Mcintosh boys run to state title

Hort, Speir finish 1-2 for Chiefs in Class AAAAA race.

CARROLLTON — A onetwo finish by McIntosh’s Brad Hort and Sidney Speir propelled the Chiefs to the Class AAAAA state cross-country championship Saturday, the first by the McIntosh boys since 1996.

Hort and Speir, both seniors, ranked as the top runners in the state for the better part of the season and were favored to be the top two finishers Saturday. Speir said he takes the importance of the race out of the mix as a way of dealing with the pressure.

“I just think of it as just another meet, almost like it’s just a workout,” Speir said. “That way, I don’t feel the pressure at all.”

Hort, however, said he felt every ounce of the pressure lumped on his shoulders as the top runner in the classification.

“I definitely feel it. Your heart’s pumping and your adrenaline gets going, it’s just that runner’s high,” said Hort, who said the pressure drove him to run the first mile of the three-mile race too quickly. He hung on to finish first in a time of 16:22, 11 seconds.

McIntosh beat Flowery Branch for the title, avenging a loss to the Falcons at a meet earlier in the season when they were dealing with myriad injuries, according to coach Chuck Buckle. McIntosh was without one of its top runners, junior Taylor Huntley, for the previous showdown with Flowery Branch.

With a healthy squad Saturday, Hort said he and his teammates knew winning the title was possible.

“It’s something we talked about everyday,” he said. “We told each other we could do something big. Today it all came together, and we did.”

Everything came together for the St. Pius as well, as the Lions’ boys and girls swept Class AAA, each claiming their third consecutive team title. Both squads were beaten at the Region 6AAA meet last week — the boys by Woodward Academy, and the girls by Blessed Trinity — but for two different reasons.

The boys had a case of “big-head syndrome” while the girls were missing one of the state’s top runners, senior Devon Dabney, who spent that week working out at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado.

Matching St. Pius’ sweep was Marist in AAAA. The boys were paced by Michael Thurston and Daniel Navarro, who finished first and second, respectively. It was the War Eagles’ fourth title in five years, their eighth in the past 11.

The Marist girls, led by state champion Morgan Ilse (19:16), won their fifth consecutive crown, their 10th since 2000.

The Dunwoody girls, paced by state champion Alex Cameron (19:49) and Kailey Williams, who finished fourth, won the school’s first cross-country team title.

In AAAAAA, Mill Creek won its first boys title, as Tyler Woodrome (sixth) and Eric Westog (12th) finished in the top 15. Peachtree Ridge’s Josh Brickell was the individual titlist and had the fastest overall time of the meet at 15:55.

Brookwood won the AAAAAA girls champi- onship behind the threefour finish of QuanDra Shanks and Payton Wilson. It was the Broncos’ first team championship since 1991.

Allie Buchalski of Johns Creek was the individual champion and had the fastest girls time of the day at 18:46.

In AA, the Westminster and Wesleyan boys rekindled their rivalry as Wesleyan, which had won the past three Class A titles, moved into AA this season where Westminster had won three in a row. Westminster got strong finishes from Jordan Flowers (third), Graham Huff (seventh) and Harry O’Connor (eighth) to claim the championship. Model’s Chris Akins won the individual championship in 17:07.

The Wesleyan girls pulled the upset over Westminster and won their first state title since 2001. Caroline Reed (second) and Ellie Bradach (third) led the way for the Wolves. Westminster had won the past three team titles, and nine of the past 12. Emma Garrison of Union County won the individual title in 19:56.