Cartersville’s boys teams and Woodland’s girls teams turned in strong performances just a week removed from their respective county championships.
In addition to the aforementioned varsity finishes, Cartersville collected a trophy for its third-place JV boys finish, while Woodland’s girls also grabbed one for placing third in the JV girls race, a spot in front of the Cartersville girls.
Following a spill on the track last week, Woodland coach Rob Forbes did not expect his team to finish as high as it did.
“Actually, I was surprised we did so well. We had a couple of injuries on our team,” Forbes said. “Ashley [Barrera] had banged up her knee. … and Melissa [Davila] twisted her ankle.”
Even with injuries ailing its top two runners, Woodland performed well due to its depth as Rachel Mez placed 26th as the team’s top runner.
“She [ran] her best time. She [had a personal record] on that course. It seems like it’s a fast course, but it’s a challenging course,” Forbes said.
Sickness, as opposed to injury, slowed Woodland’s No. 1 runner on the boys’ side as the team took 15th place.
“I know Logan [Rempe] was sick,” Forbes acknowledged. “For the past three days, he’s had some kind of sinus thing. … The other guys, their times weren’t too bad.”
“The other guys kind of stepped it up. It’s just a hard one,” he continued. “Centennial, they’re an awesome team anyway, but it’s hard to compete with them.”
Forbes would have liked to have competed better with the meet’s co-hosts Cartersville and Cass, which placed ninth. “Today wasn’t the day. We didn’t have everybody where they needed to be.”
Along with some impressive team finishes, local runners were amongst individual medalists as well. Roger Herrera and Lawson Crowe of Cartersville completed medal-winning races with seventh- and 20th-place finishes, respectively, and Cartersville’s Dorie Brunzelle, 13th; Adairsville’s Emily Sexauer, 15th; and JV girls runners Hallie Wachsmuth of Cartersville, eighth, and Mallory Warren of Woodland, 10th, received similar honors.
“Our guys and girls did really well, I thought,” Cartersville coach David Matherne said. “Roger had another Roger run. Seventh-place overall is solid with that many runners. Lawson Crowe picked up another medal at 20th. … Tommy [Morrison] and [Zach] Cravey and Troy Hickom, they all ran well.”
“Dorie ran like lightning. She was 21:41 and that is a huge chunk off her time from [the] Jesse Owens [Classic],” he continued. “She dropped the bottom off her time and looked good doing it.”
Matherne also commended Kyra Gore, Kirsten Horstman, Sydney Andrews and Victoria Everhart for strong races, as well as JV runners Wachsmuth, Tanner Davis and Hunter Myrick.
“Sydney Andrews came up in fifth for us and I was impressed by that,” he said. “Victoria Everhart is one of our unsung heroes. She’s like a rock. You can always count on her to run a good time and she did it again today. … I don’t think she gets enough credit.
“I’m just happy to see Dorie having a good senior year. She deserves it,” he said. “Tanner Davis had a race to be proud of. He had one of our top seven times, and Hunter Myrick is on the road to recovery. He missed a few meets early for illness and he’s gradually getting better.”
For Adairsville, it was another eye-opening performance from freshman sensation Sexauer.
“She continues to just be our strongest runner right now. She finished 15th. She was a little disappointed, but I was pleased with it,” said Adairsville girls coach Kristen Martin in regard to Sexauer, a freshman who came in second place last week at the Bartow County Championship at Gatewood Park. “She’s what brings us up. … We’ve got some good runners, but Emily’s just that kind of runner that takes it up a notch.”
At the awards ceremony, Matherne, with Cass girls coach David Rawlins next to him, thanked teams for coming out and encouraged them to return for the 33rd CCI in 2012.
“Both schools take a lot of pride in putting on a good meet and once again we had a strong meet and some fast times out there,” Matherne said of the longest running weekday meet in the state.
Below are results from Tuesday’s meet.
Varsity Boys
First — Kane Davis, Centennial, 16:17; Second — Nathaniel Wondimu, Central Gwinnett, 16:41; Third — Sam Reilly, Mount Pisgah, 16:45; Fourth — Chris Woodard, GAC, 16:53; Fifth — Robert Mitchell, Centennial, 17:16; Sixth — Luis Lozoya, Pickens, 17:27; Seventh — Roger Herrera, Cartersville, 17:30; Eighth — Freddy Corpinello, Duluth, 17:30.6; Ninth — Austin Claybrook, Central Gwinnett, 17:31; 10th — Jake Howlin, South Forsyth, 17:33;
11th — Ryan Peppenhorst, South Forsyth, 17:35; 12th — Damien Porter, Chattooga, 17:41; 13th — Mitchell Francis, South Forsyth, 17:46; 14th — Conor Garcia, North Cobb Christian, 17:48; 15th — Brian Koblitz, Centennial, 17:49; 16th — Wyatt Ingram, Pickens, 17:51; 17th — Chris Wilson, Central Gwinnett, 17:56; 18th — Aaron McChesney, South Forsyth, 17:58; 19th — John Keeton, GAC, 18:00; 20th — Lawson Crowe, Cartersville, 18:05.
Varsity Boys Teams
First — Centennial, 67; Second — South Forsyth, 74; Third — Central Gwinnett, 103; Fourth — Cartersville, 127; Fifth — Pickens, 130; Sixth — GAC, 195; Seventh — Mount Pisgah, 244; Eighth — Sprayberry, 256; Ninth — Cass, 273; 10th — Rockmart, 301;
11th — North Cobb Christian, 354; 12th — Southeast Whitfield, 374; 13th — Douglas County, 383; 14th — Adairsville, 412; 15th — Woodland, 448; 16th — Bremen, 450; 17th — Excel Christian, 540.
Varsity Girls
First — Haley McKay, Centennial, 19:56; Second — Alyssa Weaver, Pickens, 19:58; Third — Lydia Moyer, South Forsyth, 20:29.2; Fourth — Alyssa Sale, South Forsyth, 20:29.6; Fifth — Kelsey Ferrier, GAC, 20:44; Sixth — Amy Martin, Centennial, 21:09; Seventh — Katie Strawinski, Mount Pisgah, 21:12; Eighth — Natalie Bean, Centennial, 21:19; Ninth — Haley Longo, Centennial, 21:21; 10th — Grace Travani, Centennial, 21:26;
11th — Abigail Mistrette, GAC, 21:34; 12th — Rachel Shah, South Forsyth, 21:35; 13th — Dorie Brunzelle, Cartersville, 21:42; 14th — Cheyenne Porter, Chattooga, 21:43; 15th — Emily Sexauer, Adairsville, 21:45; 16th — Erin Dean, Pickens, 21:50; 17th — Ashley Camp, Bremen, 21:53; 18th — Hannah Sanford, North Cherokee, 21:54; 19th — Anna Collett, GAC, 21:55; 20th — Emily Buwalda, North Cobb Christian, 21:56.
Varsity Girls Teams
First — Centennial, 34; Second — South Forsyth, 70; Third — Pickens, 100; Fourth — GAC, 132; Fifth — Woodland, 191; Sixth — Central Gwinnett, 220; Seventh — Bremen, 223; Eighth — Cartersville, 225; Ninth — North Cobb Christian, 269; 10th — Sprayberry, 277;
11th — Mount Pisgah, 340; 12th — Douglas County, 368; 13th — Cass, 411; 14th — Chattooga, 448; 15th — Adairsville, 450; 16th — Paulding County, 474; 17th — Rockmart, 476; 18th — Crown Athletics, 479; 19th — Southeast Whitfield, 531.
JV Boys
First — Kyle Pickett, Centennial, 18:19; Second — Nick Lommen, Centennial, 18:32; Third — James Youhnes, South Forsyth, 18:33; Fourth — Brett Cohen, Centennial, 18:44; Fifth — Eric Dallow, Centennial, 18:45; Sixth — Zac Cantrell, North Cherokee, 18:47; Seventh — Vinay Sprinivasan, South Forsyth, 18:52; Eighth — Michael Buckley, Centennial, 19:00; Ninth — Christian Johnson, South Forsyth, 19:06; 10th — Michael Turner, North Cobb Christian, 19:09.
JV Boys Teams
First — Centennial, 20; Second — South Forsyth, 55; Third — Cartersville, 178; Fourth — Central Gwinnett, 202; Fifth — Pickens, 208; Sixth — Sprayberry, 265; Seventh — Southeast Whitfield, 317; Eighth — Woodland, 328; Ninth — North Cobb Christian, 400; 10th — GAC, 422;
11th — Douglas County, 553; 12th — Cass, 560; 13th — Crown Athletics, 596; 14th — Adairsville, 653.
JV Girls
First — Loren Knobbe, Centennial, 22:30; Second — Lindsey Bineau, South Forsyth, 22:56; Third — Emily Fudge, North Cherokee, 23:14; Fourth — Eliza Bergman, Centennial, 23:24; Fifth — Meredith Fulmer, Centennial, 23:46; Sixth — Kayla Kramer, South Forsyth, 23:51; Seventh — Casey Dreyfuss, Centennial, 23:58.6; Eighth — Hallie Wachsmuth, Cartersville, 23:58.9; Ninth — Magen Olander, South Forsyth, 23:59; 10th — Mallory Warren, Woodland, 24:05.
JV Girls Teams
First — Centennial, 29; Second — South Forsyth, 44; Third — Woodland, 85; Fourth — Cartersville, 129; Fifth — Sprayberry, 210; Sixth — Douglas County, 224; Seventh — GAC, 308; Eighth — Central Gwinnett, 327; Ninth — Bremen, 445.