The Cross Country team endured a missing bus at 5:15am for the varsity runners, followed by unusually high temperatures at their meet on Saturday, October 6th at Fox Hall Sporting Club in Douglasville. However, that did not stop them from declaring victory yet again, with five 1st place team trophies, two individual first place medals, two new school records, and ten personal 5K records being set.
Senior, and captain, Jack Filan led the team in the boys' championship race at 8am, with a great finish in 15:11 for first place, and handing one of the state's other top runners his first defeat of the season. He beat his own school record set in August by 11 seconds, and currently has the second fastest time for a cross country 5K in the state of Georgia this year. Jack's finish helped secure the overall 1st place team victory for the varsity boys, beating second place Lakeside Evans with 135 points to their 159 points. Joining Jack in the team victory were scoring runners Captain Jack Donovan ('19), Lyle Donovan ('22), Captain Carson Ertwine ('19), and Captain Mark VanDeWater ('19). Anders Law ('20), Josh Gargan ('20), and Deacon Law ('20) were also part of this winning team on Saturday.
The varsity girls also came home with a championship race first place trophy, by one point over second place Westminster. Key to the victory were the top 15 medal earning finishes of Ashley Sechrest ('20) with a school record time of 18:41 for third place, and Grace Gerlach ('19) with a strong 8th place. Finishing out the five scores for the team victory were Captain Clarissa Beck ('19), sophomore Izzy Filipek, and junior Afton Hirschi. Seconds behind Afton was sophomore Kathryn Suplee, and then seniors Isabel Suero and Captain Delaney Goodell rounded out the team of eight.
Three hours later, as the sun just turned the day into a scorcher, the junior varsity boys were at the starting line. Led by Adam Schaich ('20), the JV boys took home the third first place trophy of the day for Cambridge with a clear 30 point lead over second place Alpharetta. The JV boys ran as a tight pack for much of the race, just hitting their personal strides in the last mile of the race, and all five scoring runners earned medals by finishing in the top fifteen. Adam finished in 5th place, followed by Yahya Merchant ('20), Captain Sasha Severtson ('19), Cole Suplee ('21), and Colby Jones ('21) in 8th, 11th, 13th and 15th place respectively. The remaining JV runners were just seconds behind as well, and included Noah Bouton ('19), Colin Shin ('20), Rishi Murudkar ('19), and Boston Grant ('21). All nine runners finished in the top 30 in a field of 300 runners.
As temps continued to rise, races continued, and next up was the girls' JV team. The lady bears were led by Faith Hirschi ('22) with a 2nd place finish, and fellow freshman Emily Meeker in 6th place. The top five again finished in the top fifteen, with Leah Capomaccio ('20), Sarah Anderson ('20) and Captain Amanda Leekley ('19) finishing in 11th, 12th and 15th to earn medals. Despite finishing so well, they were just edged out by 2 points, and brought home the 2nd place JV Girls' trophy. Also running on the JV girls' team on Saturday were Liz Willis ('19), Amber Brown ('19), Skye Harley ('22), Madeline Matthews ('22), and Annika Phelps ('20).
The final four races of the day, now after noon, were shortened to 3K due to the heat. These races were also split by grade, with 9th and 10th graders running separately from the juniors and seniors. Starting with the boys' team, sophomore Caelan Jones finished in 2nd place, followed by Alex Tebeau ('22) and Justin Doering ('21) less than a second apart in third and fourth, and closing out the scoring were Matthew DiPietro ('21) and Ashton Foraker ('22). This earned the fourth first place trophy of the day, beating second place by over 30 points. The underclass lady bears finished in third place, with freshmen Lannah Johnson leading the runners in 6th place overall. Also scoring were Disha Baglodi ('22), Sarah Meredith ('22), Macy Cobb ('22), and Kendall Clemmer ('22).
The upperclassmen finished out the day in a mixed open 3K race, and again the boys brought home an incredible fifth first place team trophy and the girls earned 2nd place as a team. Leading the boys were 1st and 2nd place finished Kyler Wilson ('19) and Will Carrow ('20). Completing the incredibly low score of just 20 points, were Cooper Carrow ('20), Ethan Blalock ('20), and Sumil Shah ('20). Additionally, Daniel Malone ('19), Ethan Danciak ('20), and Matthew Meeker ('20) also earned medals by finishing in the top 15. Leading the Lady Bears for this race, finishing in 3rd, 4th, and 5th place, were Lily Parzych ('20), Camryn Quam ('20), and Captain Kate Tweedy ('19). Also earning medals were Allie Maloney ('20), Audrey Duke ('20), and Madalyn Tolbert ('19).
Just one meet remains before the Region Championships on October 23 at Webb Bridge Park. This weekend, on October 13, the Bears will head back to McIntosh Preserve for the Coach Wood Invitational. Their performances so far have earned them spots in the seeded Championship races, and all teams should once again perform well. Good luck, and go Bears, Embrace the Fight!
