Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Victories at the Hornet Nest for the Bainbridge boys and Thomas County Central girls

HornetWhatever the GHSA calendar may say, high school cross country in Southwest Georgia doesn't start until the annual Pelham Hornet Cross Country Invitational. This year the region's harriers raced in that opener on Saturday morning, 22 August 2015. The Bainbridge High Bearcats took the boy's title for the third year in a row scoring a nearly-unbeatable 30 points, while Bearcat sophomore Poncherella Leonard won individual honors with a 17:34. On the girls' side Thomas County Central totaled 75 points to reign as the top team. Colquitt County sophomore Elizabeth Funderburk was the winning individual in the girls' 5K, running 21:04.


The high school competition at the Invitational opened with the girls' 5K. The race was all Elizabeth Funderburk's; the Colquitt County Packer sophomore's 21:04 put her more than 150 meters ahead of the next athlete. However, Funderburk was the Packer's only runner in the top 20, which didn't bode well for the Colquitt County's chances in the team standings. Meanwhile, the Thomas County Central Yellowjackets not only had sophomore Cara Eaton finish second in 21:48, but also had sophomore Jinglei Horchler crack the top ten with a 24:20 ninth-place finish. The Yellowjackets put four runners in the top fifteen, then sealed victory and a 75-point total with a 41st-place 29:14 showing from junior Logan Covington. Close behind the Yellowjackets, Tift County edged Lee County for second, 81 to 82. Tift County was led by sophomore Ashlee Golden (7th, 23:56), and Lee County by junior Ansley Cain (11th, 24:32).


Team Standings, High School Girls 5K
  1. Thomas County Central, 75
  2. Tift County, 81
  3. Lee County, 82
  4. Bainbridge, 93
  5. Worth County, 107
  6. Colquitt County, 110
  7. Pelham, 158
  8. Valdosta, 171
  9. Cairo, 258

Top Ten, High School Girls 5K
  1. 21:03.13 ~ Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt County) 10
  2. 21:47.23 ~ Cara Eaton (Thomas County Central) 10
  3. 22:18.56 ~ Kennedy Rutherford (Worth County)
  4. 22:49.05 ~ Uriyah Davis (Bainbridge) 10
  5. 22:57.38 ~ Alli Hay (Pataula) 11
  6. 23:11.02 ~ Jamey Medders (Worth County)
  7. 23:55.56 ~ Ashlee Golden (Tift County) 10
  8. 24:15.53 ~ Madeline Mathis (Valdosta) 11
  9. 24:19.89 ~ Jinglei Horchler (Thomas County Central) 10
  10. 24:29.69 ~ Monica Webb (Pelham) 11

The bad news for everyone in the boys' 5K was that an error by the timing company running the finish line made it impossible to compile complete results for the race. The bad news for everyone but Bainbridge was that you didn't need complete results to tell that the Bearcats had won again. Even worse news for everyone but Bainbridge was that the Bearcats took the top two places in the race with a sophomore and a freshman--Poncharella Leonard (1st, 17:34) and Caleb Harris (2nd, 18:07)--two athletes that runners in the area could be chasing for the next three years. That one-two finish started Bainbridge toward a winning total of 30 points. Behind the third-place 18:43 finish of senior Sam Gelabert, Thomas County Central placed second with 40 points.


Team Standings, High School Boys 5K
  1. Bainbridge, 30
  2. Thomas County Central, 40
  3. Colquitt County, 101
  4. Early County, 104
  5. Cairo, 106

Top Ten, High School Boys 5K
  1. 17:33.28 ~ Poncherella Leonard (Bainbridge) 10
  2. 18:06.09 ~ Caleb Harris (Bainbridge) 9
  3. 18:42.02 ~ Sam Gelabert (Thomas County Central) 12
  4. 18:55.57 ~ Jake Merritt (Colquitt County) 10
  5. 18:56.61 ~ Salvado Alonzo (Cairo) 12
  6. 19:07.24 ~ Noah Owens (Thomas County Central) 10
  7. 19:15.21 ~ Conley Wilhelm (Thomas County Central) 12
  8. 19:36.09 ~ Bennett Enfinger (Bainbridge) 12
  9. 19:42.29 ~ Perry Waddell (Bainbridge) 12
  10. 20:00.09 ~ Brenden Greene (Bainbridge) 12

Tift Middle Schools' eighth-grader Emily Golden was dominating in the middle school girls' two mile, running 13:28 and finishing more than 250 meters ahead of the next runner, Brianna Zupko (2nd, 14:37) of Worth County. Aside from Golden, Tift had three other athletes in the top ten--sixth-graders Caroline Vickers (6th, 15:35) and Ainsley Toews (8th, 15:42), plus seventh-grader Noelia Sandoval (10th, 16:05). Eighth-grader Alexandria Vaughn (11th, 16:15) wasn't far behind, giving her team a total of 32 points and the win. Led by sixth-grader Emily Phillips (3rd, 14:50), Lee County was seocond in the team standings with 85 points, just ahead of the 91 scored by third-place Valdosta.


Team Standings, Middle School Girls Two Mile
  1. Tift, 32
  2. Lee County, 85
  3. Valdosta, 91
  4. Whigham, 107
  5. Thomas County Central, 129
  6. Bainbridge, 152
  7. Pataula, 167
  8. Colquitt County, 169

Top Ten, Middle School Girls Two Mile
  1. 13:27.09 ~ Emily Golden (Tift) 8
  2. 14:36.05 ~ Brianna Zupko (Worth County)
  3. 14:49.13 ~ Emily Phillips (Lee County) 6
  4. 14:50.19 ~ Anna James (Thomas County Central)
  5. 15:19.05 ~ Renn Whitley (Whigham) 8
  6. 15:34.05 ~ Caroline Vickers (Tift) 6
  7. 15:40.94 ~ Victoria Natoli (Lee County) 8
  8. 15:41.49 ~ Ainsley Toews (Tift) 6
  9. 15:48.80 ~ Meg Houston (Pataula) 7
  10. 16:04.45 ~ Noelia Sandoval (Tift) 7

Valdosta eighth-grader won the boys' two mile with a 12:29, just ahead of the 12:39 posted by runner-up Bryce Stephens, a Tift seventh-grader. However, it was the Lee County boys who won the team title. Lee County put sixth-grader Josh Macklin (4th, 12:55), eighth-grader Ben Phillips (5th, 13:03), and eighth-grader Walker Pinson (8th, 13:24) in the top ten. Four more runners Lee County runners made the top twenty, including scorers Will Tomlinson (11th, 13:58) and Robbie Collins (15th, 14:17), both in the seventh grade. It was enough to give Lee County a winning total of 43 points. Valdosta was a distance second with 97 points. Bainbridge squeaked by Thomas County Central for third, 106 to 107, Bainbridge led by eighth-grader Stokes Moore (3rd, 12:49) and Central by eighth-grader Brandon Hopper (14th, 14:10).


Whether their season ends with the Georgia State Middle School Cross Country Championships in Cochran on 17 October 2015 or the GHSA State Cross Country Championships in Carrollton on 7 November 2015, all of these athletes have a lot of racing ahead of them this fall.


Team Standings, Middle School Boys Two Mile
  1. Lee County, 43
  2. Valdosta, 97
  3. Bainbridge, 106
  4. Thomas County Central, 107
  5. Tift, 123
  6. Early County, 140
  7. Whigham, 154
  8. Worth County, 203
  9. Colquitt County, 238
  10. Pataula, 259

Top Ten, Middle School Boys Two Mile
  1. 12:28.49 ~ Ladarius Dumas (Valdosta) 8
  2. 12:38.86 ~ Bryce Stephens (Tift) 7
  3. 12:48.35 ~ Stokes Moore (Bainbridge) 8
  4. 12:54.35 ~ Josh Macklin (Lee County) 6
  5. 13:02.94 ~ Benjamin Phillips (Lee County) 8
  6. 13:08.07 ~ Beau Bengston (Tift) 7
  7. 13:13.60 ~ Hurston Waldrep (Whigham) 8
  8. 13:23.34 ~ Walker Pinson (Lee County) 8
  9. 13:25.88 ~ Rand McDonald (Early County) 7
  10. 13:39.39 ~ Case Gregory (Colquitt County) 6

Pelham Hornet Cross Country Invitational team champions, 2013 - 2015
DateHS BoysHS Girls
24 August 2013Bainbridge, 27Valdosta, 40 points
23 August 2014Bainbridge, 30Valdosta, 64
22 August 2015Bainbridge, 30Thomas County Central, 75


Pelham Hornet Cross Country Invitational individual champions, 2013 - 2015
DateHS BoysHS Girls
24 August 201317:48, Chase Harris (Bainbridge)21:51, Paige Braswell (Bainbridge)
23 August 201416:51, Chase Harris (Bainbridge)22:39, Janie Plowden (Westover)
22 August 201517:34, Poncherella Leonard (Bainbridge)21:04, Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt Co.)


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Posted by Herb Wills at 6:25 PM
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