Local harriers battle tough conditions at state championship meet

The Cartersville girls team placed 15th, Cartersville boys 18th, Adairsville boys 24th, and local runners Lindsay Scifers of Woodland and Bree Cole of Cartersville both had top 30 finishes Saturday at the GHSA State Cross Country Championships in Carrollton.

Course conditions were not ideal in Carrollton with all the recent rain. Times were slowed by the wet and often muddy course conditions.

The Lady Hurricanes, led by Cole (26th, 22:30.50) had three runners finish in the top half of the Class AAAA field. Abby Forristall (77th, 24:12.40) and Kayla Carpenter (94th, 25:06.76) were the other two leaders for Cartersville. Vanna Beach (112th, 26:10.29), Edith Milian (114th, 26:17.63), and Victoria Martino (192nd, 30:02.69) rounded out the Cartersville team.

Marist won the girls Class AAAA state title with all five runners finishing in the top 12 individual spots.

The Cartersville boys team finished 18th in the Class AAAA race also won by Marist. The War Eagles edged St. Pius X by seven points with both teams scoring all their runners in the top 27 spots.

Robby Earick (68th, 19:25.81) and Haden Boone (69th, 19:27.43) led the Hurricanes. They were followed by teammates Patrick Gordon (85th, 19:41.63), Andy Sims (86th, 19:41.17), Will Pruitt (148th, 20:48.65), Jacob Busek (163rd, 21:15.19), and Jake Hacker (171st, 21:33.78).

The Adairsville boys team finished 24th in Class AAA.

Blessed Trinity took the state title placing five runners in the top 15 spots.

Dylan Coker (107th, 20:54.91), Danile Sullivan (119th, 21:12.04), Spencer Rawlins (138th, 21:40.35), Grayson Dailey (196th, 23:59.24), and Arl Longmore, (198th, 24:02.25) were the Tigers’ scoring runners.

Lindsay Scifers of Woodland qualified as an individual runner for the Class AAAAA State Championship race.

Scifers (photo) placed 29th overall in a field of 216 runners with a time of 21:59.97.

Samantha Cameron and Dunwoody teammate Kelly May Sheehan finished first and second individually to lead their team to the Class AAAAA title.