Golden and Golden were golden at the Run For Evers 5K

The rule is that road races are Saturday morning affairs.


The rules get thrown out in the summer, though. People schedule races in the evening to try to avoid the heat. Independence Day race are whichever day of the week July 4 falls on. Summer track meets likewise don't respect any particular day of the week. So it's no surprise that in Tifton, Georgia the Northside Baptist Church chose a Friday evening, 12 July 2019, 7:00 PM start for their Run For Evers 5K. Blair Golden, a rising eighth-grader on the Tift Middle Schools cross-country team, won the 3.1-mile race in 21:15. Ashlee Golden, a cross-country runner at Berry College, was the first woman in the race, placing seventh overall in 23:19.


Aiden Evans was runner-up to Blair Golden in the men's standings, finishing second overall in 21:38. Evans and Golden had been teammates running for Tift Middle Schools during the 2018 cross-country season. Tim Bell was the fastest master runner in the race, placing third overall in 22:40.


Cindy Evers was the first woman master and second female finisher, eleventh overall in 25:12. Emily Golden, a rising senior on the Tift High cross-country team, took third in the women's standings and fifteenth overall in 25:42. Another Golden, master runner Kelly Golden, was the fourth woman and 21st overall in 26:32.


91 athletes finished the 2019 Run For Evers 5K. Bailey Race Management of Valdosta, Georgia timed the race.


Top Ten Men, 2019 Run For Evers 5K

1. 21:14.26, Blair Golden (M, 14)
2. 21:37.67, Aiden Evans (M, 14)
3. 22:39.46, Tim Bell (M, 60)
4. 22:56.51, Hayden Roberts (M, 14)
5. 23:00.26, Landon Johnson (M, 17)
6. 23:18.85, Bret Wagonhorst (M, 56)
7. 23:34.65, Gene Roberts (M, 44)
8. 24:01.32, Clay Walker (M, 17)
9. 24:01.47, Ryan Byrnes (M, 35)
10. 25:36.17, William Lane (M, 54)

Top Ten Women, 2019 Run For Evers 5K

1. 23:18.97, Ashlee Golden (F, 19)
2. 25:11.74, Cindy Evers (F, 61)
3. 25:41.57, Emily Golden (F, 17)
4. 26:31.08, Kelly Golden (F, 49)
5. 26:32.19, Penny Peters (F, 51)
6. 26:54.69, Bridget Deen (F, 46)
7. 27:17.33, Tammy Curran (F, 47)
8. 28:03.67, P. Cleghorn (F, 10)
9. 28:08.79, Heather Patrick (F, 35)
10. 28:23.56, Anna Kate Dorman (F, 38)

Links

• Complete results, 2019 Run For Evers 5K
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRaOMZN9vfL-hRax5q09nRjMowzSbzpnZ0-X9deg8zfm1CBkWNZTS0gL9ApIK68iSa4hsnn_YcZFQXz/pubhtml
  
  
• Bailey Race Management's photos of the 2019 Run For Evers 5K
  https://www.facebook.com/pg/BaileyRaceMgnt/photos/?tab=album&album_id=632419980494826
  
  
• Bailey Race Management's finish-line video from the 2019 Run For Evers 5K
  https://youtu.be/tiQeuEJVZ1A
  
  
• Find future races in Tifton and other Tallahassee region cities on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

#2555

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

Whatever 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
Date	HS Boys	HS Girls
24 August 2013	Bainbridge, 27	Valdosta, 40 points
23 August 2014	Bainbridge, 30	Valdosta, 64
22 August 2015	Bainbridge, 30	Thomas County Central, 75

Pelham Hornet Cross Country Invitational individual champions, 2013 - 2015
Date	HS Boys	HS Girls
24 August 2013	17:48, Chase Harris (Bainbridge)	21:51, Paige Braswell (Bainbridge)
23 August 2014	16:51, Chase Harris (Bainbridge)	22:39, Janie Plowden (Westover)
22 August 2015	17:34, Poncherella Leonard (Bainbridge)	21:04, Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt Co.)

Links

• Complete results of the 2015 Pelham Hornet Cross-Country Invitational
  
  • HS Girls' 5K: http://ga.milesplit.com/meets/214204/results/384904
    
  • HS Boys' 5K: http://ga.milesplit.com/meets/214204/results/384902
    
  • MS Girls' 2M: http://ga.milesplit.com/meets/214204/results/384905
    
  • MS Boys' 2M: http://ga.milesplit.com/meets/214204/results/384903
    
  
  
• 2014 story, “Valdosta girls and Bainbridge boys repeat in the heat at Hornet Invitational”
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2014/08/hornet-invite-2014.html
  
  
• 2013 story, “Valdosta girls, Bainbridge boys take season opener in Pelham”
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2013/08/hornet-invite-2013.html
  
  
• Course maps, 2015 Pelham Hornet Cross-Country Invitational
  
  • 5K: https://app.box.com/s/swf0ka4bsnjf8msfsg6vloy4xsw01stu
    
  • 2 Mile: https://app.box.com/s/2m1u1yk2ib1egqv9i5nv74yd8j7iipb8
    
  
  
• Get out there and run one of the races on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

#1468

Calhoun and Golden leg it at Loop-the-Lake

Wright Calhoun's freshman year track season at Americus, Georgia's Southlands Academy was a month behind him, but he showed that he still had some running in his legs on Saturday morning, 1 June 2013, at the Lake Blackshear Loop-the-Lake 5K. Calhoun ran 16:46 to win the seventh edition of the 3.1-mile race, leaving runner-up Robert Bledsoe over a minute behind. Bledsoe, the 2013 Fire Ant Festival 5K champion and just out of track season at Irwin County HS, ran 17:58. Tift County High School cross-country runner Joshua Curry took third in 18:24. Ed Shattles of Americus ran 18:53 to finish as the first master runner.


Tifton's Ashlee Golden showed that she's ready to start her own high school cross-country career this fall,  finishing as the first female in the Loop-the-Lake 5K. Golden placed 14th overall in 21:50. Just behind Golden, Paula Rogers of Eastman, Georgia was the next female finisher, 15th overall in 21:58. 18th across the line, Heidi Taylor was third in the division with a 22:28. Cherie McDonald of Sylvester, Georgia was the first master woman finisher, coming in 38th overall in 24:19.


336 athletes finished the race through the grounds of Georgia Veterans State Park outside of Cordele, Georgia. Proceeds from the race went to benefit Graceway Recovery Residence. The race was timed by Event Technical Services of Sylvester, Georgia.


Top Ten Males, 2013 Lake Blackshear Loop-the-Lake 5K

1. 16:45.49 ~ Wright Calhoun (M, 15) Americus, GA
2. 17:57.41 ~ Robert Bledsoe (M, 18) Rebecca, GA
3. 18:23.17 ~ Joshua Curry (M, 15) Tifton, GA
4. 18:51.36 ~ Unknown (M, ), GA
5. 18:52.83 ~ Ed Shattles (M, 50) Americus, GA
6. 19:27.50 ~ Michael Gavre (M, 46), GA
7. 19:42.45 ~ Bill Fricks (M, 41) Leesburg, GA
8. 20:53.65 ~ Ashton Windham (M, 28) Macon, GA
9. 21:16.16 ~ Cj Norman (M, 34) Leesburg, GA
10. 21:24.13 ~ Jeff Kolmetz (M, 32) Warner Robins, GA

Top Ten Females, 2013 Lake Blackshear Loop-the-Lake 5K

1. 21:49.76 ~ Ashlee Golden (F, 13) Tifton, GA
2. 21:57.01 ~ Paula Rogers (F, 30) Eastman, GA
3. 22:27.80 ~ Heidi Taylor (F, 32) Cordele, GA
4. 22:42.47 ~ Ryleigh Bell (F, 11) Americus, GA
5. 22:42.68 ~ Katie Pitts (F, 25) Cordele, GA
6. 22:56.74 ~ Jane Bedore (F, 35) Cordele, GA
7. 23:22.38 ~ Jessica Childers (F, 27) Leslie, GA
8. 24:05.42 ~ Faith Pinnell (F, 35) Americus, GA
9. 24:13.15 ~ Anna Champion (F, 30) Americus, GA
10. 24:14.19 ~ Angela Gattie (F, 32) Leesburg, GA

Lake Blackshear Loop-the-Lake 5K champions, 2006-2013
Date	Men	Women
27 May 2006	16:29, David Marley	20:15, Maria Duemler
19 July 2008	16:20, David Marley	19:45, Brittney Skiles
18 July 2009	16:59.81, Marc Kushinka	21:09.71, Alecia Beck
26 June 2010	15:51.85, David Marley	21:23.20, Molly Smith
11 June 2011	17:00.58, Adam Ross	21:16.64, Beth Young
9 June 2012	15:06.87, David Marley	20:30.73, Chris Shattles
1 June 2013	16:45.49, Wright Calhoun	21:49.76, Ashlee Golden

Links

• Complete results of the 2013 Lake Blackshear Loop-the-Lake 5K at active.com
  http://results.active.com/events/06-01-13-loop-the-lake
  
  
• Loop-the-Lake 5K website
  http://www.loopthelake.com/
  
  
• Find a future race beside a lake, river, or ocean on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

Matt Triick and Ashlee Golden tops at ABAC Fitness 5K

Once a regular on the roads of south Georgia, Matt Triick has since moved to Perry, Georgia. But on 26 January 2013 Triick ventured down from middle Georgia to Tifton, where he faced many of the athletes from his old stomping grounds in the fourth annual ABAC Fitness 5K. And a stomping is what Triick dealt to the south Georgia field, winning the 3.1-mile race around Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in 18:05. Ryan Kelly of Lake Park was runner-up in 18:22, while Lowndes High cross-country runner Tyler Thurman took third in 19:57.  For the second time in a row and the third time in four years, Tifton's Bret Wagenhorst was the fastest master runner in the field. This time around, Wagenhorst took top master honors by placing fourth overall in 20:03.


In the female competition, twelve-year-old Ashlee Golden upheld the honor of the region as well that of her hometown of Tifton by winning the women's division with a 22:46, finishing 19th overall. Audrey Williams, and undergraduate at Valdosta State University, was the second female finisher, placing 25th overall in 23:48. Valdosta's Martha Mazurkiewicz (27th, 24:38) was third in the women's division, adding another women's master title to the many she has already collected.


92 athletes finished the 2013 ABAC Fitness 5K.


Top Ten Males, 2013 ABAC Fitness 5K

1. 18:04.5 ~ Matt Triick (M, 29) Perry, GA
2. 18:21.1 ~ Ryan Kelly (M, 34) Lake Park, GA
3. 19:56.1 ~ Tyler Thurman (M, 17) Valdosta, GA
4. 20:02.4 ~ Bret Wagenhorst (M, 49) Tifton, GA
5. 20:24.7 ~ Marton Kozma (M, 44) Tifton, GA
6. 20:30.0 ~ Frank Davis (M, 52) Tifton, GA
7. 20:42.5 ~ Artemio Gomez (M, 19) Omega, GA
8. 20:48.5 ~ Jacob Bearrentine (M, 20) Valdosta, GA
9. 20:50.4 ~ Lorenzo Gomez Jr (M, 26) Omega, GA
10. 20:54.9 ~ Joshua Curry (M, 15) Tifton, GA

Top Ten Females, 2013 ABAC Fitness 5K

1. 22:45.6 ~ Ashlee Golden (F, 12) Tifton, GA
2. 23:47.7 ~ Audrey Williams (F, 22) Valdosta, GA
3. 24:37.4 ~ Martha Mazurkiewicz (F, 45) Valdosta, GA
4. 24:55.4 ~ Debbie Green (F, 46) Valdosta, GA
5. 25:13.3 ~ Penny Peters (F, 45) Tifton, GA
6. 25:52.3 ~ Becky Arnold (F, 44) Tifton, GA
7. 26:00.8 ~ Ashley Luke (F, 23) Valdosta, GA
8. 26:43.6 ~ Nicole Stevenson (F, 18) Hiram, GA
9. 27:08.3 ~ Judy Lindsey (F, 48) Sylvester, GA
10. 27:11.8 ~ Heather Kelly (F, 34) Lake Park, GA

ABAC Fitness 5K champions, 2010-2013
Date	Men	Women
16 Jan 2010	16:51, Austin McDonald	19:16, Caitlyn Asbell
22 Jan 2011	18:51, Masked Avenger	22:07, Alice Smoot
21 Jan 2012	18:28, Mark McLeod	22:47, Katherine McGarr
26 Jan 2013	18:05, Matt Triick	22:46, Ashlee Golden

Links

• Complete results of the 2013 ABAC Fitness 5K
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AuBsYKIIn3TCdFFmaW10bC1tV0pTWHFDNzJLSFJkQ1E
  
  
• 2011 story, "Avenger and Smoot fittest of the 5K field at ABAC"
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2011/01/abac-fitness-5k-2011.html
  
  
• Find more events in the Tallahassee region for your racing schedule at Trouble Afoot!
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1