Cross Country Bears On the Podium at State; Girls 3-Peat as GHSA State Champions, Friday, Nov. 1st

Cross Country Bears On the Podium at State; Girls 3-Peat as GHSA State Champions, Friday, Nov. 1st

The Cambridge Cross Country varsity teams traveled to Carrollton on Thursday afternoon in preparation for the 6A State Championship on Friday morning, November 1st. The rain on Wednesday and Thursday meant there was no course preview, but Friday morning the sky was cloudless and temps were low as the team, and a fan bus traveling from Cambridge, setup for one last official race to end the season. 

The boys' 6A race was the third race of the day, following the 4A races, and the competition was stiff as 6A has two of the top three teams across all classes.   Captain Anders Law ('20) led the team to third place with his tenth place, first team all-state finish.  His time of 17:01 was a personal best on the challenging course at Carrollton.   He was followed by his brother and co-captain Deacon Law ('20) finishing in 14th at 17:16 with 2nd team all state honors, with his best time on the course by just over a minute from a year earlier.  Captain Josh Gargan ('20) then finished third for the team in 25th with a time of 17:33, and was joined by captain Adam Schaich ('20) in 37th place with a time of 17:48.   The final scoring runner was sophomore Lyle Donovan, who had been out for weeks due to injury.   Lyle ran a 17:54 for 44th and lock in third place for the Bears.   Colby Jones ('21) was three seconds behind Lyle for 46th place, and the final runner was Kaine Dudley ('21) in 91st out of 212 runners. 

The starting gun initiated the girls' race 45 minutes later, and captain Ashley Sechrest ('20) finished in 5th individually in her last cross country race at Carrollton to lead the Lady Bears to their third state championship, and stand on the podium individually too, as part of the all state team for the second year running.  Freshman Anna Filipek finished in 17th for second team all state honors, and keeping the team score at a low 19 points after two runners.    The third and fourth runners to cross the line for the Lady Bears were less than two seconds apart, with Lola Merrill ('21) in 29th place, and Emily Meeker ('22) in 31st.  Camilla Montes ('22) sealed the victory with her 35th place finish three seconds later.  Kathryn Suplee ('21) was five seconds behind Camilla in 40th, and junior Izzy Filipek closed out the race for the bears in 62nd out of 222 athletes.   The team total of 105 points bested 2nd place Allatoona by 9 points.  

Congratulations to both teams on a successful 2019 cross country season, and in particular to Ashley and Anders on their first team all state finishes, Deacon and Anna for second team, and the Lady Bears for their third straight 6A state championship!   

For those continuing to run for a few more weeks, we wish them best of luck at the Meet of Champions on November 16, and at the Footlocker South regional meet on November 30 in Charlotte, NC.