Cross Country: 6AAAAA Region Turnout with Two State Qualifiers from Pope

By: Jessica Hale

In what will probably be remembered as one of the wettest meets in recent memory, Pope High School cross country qualified both senior Zach Tupper and sophomore Molly Schenck for the State despite the team’s 6^th and 8^th place rankings at the 6AAAAA Region Meet at Boling Park Saturday morning.

That morning, the 100 percent cloud cover cooled the 57°F atmosphere provided a steady downpour, covering nearly the whole Canton, Georgia area with a tenth of an inch of rain in a little less than three hours.

The course, consisting of two and a half laps around grassy fields with a brief excursion in the woods, became quite the mud bath shortly after runners in the JV Girls’ 8:00 am race churned up the deep puddles frequently dotting the ground into a literal sludge-fest. This race and the three following races were marked by numerous slips, slides, and slick falls as once undemanding hills became slimy mounds of treacherous footing.

In the face of the slippery terrain and chilling rains, this region’s teams vied to place top four and qualify their team for state, while runners contended for the top six places to qualify individuals for state.

Pope High School Girls Varsity came in 6^th out of ten teams in the region, which an average time of 21:07 amongst the top seven girls. The Boys Varsity Team placed 8^th with an average time of 18:10.

Molly Schenck was the first Pope girl and the third girl of the entire race to cross the finish line in a time of 19:39, securing her a spot in state. Zach Tupper finished second in the following race with a time of 16:44, joining Schenck in the upcoming state meet.

The other Varsity girls finished in this order: sophomore Jami Joyner (20:45), junior Jessica Hale (20:53), junior Katie Greig (22:04), senior Maddi Lake (22:13), junior AnnMarie Lyons (22:50), and freshman Morgan Laushey (23:04).

Meanwhile the Varsity boys’ sequence of finish was: sophomore Jon Chambers (17:25 and placing 13^th), freshman Patrick Fleming (18:42), freshman Kyle Rose (18:46), junior Alex York (19:16), senior Dexter Bushart (19:36), and freshman Gunnar Stormark (20:02).

Kell (1st), Centennial (2nd), Walton (3rd), and Lassiter (4th) will represent the region in the State Championships Saturday November 7^th for the boys, while Walton (1st), Centennial (2nd), Roswell (3rd), and Milton (4th) will go for the girls.

Related Posts:

• Cross Country State Meet Causes ranks to shuffle
• DeKalb Cross Country: Regionals on Saturday
• Class AAAAA Playoff Picture Begins to Clear
• Pope Basketball Off to a Great Start
• A day in the life of a cross country coach

Tags: Centennial, Cross Country, Georgia, high school sports, kell, milton, pope, Roswell, walton

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 10:24 pm and is filed under Cross Country, Georgia . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.