Monday, September 21, 2015

Colquitt County girls and Lowndes boys repeat at Quail Trail

Quail Trail InvitationalMost of the visitors to Pebble Hill Plantation--south of Thomasville, Georgia--come to tour the house, admire the grounds, or view the butterfly garden. Some are there as wedding guests. But since 2008, on one Saturday in September, they come to run. The runners come in greater numbers than any other visitors. On Saturday morning, 19 September 2015, there were 855 high school and middle school athletes at the usually sedate plantation, competing in four different races and representing 74 different teams. It was Thomasville High's seventh annual Quail Trail Cross Country Invitational, one of the largest meetings in South Georgia.


High school competition opened at 9:00 AM with the girls' 5K. Colquitt County sophomore Elizabeth Funderburk was coming off a second-place finish at the Lee County Invitational the previous week, but no one was going to finish ahead of her at Pebble Hill. Fundberburk won the Quail Trail high school girls' 5K by more than 300 meters, running 21:00. Lowndes sophomore Phoebe Bills was second in 22:27, and Thomasville senior Rebekah Smith finished third in 22:35.


Led by the 23:19 sixth-place finish of Ashlee Golden, Tift County repeated as Quail Trail high school girls team champs, scoring a winning 70 points. Joining Golden as Tift County scorers were senior Madison Honeycutt (15th, 24:17) and juniors Harley Stephens (16th, 24:21), Abby Kay Choate (23rd, 25:07), and Lisbeth Cortes (24th, 25:07). Lee County had placed one spot ahead of Tift County a week earlier at the Lee County Invitational, but at the Quail Trail the order was reversed--Lee County was second with 84 points, led by junior Ansley Cain (13th, 24:04). Colquitt County's Lady Packers edged Lowndes for third, 99 to 101.


Team Standings, High School Girls
  1. Tift County, 70
  2. Lee County, 84
  3. Colquitt County, 99
  4. Lowndes, 101
  5. Thomas County Central, 142
  6. Bainbridge, 150
  7. Thomasville, 162
  8. Fitzgerald, 230
  9. Worth County, 276
  10. Pelham, 287
  11. Berrien County, 292
  12. Baconton Charter, 313
  13. Early County, 321
  14. Valdosta, 372
  15. Americus-Sumter, 401
  16. Cairo, 421
  17. Seminole County, 493
  18. Cook, 543

Top Ten High School Girls, Quail Trail 5K
  1. 20:59.91 ~ Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt County) 10
  2. 22:26.72 ~ Phoebe Bills (Lowndes) 10
  3. 22:34.69 ~ Rebekah Smith (Thomasville) 12
  4. 22:50.92 ~ Uriyah Davis (Bainbridge) 10
  5. 23:13.51 ~ Cara Eaton (Thomas County Central) 10
  6. 23:18.89 ~ Ashlee Golden (Tift County) 10
  7. 23:24.08 ~ Mattie Mooney (Rickards) 10
  8. 23:26.83 ~ Blessing Nkembo (Rickards) 11
  9. 23:28.06 ~ Alli Hay (Pataula Charter) 11
  10. 23:31.48 ~ Kaitlyn Mitchell (Colquitt County) 9

In the high school boys' competition Lowndes also successfully defended a 2014 Quail Trail title, sneaking by second place Bainbridge 62 to 69. Thomas County Central was third with 93 points. The tone of the race was set when Lowndes junior Kaleb Wolfenden won the race and Bainbridge sophomore Poncherella Leonard finished runner up. Wolfenden, coming off a win at the Lee County Invitational, ran 16:48, while Leonard posted a 17:09. Lowndes senior Chance Roe was third at 17:28, and Lee County senior Robert Grooms placed fourth in 17:43. Sam Gelabert, a senior, led the Thomas County Central charge, finishing fifth in 17:53.


Like Lowndes, Bainbridge put a second runner in the top ten--Bearcat frosh Caleb Harris was tenth in 18:32. Lowndes still had the best total, finishing their scoring with frosh Hayden Bills (12th, 18:43), junior Daniel Swilley (14th, 18:47), and junior Matthew Sexton (32nd, 20:17).


Team Standings, High School Boys
  1. Lowndes, 62
  2. Bainbridge, 69
  3. Thomas County Central, 93
  4. Brookwood, 177
  5. Lee County, 177
  6. Seminole County, 190
  7. Valdosta, 211
  8. Rickards, 211
  9. Berrien County, 261
  10. Tift County, 268
  11. Cook, 299
  12. Fitzgerald, 310
  13. Colquitt County, 314
  14. Americus-Sumter, 364
  15. Albany, 388
  16. Cairo, 401
  17. Thomasville, 455
  18. Baconton Charter, 456
  19. Early County, 507
  20. Pelham, 525

Top Ten High School Boys, Quail Trail 5K
  1. 16:47.40 ~ Kaleb Wolfenden (Lowndes) 11
  2. 17:08.32 ~ Poncherella Leonard (Bainbridge) 10
  3. 17:27.87 ~ Chance Roe (Lowndes) 12
  4. 17:42.67 ~ Robert Grooms (Lee County) 12
  5. 17:53.00 ~ Sam Gelabert (Thomas County Central) 12
  6. 18:04.85 ~ Matthew Baun (Valdosta) 11
  7. 18:12.27 ~ Jake Merritt (Colquitt County) 10
  8. 18:17.83 ~ Solomon Stevens (Rickards) 12
  9. 18:21.57 ~ Conley Wilhelm (Thomas County Central) 12
  10. 18:31.47 ~ Caleb Harris (Bainbridge) 9

At the 2014 Quail Trail the Crusaders of Holy Comforter Episcopal School in Tallahassee, Florida, had taken the middle school girls team title, leaving Georgia's Tift Middle Schools to settle for second place. In 2015 the Tift girls had better success against the invaders. Tift eighth-grader Emily Golden won the middle school girls 3K race in 12:17, as her team put four runners in the top ten and scored 39 points to take first. Holy Comforter was second with 48 points. Eighth-graders Caroline Vickers (7th, 13:09) and Rebekah Larger (8th, 13:15), seventh-grader Noelia Sandoval (10th, 13:22), and sixth-grader Ainsley Toews also scored for Tift. The top scorers for the Crusaders were eighth-graders Avery Smith (3rd, 12:48) and Elizabeth Calabro (5th, 12:56).


Team Standings, Middle School Girls
  1. Tift, 39
  2. Holy Comforter, 48
  3. Lee County, 119
  4. Valdosta, 159
  5. Viking Runners, 173
  6. Cook, 197
  7. Berrien County, 200
  8. Thomas County, 211
  9. Seminole County, 242
  10. Cornerstone, 253
  11. MacIntyre Park, 306
  12. Bainbridge, 344
  13. Whigham, 364
  14. Baconton Charter, 377
  15. Pataula Charter, 395
  16. Early County, 404
  17. Colquitt County, 413
  18. Ben Hill, 483

Top Ten Middle School Girls, Quail Trail 3K
  1. 12:16.32 ~ Emily Golden (Tift) 8
  2. 12:43.88 ~ Eryn Wilkey (Viking Runners) 7
  3. 12:47.73 ~ Avery Smith (Holy Comforter) 8
  4. 12:50.20 ~ Macy Williams (Seminole County) 8
  5. 12:55.28 ~ Elizabeth Calabro (Holy Comforter) 8
  6. 12:59.84 ~ Brianna Zupko (Worth County) 8
  7. 13:08.61 ~ Caroline Vickers (Tift) 8
  8. 13:14.64 ~ Rebekah Larger (Tift) 8
  9. 13:15.03 ~ Anna James (Thomas County) 7
  10. 13:21.25 ~ Noelia Sandoval (Tift) 7

Carson Locke, an eighth-grader racing for the Viking Runners of Valdosta, won the middle school boys' 3K in 11:15. Holy Comforter's Joseph Ashebo outkicked Ben Phillips of Lee County 11:21 to 11:22 for the runner-up spot, setting up a struggle in the team standings between Lee County and Holy Comforter. Sixth-grader Josh Macklin finished fourth for Lee County in 11:26, but Holy Comforter put one of its own sixth graders, Leo Kelly, eighth in 11:43. Before another Lee County runner could finish, eighth-grader Brecht Heuchan (12th, 11:59), seventh-grader Jackson Jones (14th, 12:01), and sixth-grader Ben Kirbo (15th, 12:01) had scored for the Crusaders, giving Holy Comforter 51 points and the top spot in a field of 18 middle school boys' teams. Lee County was second with 82 points. Berrien County placed third with 110 points, led by eighth-grader Mitchell Kallam (7th, 11:33).


Team Standings, Middle School Boys
  1. Holy Comforter, 51
  2. Lee County, 82
  3. Berrien County, 110
  4. Tift, 156
  5. MacIntyre Park, 165
  6. Viking Runners, 192
  7. Thomas County, 205
  8. Bainbridge, 223
  9. Seminole County, 253
  10. Early County, 255
  11. Cook, 257
  12. Valdosta, 327
  13. Brookwood, 340
  14. Ben Hill, 375
  15. Whigham, 399
  16. Colquitt County, 427
  17. Baconton Charter, 436
  18. Pataula Charter, 476

Top Ten Middle School Boys, Quail Trail 3K
  1. 11:14.96 ~ Carson Locke (Viking Runners) 8
  2. 11:20.43 ~ Joseph Ashebo (Holy Comforter) 8
  3. 11:21.23 ~ Benjamin Phillips (Lee County) 8
  4. 11:25.23 ~ Josh Macklin (Lee County) 6
  5. 11:26.45 ~ Garrett Taylor (Seminole County) 8
  6. 11:32.40 ~ Bryce Stephens (Tift) 7
  7. 11:32.72 ~ Mitchell Kallam (Berrien County) 8
  8. 11:42.69 ~ Leo Kelly (Holy Comforter) 6
  9. 11:45.89 ~ Beau Bengston (Tift) 7
  10. 11:49.80 ~ Lawson Brinkley (MacIntyre Park) 7

Quail Trail Invitational team champions, 2009 - 2015
DateMenWomen
26 September 2009Maclay, 40 pointsMaclay, 34 points
25 September 2010Maclay, 40Lowndes, 56
24 September 2011Tift County, 66Tift County, 29
29 September 2012Maclay, 35Lowndes, 36
28 September 2013Bainbridge, 71Thomas Country Central, 43
27 September 2014Lowndes, 31Tift County, 47
19 September 2015Lowndes, 62Tift County, 70


Quail Trail Invitational individual champions, 2009 - 2015
DateMenWomen
26 September 200917:39, David Daniel (Thomasville) 1218:43, Jana Stolting (Maclay) 12
25 September 201017:28, Hunter Honeycutt (Tift) 1120:20, Stefanie Kurgatt (Maclay) 10
24 September 201116:59, Hunter Honeycutt (Tift) 1222:35, Anna Lee Atwater (Tift) 10
29 September 201217:10, Travis Covert (Maclay) 1220:26, Alison Peters (Lowndes) 11
28 September 201316:29, Chase Harris (Bainbridge) 1120:33, Paige Braswell (Bainbridge) 12
27 September 201417:22, Dylan Rogers (Lowndes) 1120:39, MacKenzie Morse (Lowndes) 10
19 September 201516:48, Kaleb Wolfenden (Lowndes) 1121:00, Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt County) 10


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Posted by Herb Wills at 3:51 PM
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