LOCAL PREP ROUNDUP: Westover sweeps Region 1-AAAA cross country meet
John Millikan
ALBANY — The Westover boys are back on top.
After having their streak of Region 1-AAAA cross country titles snapped last year by Worth County, the Patriots returned to the front of the pack Thursday with a team victory, joining the first-place Westover girls to sweep the region meet for the third time in four years.
Westover had swept the boys and girls meets in 2010 and 2011 before Worth County edged the Patriots in 2012, but it was Westover which triumphed this year with four runners finishing in the top six.
“We were able to get them back (Thursday),” Westover cross country coach Harley Calhoun said. “One thing we wanted to do this summer was win that region championship back, and we knew Worth was bringing four of their top five runners back from last year. We only had two of our top five coming back, so we had some work to do on getting new runners and getting talent out there. And we were able to that this summer. That paid off (Thursday).”
The top six runners and top four teams in each meet advanced to the GHSA state meet on Nov. 9.
Worth County’s Dale Pate was the individual champion on the boys’ side with a first-place time of 16:40 and was followed by Westover’s Jack Plowden (16:55), Westover’s Tyler Sheffel (16:57), Worth County’s Johnathan Cirullo (17:00), Westover’s Quenterrious Ousley (17:04.58) and Westover’s Robert Peacock (17:04.9).
The Westover boys finished with 27 points, followed by Worth County (41), Monroe (93), Albany High (125), Americus-Sumter (131), Cairo (152), Dougherty (178) and Crisp County (201).
Westover freshman Janie Plowden won the girls meet with a time of 20:28, beating the rest of the field by nearly a minute.
“That’s a big start for her for what will be a big career,” Calhoun said.
Plowden was followed by Westover’s Kaitlin Cainion (21:21), Worth County’s Kennedy Rutherford (21:37), Monroe’s Treasure Frazier (22:07), Westover’s Kateria Taylor (22:35.40) and Monroe’s Kiyah Johnson (22:35.68).
The Westover girls scored 25 points to win the team title for the ninth year in a row. Monroe finished second with 45 points, followed by Worth County (60), Cairo (117), Dougherty (133) and Americus (160).
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