Morning, a seventh-grader, finished second with a time of 12 minutes, 54.30 seconds — which was four seconds behind state winner Mackenzie Ellison from Track Phi Track Club. Morning, who had won each of her previous seven races, was part of a great two-mile race, where the top three finishers were in the lead pack. They traded positions throughout the race. Morning made a move at the end of the race, but Ellison held her off to win the Large School division girls race. Kate Boland of Gray Station was third, four seconds behind Morning.
Speaking of near-misses, Woodland Middle School, which is in Euharlee, came within one place of a double-double after its girls team placed second in the Large School division. Woodland’s boys team, however, won its respective championship as Kaeman Nix (12:02.91, seventh), John Scifers (12:25.09, 16th), Thomas Jolly (12:30.83, 19th), Nicholas Warren (12:40.05, 24th) and Will Tucker (12:42.82, 26th) factored into their team’s 58-point score, which was well ahead of second-place Woodward Academy (113).
On the girls’ side, it was Woodland’s girls team which finished as runner-up, 46 points behind state champ Marist, which had a score of 48.
Leading the way for Woodland’s girls team were Lindsay Scifers (13:50.70, 17th), Bailey Bolton (14:07.80, 26th), Allie Zaring (14:08.40, 27th), Keilyn Jones (14:10.20, 28th) and Katie Lawhorn (14:16.00, 34th).
Trailing Woodland’s girls amongst local teams were Cass, 192, and Cartersville, 270, in sixth and 10th, respectively.
Morning’s runner-up finish paced Cass as teammates Miranda DeGrawe (14:32.20, 45th), Esmeralda Thomas (14:49.40, 55th), Payton Rogers (15:05.50, 61st) and Marie Smith (15:18.40, 70th) also aided the team score.
Cartersville’s girls team was led by Georgia Rutledge, who finished 32nd with a time of 14:11.00. Coming in behind Rutledge for the team were Bree Cole (14:24.80, 41st), Allie Caughman (15:16.50, 68th), Sydney Miller (15:29.00, 83rd) and Destiny Tate (15:56.90, 98th).
Cartersville’s boys team placed fifth with 172 points. Chandler Williams had the highest finish of any local boy, coming in sixth with a time of 12:02.68. Rounding out the rest of Cartersville’s top five was Tyler Darnell (13:01.19, 40th), Jake Hacker (13:03.05, 42nd), Jonathan Holloway (13:11.47, 49th) and William Matherne (13:43.84, 87th).