Woodland girls dominate, Woodland boys runner up, Cartersville teams third at Run at the Rock Invita

Sophomore runner Carli Clymer completed the Woodland High School Run at the Rock 5K course in 19:45 Saturday morning to lead seven Lady Cats’ runners to finish in the top ten individually as Woodland dominated their home invitational.

Angela Cochran finished second for Woodland and third overall in 20:02. She was followed by teammates McKenna Trapheagen (20:26), Baylee Evans (20:38), Lindsay Scifers (20:41) and Cheyenne Spinks (21:14) as the Lady Cats took six of the top seven spots.

Only Gordon Lee’s Gracie O’Neal wedged in that group placing second in 19:57.

Mackenzie Stephenson (22:26) placed tenth individually to round out the Lady Cats’ top seven. Freshman Avery Hull was 53rd (25:07), freshman Piercy Gierlak (25:43) was 67th, and Libby Towle (31:33) was 124th in the 24 school, 136-runner event.

The Woodland girls top five runner total of only 19 points easily finished ahead of second place East Paulding (106), third place Cartersville (138), fourth place Heritage-Catoosa (147), and Region 7-AAAAA rival Rome (154). Cass finished sixteenth in the field with 425 points.

The Lady Canes were led to their third place finish by four runners who stayed together in the pack. Vanna White (23:44), Alice Terry (23:47), Kayla Carpenter (23:52), and Alex Machado (23:54) placed 25th through 28th in the field. Zane Bryant (24:23) was 39th, Katie Tolbert (25:23) 63rd, and Krystinn Dabbs (26:32) finished 82nd for Cartersville.

Olivia Flynn was the top finisher for Cass. The sophomore ran a 24:11 to place 35th. Hannah McDuffie (30:50), Kaylee Moore (31:28), McKinzie Tompkins (32:38) and Emma Pirkle (34:35) were the other scoring runners for the Lady Colonels.

Adairsville did not field a complete team and did not have a team score, but individual runners Destiny Adams (30:22) and Makayla Thacker (30:34) finished 117th and 119th, respectively.

The boys race was won by Wheeler High School with 45 points. Woodland was second with 113 points and Cartersville placed third with 155. Rome and Carrollton rounded out the top five teams with 165 and 171 points. Adairsville finished 20th and Cass did not field a team score.

Alex Dyck (17:22), a junior at Wheeler, won the boys’ individual race ahead of Jasper Wilson (17:28, Gordon Lee) and Jason Blankenship (17:43, Cedartown).

Woodland was led by sophomore Dylan Stermer who placed fifth in the field of 181 runners. Levi Brandenburg placed 12th in 18:22, Dawson McClure was 22nd in 18:45, Reece Mitchell finished 35th in 19:02, Kobe Cochran was 42nd in 19:17, Patrick Bollwerk was 55th in 19:41, and Noah Warren ran 20:28 to place 83rd for the Wildcats.

Cartersville’s top individual was sophomore Max Florence. He ran 15th overall in 18:36. He was followed by Canes’ teammates Jacob Busek (25th, 14:48), Bill Archer (29th, 18:53), Parker Breedlove (44th, 19:26), Clay Ross (46th, 19:26), Matthew Wilson (60th, 19:46), and Jacob Smith (67th, 20:05).

For Adairsville, Evan Crane ran 129th in 22:16. William Longmore (146th, 23:14), Zach Scott (151st, 23:30), Gavin Cissa (163rd, 24:32), Grayson Dailey (165th, 24:45), and Matt Ward (177th, 28:37) were the Tigers other scoring runners

Cass sophomore Prem Patel (19:40) finished 53rd, Ethan Williams (20:12) was 74th, Craigory Chatman (22:59) finished 143rd, and Logan Van Stinj (23:18) was 148th.

Each of the local teams will compete next Saturday (Sept. 23) in the Wingfoot Invitational hosted by the Atlanta Track Club at Sam Smith Park in Cartersville. The meet will double as the Bartow County Championship as well.