Milton Cross Country Competes in North Carolina

Oct 5, 2019

Charlotte, NC

By Andy Carr

The Milton High School cross country teams took their first trip to the 45th Annual Wendy’s Cross-Country Invitational at the historic McAlpine-Greenway Park, in Charlotte, NC and held their own against many strong programs from 5 states to record many season and all-time best finishes.

Varsity Girls

The Lady Eagles showed they are one of the top-teams in Georgia as Milton (10th-282 pts) besting 26 schools in the team’s largest meet so far this season. Putting herself in her accustomed spot up near the front of the race, senior Nyah Hernandez (8th-18:48) raced to her season’s best performance to again lead the Lady Eagles. Keeping Milton in the running for a good team finish, the group of senior co-captain Abby Rindt (43rd-19:57), freshman Annalise Crow (63rd-20:12) and junior Audrey Nichols (71st-20:20) raced together most of the meet and along with the all-time best performance by Clare Petkash (102nd-20:50) were the Lady Eagles scorers. Sophomore Jessica Albregts (132nd-21:20) & senior Ella Langley (147th-21:31) concluded Milton’s finishers in the varsity event.

Varsity Boys

Milton (12th-369 pts) also bested 26 schools to rebound well off a tough outing at the Wingfoot meet 2 weeks ago. The Eagles had again two runners up near the front of the race and employed a much-improved group or pack to give Milton a strong team finish in the team’s largest race so far this season.

Junior Hayden Marshall (20th-16:21) raced to his 3rd best performance ever and along with senior co-captain Spencer Watry (25th-16:30) again led the Eagles. Milton showed its team is deeper and stronger as the season is progressing as junior Jack Petkash (61st-17:19), in a all-time best, led a group of Eagle finishers including senior co-captain Joe Pick (116th-17:39), junior Connor Brunson (117th-17:40), also in a all-time best, and concluding with sophomore Dylan Bowden (152nd-17:59), pushed Milton to a top-12 finish!

JV Girls

Even with no team scores kept, the Lady Eagles put 12 finishers in the top-100 overall places to showcase Milton’s depth and strength among some of the top-programs in the southeast US. In the largest race of the day (540 finishers), the Lady Eagles were clearly one of the top programs competing. Freshman Gabby Beckman (25th-21:40), junior Audrey Minton (29th-21:46) and senior Katy Dickenson (35th-21:58) led all Milton runners.

JV Boys

Spread over 2 races by class/grade, and with no team scores kept, Milton again showed its depth and strength with top finishes in again very large races. Sophomore Charlie Reynolds (17th-18:00) led all Eagle runners with junior Lorin Tady (24th-18:10) & then fellow sophomores Davis Hobbs (36th-18:23) & Andrew Baum (42nd-18:29) along with senior co-captain Alex Braswell (41st-18:29) were Milton’s top-placing runners over the two races.

The Eagle Cross Country teams return to action Saturday, October 12th in Whitesburg, GA at the 17th Coach Wood Invitational hosted by Mill Creek High School in their last regular season meet before the area & state meets that will conclude the 2019 season.