724 high school and middle school athletes came to the Tifton, Georgia campus of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College on Saturday morning, 28 September 2019, to compete in one of the four races of the 18th annual Tift Invitational Cross-Country Meet. The Coffee High Trojans put three runners in the top ten of the high school girls' 5K to take the team title in that event, but it was Tift County senior Emily Golden who took individual honors, winning the race in 19:52. Lowndes High was the top team in the high school boys' 5K for the third time in five years, led by their ace, junior Alec Munger, who won the race in 17:09.Competition opened at ABAC with the high school girls' 5K. You could argue that Emily Golden only visits Abraham Balwin to win races. Each August starting in 2014, Golden has won the women's title of the Run For Love 5K, held at ABAC. Golden also won her first Tift Invitational race that year, the middle school girls' 3200-meter run. She won that race again as an eighth-grader in 2015, then in 2016 she graduated to winning the high school girls' 5K. At the 2019 Invitational, Golden ran the Tift Invitational for the final time in her high school career, collecting a fourth-straight win in the 5K. Maybe she also drops by to take the SAT or something, but for the past six years her main business at ABAC has been winning.
Coffee High senior Abby Arnett was second in the high school girls' 5K with a 21:15. At 21:24, Brianna Zupko, a Worth County senior, was third in 21:24.
Arnett was just the first of three Coffee High runners in the top ten. The other two were sophomore Brayden Bailey (6th, 22:11) and frosh Kate Merritt (10th, 22:46). They were joined by Coffee scorers Zulmia Tapia (36th, 25:22) and Ellie Perkins (57th, 26:47), giving the Trojans 94 points and first place in a field of fifteen teams.
Lowndes High was a close second with 99 points, led by the seniors Tanija Turner (15th, 23:29) and Alexandra Sayre (16th, 23:33). Lee County placed third in the team standings with 109 points; their top runner was sophomore Emily Phillips, who finished fourth in 21:46.
Team Standings, High School Girls, 2019 Tift County Invitational
- Coffee, 94
- Lowndes, 99
- Lee County, 109
- Perry, 115
- Tift County, 148
- Berrien County, 162
- Valdosta, 191
- Westover, 202
- Colquitt County, 216
- Cook, 229
- Baconton Charter, 266
- Trinity Dublin Christian, 268
- Fitzgerald, 381
- Bainbridge, 399
- Wilcox County, 421
 |
| Emily Golden |
- 19:52.00, Emily Golden (Tift County)
- 21:15.00, Abbey Arnett (Coffee)
- 21:24.00, Brianna Zupko (Worth County)
- 21:46.00, Emily Phillips (Lee County)
- 22:05.00, Janie Samson (Trinity Dublin Christian)
- 22:11.00, Brayden Bailey (Coffee)
- 22:12.00, Brenna Clark (Valwood)
- 22:18.00, Hannah Dodd (Berrien County)
- 22:37.00, Jadon Osei (Westover)
- 22:46.00, Kate Merritt (Coffee)
The high school boys' 5K followed, the largest race of the morning. Alec Munger of Lowndes had placed third in the 2018 Tift Invitational; he improved on that to win the 2019 race in 17:09. Coffee High junior Cameron Watson took second behind Munger with a 17:23, another improvement--Watson had finished fourth in 2018. Westover senior Henry Plowden ran 17:38 for third; Plowden had won the race in 2017.
Munger had the company of three Lowndes teammates in the top ten--frosh Aaron Munger was sixth in 18:10, junior Cody Galloway was eighth in 18:19, and junior Andrew Caruana was ninth in 18:22. Once Lowndes junior Andrew Francis had crossed the finish line 22nd in 19:16, the Vikings had 46 points and the team title.
Starting with junior Seth Tomlinson (14th, 18:57), Lee County bunched five scorers between 18:57 and 19:15 to take second with 83 points. Perry was a close third in the seventeen-team field with 88 points, led by frosh Dylan Coleman (12th, 18:46).
Team Standings, High School Boys, 2019 Tift County Invitational
- Lowndes, 46
- Lee County, 83
- Perry, 88
- Coffee, 110
- Westover, 137
- Bainbridge, 208
- Berrien County, 216
- Valdosta, 227
- TiftCounty, 242
- Colquitt County, 244
- Fitzgerald, 270
- Worth County, 383
- Baconton Charter, 415
- Thomasville, 420
- Cook, 431
- Trinity Dublin Christian, 434
- Wilcox County, 465
Top 10 High School Boys, 2019 Tift County Invitational
- 17:09.00, Alec Munger (Lowndes)
- 17:23.00, Cameron Watson (Coffee)
- 17:38.00, Henry Plowden (Westover)
- 17:47.00, John Morgan Bolmer (Berrien County)
- 18:08.00, Stokes Moore (Bainbridge)
- 18:10.00, Aaron Munger (Lowndes)
- 18:17.00, Parker Jackson (Valdosta)
- 18:19.00, Cody Galloway (Lowndes)
- 18:22.00, Andrew Caruana (Lowndes)
- 18:23.00, Nevin Swanson (Coffee)
Ava Garrett, a Perry Middle eighth-grader, wen 13:21 to win the middle school girls' 3200 (the distance formerly known as "two miles). Lee County eighth-grader Trace Bridges took second in 13:29, and Berrien County eighth-grader Sadii Davis was third in 13:36. The 2018 Tift Invitational defending champion, Lee County eighth-grader Alma Ostrander, placed fourth in 13:46.
After Bridges and Ostrander, Lee County had scoring performances by eighth-grader Tori Bridges (10th, 14:19), seventh-grader Olivia Vaderwalt (17th, 14:41), and eighth-grader Cadence McClung (18th, 14:45). Once McClung had finished, Lee County had 48 points and the team was taking the trophy back to Leesburg. Ben Hill was second in the fourteen-team field with 105 points; their top runner was eighth-grader Abbie Brown (9th, 14:18).Tift edged Perry for third, 127 to 132, led by the sixteenth-place, 14:39 finish of Tift seventh-grader Grayson Anne Day.
Team Standings, Middle School Girls, 2019 Tift County Invitational
- Lee County, 48
- Ben Hill, 105
- Tift, 127
- Perry, 132
- Berrien County, 140
- Valwood, 149
- Terrell, 212
- Cook, 224
- Baconton Charter, 225
- Seminole County, 238
- Colquitt County, 246
- Wilcox County, 270
- Tiftarea, 284
- Coffee, 357
Top 10 Middle School Girls, 2019 Tift County Invitational
- 13:21.00, Ava Garrett (Perry)
- 13:29.00, Trace Bridges (Lee County)
- 13:36.00, Sadii Davis (Berrien County)
- 13:46.00, Alma Ostrander (Lee County)
- 13:56.00, Emma Burnett (Valwood)
- 13:58.00, Geisha Smith (Seminole County)
- 14:07.00, Destiny Love (Merry Acres)
- 14:17.00, Addie Gregory (Cook)
- 14:18.00, Abbie Brown (Ben Hill)
- 14:19.00, Tori Bridges (Lee County)
Trinity Dublin Christian seventh-grader Nolan Lane was the only athlete to crack 12:00 in the middle school boys' 3200, winning the race in 11:51. That's not to say that no other runner was close to breaking 12:00; Tift eighth-grader Blair Golden was second in 12:02. Tiftarea` sixth-grader Jude Bailey placed third in 12:21.
Berrien County put two runner in the top ten--sxith-grader Brady Solomon (6th, 12:35) and eighth-grader John Carter (10th, 12:51)--but so did Seminole County--seventh-grader Matthew Smith (8th, 12:47) and sixth-grader Zach King (9th, 12:48)--setting up a fight for the team title. Berrien County brought eighth-graders Carlos Valaquez (16th, 13:11), Zachary Davis (23rd, 13:26), and Oseil Rodriguez (29th, 13:37) to that fight, scoring 76 points and taking placing first among fifteen teams. Seminole County was second with 101 points. Coffee, led by eighth-grader Will Bagwell (7th, 12:40), was third with 125 points.
Team Standings, Middle School Boys, 2019 Tift County Invitational
- Berrien County, 76
- Seminole County, 101
- Coffee, 125
- Colquitt County, 128
- Lee County, 132
- Cook, 143
- Tiftarea, 181
- Tift, 185
- Wilcox County, 200
- Perry, 243
- Ben-Hill, 253
- Valwood, 374
- Bainbridge, 383
- Baconton Charter, 384
- Highland Christian, 394
Top 10 Middle School Boys, 2019 Tift County Invitational
- 11:51.00, Nolan Lane (Trinity Dublin Christian)
- 12:02.00, Blair Golden (Tift)
- 12:21.00, Jude Bailey (Tiftarea)
- 12:28.00, James Fagan (Colquitt County)
- 12:32.00, Landon Dale (Lee County)
- 12:35.00, Brady Solomon (Berrien County)
- 12:40.00, Will Bagwell (Coffee)
- 12:47.00, Matthew Smith (Seminole County)
- 12:48.00, Zach King (Seminole County)
- 12:51.00, John Carter (Berrien County)
| Tift High School Blue Devil Cross Country Invitational Winners, 2008 - 2019 | ||
|---|---|---|
| High School Girls 5K | ||
| Date | Team Champ | Individual Champ |
| 6 September 2008 | Westover, 48 points | 21:52, Alexis Skiles (Lee) 9 |
| 12 September 2009 | Tift Country, 47 | 21:19, April Thomas (Bainbridge) 11 |
| 11 September 2010 | Lowndes, 25 | 21:22, Ashley Powell (Lowndes) |
| 8 October 2011 | Lowndes, 22 | 19:14, Anna Leigh Nix (Veterans) |
| 13 October 2012 | Lowndes, 34 | 19:49, Jacki Pinkerton (Lowndes) |
| 12 October 2013 | Camden County, 42 | 19:47, Paige Braswell (Bainbridge) 12 |
| 11 October 2014 | Tift County, 23 | 19:14, Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt County) 9 |
| 10 October 2015 | Lee County, 59 | 20:15, Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt County) 10 |
| 8 October 2016 | Tift County, 41 | 20:44, Emily Golden (Tift County) 9 |
| 30 September 2017 | Tift County, 87 | 20:07, Emily Golden (Tift County) 10 |
| 29 September 2018 | Lee County, 74 | 19:27, Emily Golden (Tift County) 11 |
| 28 September 2019 | Coffee, 94 | 19:52, Emily Golden (Tift County) 12 |
| High School Boys 5K | ||
| Date | Team Champ | Individual Champ |
| 6 September 2008 | Tift County, 40 points | 17:25, Hunter Honeycutt (Tift County) 9 |
| 12 September 2009 | Tift County, 30 | 17:09, Hunter Honeycutt (Tift County) 10 |
| 11 September 2010 | Valdosta, 40 | 17:48, Hunter Honeycutt (Tift County) 11 |
| 8 October 2011 | Tift County, 50 | 16:24, Hunter Honeycutt (Tift County) 12 |
| 13 October 2012 | Lowndes, 65 | 16:20, Dale Pate (Worth County) 11 |
| 12 October 2013 | Worth County, 69 | 16:28, Chase Harris (Bainbridge) 11 |
| 11 October 2014 | Lee County, 55 | 16:46, Robert Grooms (Lee County) 11 |
| 10 October 2015 | Lowndes, 35 | 16:17, Kaleb Wolfenden (Lowndes) |
| 8 October 2016 | Lowndes, 22 | 16:07, Kaleb Wolfenden (Lowndes) 12 |
| 30 September 2017 | Valdosta, 60 | 17:22, Henry Plowden (Westover) 10 |
| 29 September 2018 | Deerfield Windsor, 53 | 16:39, Porter Hill (Deerfield Windsor) |
| 28 September 2019 | Lowndes, 46 | 17:09, Alec Munger (Lowndes) 11 |
Links
- Complete results of Tift County's 2019 Blue Devil Cross Country Invitational
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRFNG78dYNxLhD02-0kTSq4s57VNJd_0MF4wWWbhxtmr6rALLUBNYUzMTEUSeZ2YpfyzwbA8610PGX1/pubhtml
- 2015 story, “More wins for Funderburk and Wolfenden at the Tift County Invitational”
https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2015/10/tift-invitational-2015.html
- Find an upcoming event to run on the Trouble Afoot! race calendar
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
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