Thursday, October 15, 2015

More wins for Funderburk and Wolfenden at the Tift County Invitational

Tift County High SchoolAbraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia, fields teams in baseball, golf, soccer, softball, and tennis, but not cross country. ABAC would have the makings of a fine cross country team, though, if the school enrolled just a few of the distance runners that visited its campus on Saturday morning, 10 October 2015, for the 14th annual Tift County Blue Devil Cross Country Invitational. Competing in four races, there were close to 500 athletes at the meet, some of the fastest in South Georgia, representing high schools and middle schools.


Among those hundreds of athletes was Colquitt County sophomore Elizabeth Funderburk, the defending champion in the high school girls' 5K. That race was scheduled to open the meet at 8:30 AM. Just like at the Pelham Hornet Invitational in August and the Quail Trail Invitational in September, Funderburk won by a ton. Finishing more than 300 meters ahead of the second runner, Funderburk posted a winning 20:15 in the 3.1-mile race. Lowndes sophomore Makenzee Page was second in 21:44, and Bainbridge sophomore Uriyah Davis placed third in 21:54.


Funderburk was Colquitt County's only finisher in the top ten, though, while the Lee County Trojans had three--sophomore Ramsay Miller (8th, 22:46), junior Ansley Cain (9th, 22:48), and frosh Caroline Taylor (10th, 22:51). Add Lee County's next two scorers, junior Ashley Bennett (15th, 23:34) and frosh Rachel Kiesau (17th, 23:46), and the Trojans had a total of 59 points, earning first place in a field of eleven girls' teams. Colquitt County was second with 87, just ahead of the host from Tift County, third with 91.


Team Standings, High School Girls, 2015 Tift County Invitational
  1. Lee County, 59
  2. Colquitt County, 87
  3. Tift County, 91
  4. Bainbridge, 114
  5. Lowndes, 145
  6. Tiftarea, 150
  7. Fitzgerald, 181
  8. Coffee, 194
  9. Worth County, 200
  10. Berrien County, 215
  11. Baconton Charter, 235

Top 15 High School Girls, 2015 Tift County Invitational
  1. 20:14.12 ~ Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt County) 10
  2. 21:43.09 ~ Makenzee Page (Lowndes) 10
  3. 21:53.11 ~ Uriyah Davis (Bainbridge) 10
  4. 22:02.01 ~ Phoebe Bills (Lowndes) 10
  5. 22:16.90 ~ Ashlee Golden (Tift County) 10
  6. 22:23.05 ~ Karen Garcia (Fitzgerald) 9
  7. 22:42.04 ~ Kaycee Goodman (Tiftarea) 11
  8. 22:45.72 ~ Ramsay Miller (Lee County) 10
  9. 22:47.53 ~ Ansley Cain (Lee County) 11
  10. 22:51.00 ~ Caroline Taylor (Lee County) 9
  11. 23:02.18 ~ Sloan Fletcher (Tift County) 11
  12. 23:06.22 ~ Lisbeth Cortes (Tift County) 11
  13. 23:28.45 ~ Justice Lucas (Worth County) 11
  14. 23:29.13 ~ Kaitlyn Mitchell (Colquitt County) 9
  15. 23:33.41 ~ Ashley Bennett (Lee County) 11

Kaleb Wolfenden and Poncherella Leonard have got to be tired of seeing each other, but cross country fans in South Georgia aren't tired of watching them race. The two juniors had met five times this season before the Tift Invitational--at the Cougar Challenge, the Lee County Invitational, the Quail Trail Invitational, the Bearcat Invitational, and the Westover Invitational. Lowndes High's Wolfenden had won three of those meetings, but in the other two races Bainbridge's Leonard had finished ahead of Wolfenden. Both athletes were on the starting line at 9:30 AM at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.


This meeting belonged to Wolfenden, who won the race in 16:17. Leonard was second in 16:26, just ahead of Lowndes senior Chance Roe. Roe was third in 16:27. Lowndes' remaining scorers were junior Daniel Swilley (7th, 17:36), frosh Hayden Bills (10th, 18:17), and senior Dylan Rogers (14th, 18:37), totaling 35 points for the Vikings and giving Lowndes the team title. Bainbridge was second with 83 points. Lee County's top runner Robert Grooms (4th, 16:41) outran Coffee's leader, senior Cody Reid (5th, 17:23), but in the team standings Coffee edged Lee County for third, 104 to 108.


Team Standings, High School Boys, 2015 Tift County Invitational
  1. Lowndes, 35
  2. Bainbridge, 83
  3. Coffee, 104
  4. Lee County, 108
  5. Tift County, 120
  6. Colquitt County, 163
  7. Berrien County, 187
  8. Tiftarea, 243
  9. Worth County, 244
  10. Fitzgerald, 245
  11. Dougherty, 268
  12. Baconton Charter, 273
  13. Cook, 340

Top 15 High School Boys, 2015 Tift County Invitational
  1. 16:17.00 ~ Kaleb Wolfenden (Lowndes) 11
  2. 16:26.00 ~ Poncherella Leonard (Bainbridge) 11
  3. 16:27.00 ~ Chance Roe (Lowndes) 12
  4. 16:41.00 ~ Robert Grooms (Lee County) 12
  5. 17:23.00 ~ Cody Reid (Coffee) 12
  6. 17:24.00 ~ Jake Merritt (Colquitt County) 10
  7. 17:36.00 ~ Daniel Swilley (Lowndes) 11
  8. 17:57.00 ~ Matthew Fisher (Tift County) 12
  9. 18:13.00 ~ Artavious McGowan (Dougherty) 12
  10. 18:17.00 ~ Hayden Bills (Lowndes) 9
  11. 18:24.24 ~ Bennett Enfinger (Bainbridge) 12
  12. 18:27.48 ~ Hunter Hatfield (Lee County) 10
  13. 18:30.03 ~ Jacob Blakey (Lee County) 10
  14. 18:36.50 ~ Dylan Rogers (Lowndes) 12
  15. 18:38.26 ~ Jose Sanchez (Coffee) 11

Before the Tift Invitational, Emily Golden had wins at the Hornet Invitational, the Lee County Invitational, the Quail Trail Invitational, the Bearcat Invitational, and the Westover Invitational. After the morning at ABAC, the Tift Middle Schools eighth-grader had added the Tift Invitational middle school girls' title to her collection. Her sixth win this season, Golden ran the 3200-meter race in 12:42. Viking Runners Club seventh-grader Eryn Wilkey was second in 13:07.42, while Worth County eighth-grader Brianna Zupko outkicked Lee County sixth-grader Emily Phillips for third, 13:33.30 to 13:34.00.


Tift put all five of its scorers in the top ten--Golden, eighth-grader Caroline Vickers (5th, 13:44), eighth-grader Rebekah Larger (7th, 13:58), sixth-grader Ainsley Toews (8th, 13:59), and seventh-grader Noelia Sandoval (10th, 14:11). Now, a team can still lose with five runners in the top ten, but it's mathematically impossible to beat a team that has less than 28 points, and Tift had 27, putting them on top of the ten-team field. Lee County was second with 73 points, and Berrien edged the Viking Runners Club for third, 100 to 104.


Team Standings, Middle School Girls, 2015 Tift County Invitational
  1. Tift, 27
  2. Lee County, 73
  3. Berrien County, 100
  4. Viking Runners Club, 104
  5. Coffee, 169
  6. Cook, 170
  7. Colquitt County, 172
  8. Tiftarea, 178
  9. Baconton Charter, 219
  10. Ben Hill, 249

Top 15 Middle School Girls, 2015 Tift County Invitational
  1. 12:41.45 ~ Emily Golden (Tift) 8
  2. 13:07.42 ~ Eryn Wilkey (Viking Runners Club) 7
  3. 13:33.30 ~ Brianna Zupko (Worth County) 8
  4. 13:34.00 ~ Emily Phillips (Lee County) 6
  5. 13:43.77 ~ Caroline Vickers (Tift) 8
  6. 13:55.79 ~ Gracie Woods (Coffee) 7
  7. 13:57.46 ~ Rebekah Larger (Tift) 8
  8. 13:58.88 ~ Ainsley Toews (Tift) 6
  9. 14:07.29 ~ Sophie Compton (Tiftarea) 5
  10. 14:10.76 ~ Noelia Sandoval (Tift) 7
  11. 14:26.80 ~ Katie McMillan (Tift) 7
  12. 14:27.21 ~ Maddie Harper (Berrien County) 7
  13. 14:47.43 ~ Alexandria Vaughn (Tift) 6
  14. 15:01.19 ~ Emma Davis (Viking Runners Club) 7
  15. 15:03.94 ~ Leslie Nuneez (Colquitt County) 8

A week after turning a 19:14 5K on the streets of Hahira, eighth-grader Carson Locke won the boys' 3200 at the Tift Invitational, running 11:32. Lee County runners took the next two places, with eighth-grader Ben Phillips second in 11:48 and sixth-grader Josh Macklin third in 11:50. Berrien County eighth-grader Mitchell Kallam was fourth in 11:51 and Tift seventh-grader Bryce Stephens was fifth in 12:01. Tift had four runners in the top ten, but while the Tift boys waited for a fifth scorer, Lee County put seventh-grader Seth Tomlinson (14th, 12:53), eighth-grader Noah Bain (15th, 12:58), and seventh-grader Will Tomlinson (18th, 13:14) across the finish line. After that, Lee County had 52 points and the team title. Tift was second in the field of ten teams with 60 points. Both Berrien County and Coffee had 80 points, but Berrien was awarded third-place in the team standings on the tiebreaker when their sixth runner, sixth-grader Beau Nix (28th, 13:31) finished ahead of Coffee's sixth runner.


Team Standings, Middle School Boys, 2015 Tift County Invitational
  1. Lee County, 52
  2. Tift, 60
  3. Berrien County, 80
  4. Coffee, 80
  5. Viking Runners Club, 109
  6. Ben Hill, 180
  7. Tiftarea, 203
  8. Baconton Charter, 222
  9. Colquitt County, 235
  10. Cook, 270

Top 15 Middle School Boys, 2015 Tift County Invitational
  1. 11:31.31 ~ Carson Locke (Viking Runners Club) 8
  2. 11:47.71 ~ Benjamin Phillips (Lee County) 8
  3. 11:49.18 ~ Josh Macklin (Lee County) 6
  4. 11:50.39 ~ Mitchell Kallam (Berrien County) 8
  5. 12:00.42 ~ Bryce Stephens (Tift) 7
  6. 12:01.36 ~ Gaven Purvis (Coffee) 8
  7. 12:03.08 ~ Beau Bengston (Tift) 7
  8. 12:30.04 ~ Andrew Caruana (Viking Runners Club) 7
  9. 12:40.93 ~ Jeremiah Thomas (Tift)
  10. 12:41.81 ~ Lavida Hall (Tift) 8
  11. 12:43.93 ~ Cameron Watson (Coffee) 7
  12. 12:47.62 ~ Edward Melendez (Coffee) 8
  13. 12:50.56 ~ Morgan Bolmer (Berrien County) 8
  14. 12:52.49 ~ Seth Tomlinson (Lee County) 7
  15. 12:57.37 ~ Noah Bain (Lee County) 8


Tift High School Blue Devil Cross Country Invitational
Winners, 2008 - 2015
High School Girls 5K
DateTeam ChampIndividual Champ



6 September 2008Westover, 48 points21:52, Alexis Skiles (Lee) 9
12 September 2009Tift Country, 4721:19, April Thomas (Bainbridge) 11
11 September 2010Lowndes, 2521:22, Ashley Powell (Lowndes)
8 October 2011Lowndes, 2219:14, Anna Leigh Nix (Veterans)
13 October 2012Lowndes, 3419:49, Jacki Pinkerton (Lowndes)
12 October 2013Camden County, 4219:47, Paige Braswell (Bainbridge) 12
11 October 2014Tift County, 2319:14, Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt County) 9
10 October 2015Lee County, 5920:15, Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt County) 10
High School Boys 5K
DateTeam ChampIndividual Champ



6 September 2008Tift County, 40 points17:25, Hunter Honeycutt (Tift County) 9
12 September 2009Tift County, 3017:09, Hunter Honeycutt (Tift County) 10
11 September 2010Valdosta, 4017:48, Hunter Honeycutt (Tift County) 11
8 October 2011Tift County, 5016:24, Hunter Honeycutt (Tift County) 12
13 October 2012Lowndes, 6516:20, Dale Pate (Worth County) 11
12 October 2013Worth County, 6916:28, Chase Harris (Bainbridge) 11
11 October 2014Lee County, 5516:46, Robert Grooms (Lee County) 11
10 October 2015Lowndes, 3516:17, Kaleb Wolfenden (Lowndes)


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Posted by Herb Wills at 2:56 PM
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