Miller took top honors with a time of 12:32, followed by Saddle Ridge’s Elijah Decker (13:36), Trion’s Lane Broome (13:39), Dade’s Nate Hurst (13:49) and Dade’s Rock Chaney (13:51).
The rest of the top 10 was filled out by Landon Hoover (14:00) and Everett Healey (14:03), both of Heritage, Ren Goldsmith (14:04) of Ringgold, Kade Taylor (14:19) of Heritage and Peyton Harris (14:26) of Dade.
The rest of the roster for the Generals included Johnathan Arhart (15:05), Issac Berry (15:20), Bryant Elam (16:14), Landon Talley (16:35), Ty Little (16:36), Billy Hamilton (16:47), Wilton Dodson (16:48), Gunnar Cornwell (16:55), Andrew Wynne (17:16), Maddox McDaniel (17:27), L.J. Butts (18:10), Joshua Brown (18:13), Thomas Amick (18:21), Brendan Webb (19:31), Connor Stephenson (19:32), Landon Tripp (19:57), Cooper Stallings (22:41), Luke Butler (23:55) and Landon Gazaway (24:06).
Cohen Smith broke 15 minutes for Ringgold with a 14:58, while Jace Owens (15:31), Xander Strawbridge (16:38), Franklin Hellsell (17:46), Jack Crosby (17:47), Chase McGuirt (17:48), Spencer Witt (19:41), Noah Collins (19:42), Hunter Epps (19:58), Layton Williams (21:06), Wesley Blair (21:13) and Jude Painter (24:14) also ran for the Tigers.
Peyton Lands crossed the finish line in 14:41 for Saddle Ridge, while Collin
Miller (15:54), Issac Hamilton (16:58), Cayden Decker (17:03), Max Harden (20:00), Jayden Carpenter (20:10), Gabrielle Morgan (23:16), Lane Johnson (24:29) and Jude Roerdink (26:39) also raced for the Mustangs.
Rossville’s lineup included Kyler Morris (17:45), Ashyr Morris (18:02), Brayden Keith (20:54), Chase Swaney (20:59), Seth Murray (21:03), Carson Walker (22:32) and Jacob Malone (23:24).
Lakeview and LaFayette did not have enough runners to score points in the team standings.
Derrick Sims clocked in at 24:07 and Seth Dunbar finished in 26:15 for the Warriors, while the Ramblers were represented by Brennan Tracy (26:13), Jordan Tracy (27:24) and Tristen Jackson (30:11).