Whatley Fountain repeats; Clawson calls team performance unacceptable

ALBANY — Whatley Fountain won his home invitational for the second consecutive year Saturday, established another personal record and produced the fourth-fastest boys cross-country time in Georgia this season.

His coach still left Albany State University’s West Campus dissatisfied.

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Fountain’s dominant victory could not overcome Thomas County Central’s depth as Deerfield-Windsor finished third in the boys team standings at its own invitational.

“For the boys, third place is an unacceptable outcome, and we’ll look to rectify that before the next race,” Deerfield-Windsor coach Jake Clawson said.

Fountain, a junior, completed the 5-kilometer course in 15 minutes, 36.44 seconds—nearly 47 seconds ahead of runner-up Holten Dennard of Thomas County Central. Fountain’s time was about two seconds faster than the personal record he set when he won the same race last year.

Thomas County Central placed five runners among the first 18 and won the boys championship with 39 points. Calvary Christian and Deerfield-Windsor each scored 103, but Calvary claimed second through the tiebreaker.

Fountain was one of six area boys to finish among the top 20. Worth County sophomore Colton Letchworth placed fifth in 16:34.25, while Sherwood Christian junior Natnael Russell was eighth in 16:51.84.

Deerfield-Windsor junior Daniel Roland placed 10th in 17:21.21, teammate Adam Mallow was 14th in 17:55.17 and Sherwood Christian senior Sam Moorhead finished 17th in 18:03.85.

Fountain, Roland and Mallow gave Deerfield-Windsor three runners among the top 14, but the Knights’ fourth and fifth scoring runners finished 30th and 59th. That gap helped Thomas County Central pull away and explained Clawson’s frustration with the final team result.

There was considerably more satisfaction surrounding the Deerfield-Windsor girls, who placed four runners among the top 19 and finished second behind Thomas County Central.

The Lady Knights scored 71 points, trailing Thomas County Central’s 51. Brookstone finished third with 82.

“The girls ran a great race,” Clawson said. “They found a teammate early and moved up the whole time. We beat the other teams in our region, so that gives us confidence going forward. Alli had a breakout race, and I’m excited to see where that takes us.”

Freshman Alli Roland led Deerfield-Windsor by finishing 10th in 22:09.04. Sophie Logan placed 15th in 23:02.99, Holli Roland was 16th in 23:14.88, and Reagan Church finished 19th in 23:22.81.

Bainbridge sophomore Anniston Willis won the girls’ race in 19:35.26. Southwest Georgia Academy senior Marigrace Garcia-Simmons placed second in 20:26.83, while Thomas County Central senior Emma Grace Vealey finished third in 20:59.40.

Baconton Charter freshman Madison Miracle added another strong local performance, finishing sixth in 21:18.18. Sherwood Christian sophomore Jordyn Ban followed in seventh at 21:46.26, and Baconton Charter freshman Lilly Bashline placed 18th in 23:18.34.

Sherwood Christian finished fifth in both varsity team races. Worth County placed sixth in the boys’ standings and 10th in the girls’ race, while Baconton Charter was seventh among the girls and 11th among the boys. Westover and Lee County also fielded scoring teams in both races. Terrell Academy finished 19th in the boys’ competition.