After two weekends of success with moderate temperatures, the Cross Country Bears headed to Milton on Saturday, September 15, for the Milton Invitational in an attempt to win the Eagle Cup. Many of the runners set personal best times on the course, which some argue is the toughest one in the state of Georgia, and two runners took home individual trophies in the varsity races, despite the heat and humidity of running last in Saturday morning's competition.
With much of the course shaded at 7:45am, the open girls' race included 20 Lady Bears. The top two finishes for Cambridge in this race were Amber Brown ('19) and Sarah Meredith ('22), in 21st and 23rd place respectively, to help Cambridge finish 3rd overall out of 7 teams in this race. The Open Boys race started at 8:30, and three runners earned medals for finishing in the top 20: Cooper Carrow ('20) and Ethan Blalock('20) raced each other down the chute to the finish line, finishing less than 1 second apart, in 14th and 15th place. They were followed 12 seconds later by Ethan Danciak ('20) in 19th place. The boys earned 4th place as a team in a field of 7 teams, behind Milton, Dunwoody, and just 1 point shy of Lambert.
15 runners made up each of the junior varsity teams on Saturday, and with various runners out because this was originally going to be a travel weekend with a meet in North Carolina, the girls' JV team finished 5th overall against 10 teams. Leading the JV girls was junior Michaela Prevallet, in medal earning 15th place, who bested her time from last year when she led the open race in her first run for Cambridge cross country, by nearly a minute. In fact, her time was the 8th fastest for the Lady Bears across all three races this weekend. The JV boys earned a 2nd place team trophy, and this was bolstered by the top five boys finishing in 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th place. Leading this pack was sophomore Colby Jones, followed a few seconds later by his brother Caelan Jones ('21), and teammates Kaine Dudley ('21), Rishi Murudkar ('19), and Will Carrow ('20) The only other team to have all five finishers in the top 20, was first place South Forsyth having finished in 2nd through 7th place.
By the time the girls' varsity race started at 10:15, the shade that had covered the first hill was a distant memory for the spectators that had sought refuge from the heat. The Lady Bears were the early pre-race favorites, as they had beaten Milton at Bob Blastow in August, but were short two of their top runners and could not keep up with the competition. A trophy for this race came home with Ashley Sechrest ('20) though, as she earned first place individually, in a competitive field with top runners in 7A and 1A private all vying for the lead. Her time of 20:24 was just two seconds shy of putting her in the top 10 fastest times ever run on the Milton course, and beat her time from last year's Fulton County XC meet at Milton by just over 1 minute. The race starter, Coach Matthew Chestnut of Alpha Crush Running Club, even presented Ashley with the bullet casing for the race to go with her medal and trophy. Also earning a medal, with a course personal best by 24 seconds, was Captain Clarissa Beck ('19), finishing in 18th place The remaining scoring runners, placing 5th as a team, included Izzy Filipek ('21), Afton Hirschi ('20), and freshmen Katie Malone.
The varsity boys' race was the last and most grueling of the six races on Saturday, but the team and senior captain Jack Filan did not disappoint as he beat his course best and pushed Cambridge graduate Zach Morgan ('17) out of the top 10 fastest course times with Jack's third place finish in 17:04. Jack was edged out for second place coming down the chute for the finish, but still earned his fifth all-time fastest Milton course finish. Helping clinch the second place team trophy, was freshmen Lyle Donovan, with a 17th place medal earning finish, and then captain Carson Ertwine ('19), Josh Gargan ('20), and captain Mark Vandewater ('19) finished in 24th, 25th and 35th.
The Milton Invitational is unique in that it awards a trophy for the best team overall, taking into account all six races. The Bears finished a successful third in the race for the Eagle Cup, behind second place home team Milton who won both open races with their home course experience and large teams, and first place team South Forsyth, also from 7A, who took home first place team trophies in all four varsity and jv races.
The next meet will be the Wingfoot Invitational in Cartersville, known for fast times and being relatively flat, but even more so for a unique course that includes jumping over hay bales. The course also has very little shade, and two years ago, the heat resulted in later JV races being cut from a 5K to a 3K to avoid heat exhaustion. The team should do well in the championship races, though it is one of the most competitive races they will particpate in all season before state, and we hope they will be at full strength across the board.
