Monday, September 14, 2015

Boland and Jones County, Wolfenden and Lowndes victorious at Lee County Invite

2015 Lee County High School Cross Country InvitationalIn 1979 I traveled to Limerick, Ireland, for the World Cross Country Championships. It was in March, and for the week before the event it was the usual wretched weather that you could expect of an Irish springtime. On Thursday, two days before the races, it started raining. It was still raining on Friday, and it continued to rain through the day of the Championships. I don't remember if it stopped afterwards, so maybe it's still raining in Limerick.


The Championships went on though. The mud was so slippery that defending champion John Treacy fell down twice on his way to a win, but the races went on. Whatever the weather, cross country goes on. So on Saturday morning, 12 September 2015, when the rain went on an on and on in Leesburg, Georgia, so did the Lee County High School Cross Country Invitational.


Competition at the 2015 Lee County High Invitational started at 9:00 AM ET with the high school girls' 5K. Jones County was first in a field of 16 teams, scoring a nearly unbeatable 29 points. The Greyhounds were led by senior Kate Boland, who outran the defending champion, Colquitt County sophomore Elizabeth Funderburk to win the race in 20:43. Funderburk took second in 20:51. Jones County also put three other runners in the top ten--frosh Erin Leonard (3rd, 21:08) and juniors Kaitlyn Holder (6th, 23:00) and Frannie Pittman (7th, 23:03)--then closed out their scoring with sophomore McKinleigh Stripling (12th, 23:36). Behind the 21:47 fourth place finish of junior Tiffany Mountin, Perry placed second in the team standings with 71 points. Colquitt County was third with 111.


Team Standings, High School Girls, 2015 Lee County High Invitational
  1. Jones County, 29 pointsTrojan 2015
  2. Perry, 71
  3. Colquitt County, 111
  4. Lowndes, 127
  5. Westover, 127
  6. Lee County, 149
  7. Tift County, 184
  8. Bainbridge, 209
  9. Fitzgerald, 264
  10. Thomasville, 296
  11. Berrien County, 304
  12. Marion County, 323
  13. Pelham, 344
  14. Americus-Sumter, 356
  15. Baconton Charter, 363
  16. Schley County, 437

Top Ten High School Girls, 2015 Lee County High Invitational
  1. 20:42.77 ~ Kate Boland (Jones County) 12
  2. 20:50.52 ~ Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt County) 10
  3. 21:07.26 ~ Erin Leonard (Jones County) 9
  4. 21:46.92 ~ Tiffany Mountin (Perry) 11
  5. 21:51.86 ~ Alyssa Mountin (Perry) 9
  6. 22:59.46 ~ Kaitlyn Holder (Jones County) 11
  7. 23:02.36 ~ Frannie Pittman (Jones County) 11
  8. 23:10.16 ~ Phoebe Bills (Lowndes) 10
  9. 23:25.78 ~ Kaitlyn Mitchell (Colquitt County) 9
  10. 23:27.12 ~ Lydia Bills (Lowndes) 9

Lowndes had the first two runners in the high school boys race with junior Kaleb Wolfenden (1st, 17:42) and senior Chance Roe (2nd, 17:50). Add junior Daniel Swilley (8th, 19:17), frosh Hayden Bills (9th, 19:18), and sophomore Nathan Storey (35th, 21:18), and Lowndes had 52 points, the best score in the field of 20 teams. Perry's top runner finished ahead of Jones County's fastest when Perry sophomore Tanner Reid finished third in 17:52 while Jones County junior Ethan Oulsnam placed fifth in 18:51. Nevertheless, Jones County took second with 67 points while Perry was third with 71.


Team Standings, High School Boys, 2015 Lee County High Invitational
  1. Lowndes, 52 points
  2. Jones County, 67
  3. Perry, 71
  4. Bainbridge, 89
  5. Valdosta, 210
  6. Lee County, 221
  7. Seminole County, 230
  8. Berrien County, 266
  9. Fitzgerald, 275
  10. Tift County, 280
  11. Westover, 298
  12. Baconton Charter, 339
  13. Americus-Sumter, 367
  14. Colquitt County, 381
  15. Hawkinsville, 389
  16. Albany, 391
  17. Thomasville, 399
  18. Marion County, 519
  19. Pelham, 540
  20. Schley County, 588
    21. Kaleb Wolfenden

Top Ten High School Boys, 2015 Lee County High Invitational
  1. 17:41.37 ~ Kaleb Wolfenden (Lowndes) 11
  2. 17:49.77 ~ Chance Roe (Lowndes) 12
  3. 17:51.67 ~ Tanner Reid (Perry) 10
  4. 17:52.50 ~ Matthew Baun (Valdosta) 11
  5. 18:40.51 ~ Ethan Oulsnam (Jones County) 11
  6. 18:54.78 ~ Poncherella Leonard (Bainbridge) 10
  7. 19:00.02 ~ Caleb Harris (Bainbridge) 9
  8. 19:16.92 ~ Daniel Swilley (Lowndes) 11
  9. 19:17.82 ~ Hayden Bills (Lowndes) 9
  10. 19:36.48 ~ Chandler Evans (Perry) 11

When Tift Middle School eighth-grader Emily Golden is in a race, the question is usually not whether or not she's going to win but by how much. At the 2015 Lee County Invitational Middle School Girls' Two Mile, the answer to "how much" was "a lot." Golden was first by nearly 200 meters, winning the race in 14:18. Tift put three more runners in the top ten--eighth graders Rebekah Larger (4th, 15:27) and Caroline Vickers (5th, 15:28) plus seventh-grader Noelia Sandoval (7th, 15:48). Once their fifth runner, sixth-grader Ainsley Toews (14th, 17:00) crossed the finish line, Tift had 29 points and the team title. Seminole County was second in the team standings with 66 points, led by a 15:03 second-place run by eighth-grader Macy Williams. Lee County totalled 73 points to take third in the eleven-team field.


Team Standings, Middle School Girls, 2015 Lee County High Invitational
  1. Tift, 29 points
  2. Seminole County, 66
  3. Lee County, 73
  4. Berrien County, 131
  5. MacIntyre Park, 161
  6. Schley County, 171
  7. Bainbridge, 181
  8. Colquitt County, 203
  9. Baconton Charter, 209
  10. Ben-Hill, 224
  11. Marion County, 275

Top Ten Middle School Girls, 2015 Lee County High Invitational
  1. 14:17.07 ~ Emily Golden (Tift) 8
  2. 15:02.51 ~ Macy Williams (Seminole County) 8
  3. 15:21.00 ~ Masey Tabb (Seminole County) 8
  4. 15:26.63 ~ Rebekah Larger (Tift) 8
  5. 15:27.07 ~ Caroline Vickers (Tift) 8
  6. 15:27.72 ~ Emily Phillips (Lee County) 6
  7. 15:47.26 ~ Noelia Sandoval (Tift) 7
  8. 16:12.57 ~ Lydia Hardy (Mossy Creek) 8
  9. 16:15.57 ~ Sarah Andrews Rucker (Pulaski) 8
  10. 16:22.29 ~ Victoria Natoli (Lee County) 8

Henry PlowdenIn the middle school boys' two mile, Westover eighth-grader Henry Plowden won by more than 200 meters. It was Plowden's third win of the 2015 season, coming after victories at the Mid State Cross Country Classic in Perry, Georgia, on 22 August 2015 and the Cougar Cross Country Challenge in Tallahassee, Florida, on 29 August 2015. Lee County took the next two places in the race with eighth-grader Ben Phillips finishing second in 13:18 and sixth-grader Josh Macklin third in 13:22. Those were the first five points in Lee County's team total of 53, good for the team title. Berrien County edged MacIntyre Park 74 to 81 for the second spot in the thirteen-team field.


Timing and scoring of the 2015 Lee County High Invitational were provided by Miles and Minutes, LLC, of Tallahassee, Florida.


Team Standings, Middle School Boys, 2015 Lee County High Invitational
  1. Lee County, 53 points
  2. Berrien County, 74
  3. MacIntyre Park, 81
  4. Tift, 110
  5. Seminole County, 142
  6. Bainbridge, 188
  7. Ben-Hill, 205
  8. Schley County, 222
  9. Pulaski, 257
  10. Baconton Charter, 269
  11. Colquitt County, 274
  12. Marion County, 325
  13. Pelham, 333

Top Ten Middle School Boys, 2015 Lee County High Invitational
  1. 12:25.83 ~ Henry Plowden (Westover) 8
  2. 13:17.52 ~ Benjamin Phillips (Lee County) 8
  3. 13:21.48 ~ Josh Macklin (Lee County) 6
  4. 13:24.24 ~ Bryce Stephens (Tift) 7
  5. 13:24.57 ~ Garrett Taylor (Seminole County) 8
  6. 13:46.39 ~ Beau Bengston (Tift) 7
  7. 13:53.89 ~ Baylen Young (MacIntyre Park) 7
  8. 13:56.67 ~ Mitchell Kallam (Berrien County) 8
  9. 14:11.24 ~ Morgan Bolmer (Berrien County) 8
  10. 14:19.70 ~ Lawson Brinkley (MacIntyre Park) 7

Lee County High School Cross-Country Invitational Champions
2008 - 2015
High School Girls 5K
DateTeam ChampIndividual Champ
13 September 2008Westover, 28 points20:34, Moneque English (Westover)
12 September 2009Westover, 3218:27, Megan Breitbach (Houston County)
11 September 2010

10 September 2011Thomasville, 5320:31, Megan Asadian (Houston County)
8 September 2012Thomasville, 7223:16, Erica Taylor (Westover)
21 September 2013Jones County, 7820:26, Paige Braswell (Bainbridge)
13 September 2014Jones County, 6119:33, Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt County)
12 September 2015Jones County, 2920:43, Kate Boland (Jones County)
High School Boys 5K
DateTeam ChampIndividual Champ
13 September 2008Tift County, 51 points16:27, Hunter Hunneycutt (Tift County)
12 September 2009Houston County, 2516:45, Kasib Abdullah (Houston County)
11 September 2010

10 September 2011Tift County, 7315:38, Hunter Honeycutt (Tift County)
8 September 2012Westover, 5718:51, Josh Mason (Westover)
21 September 2013Bainbridge, 6116:04, Chase Harris (Bainbridge)
13 September 2014Westover, 3817:46, Matthew Baun (Valdosta)
12 September 2015Lowndes, 5217:42, Kaleb Wolfenden (Lowndes)


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Posted by Herb Wills at 7:41 PM
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