Bleckley County, GMC defend state cross country titles, ACE girls second

          Bleckley County’s girls became the first program in school history to win three state titles when the Royals won the GHSA Class AA cross country title Saturday morning.

          They were joined atop the championship podium in the afternoon by GMC’s boys, who defended their title by edging Commerce 70-78.

          ACE took second in Class A Public girls.

          Emily Youngblood led the way for Bleckley County by finishing second, and she was followed directly by teammates Austin Perez and Christa Hall.  

          The Royals halved the point total of second-place Jeff Davis, 43-86.

          Colin McCabe’s third-place finish led GMC, which got a seventh-place from Logan Steinmeyer and 15th from Taylor Sherwood.

          The Bulldogs have won five of the last seven Class A Public boys titles.

          ACE’s Mary Persons’ Justin Wachtel matched the top individual finish of the day, taking second in Class 4A boys, by less than a second.

          Bleckley County’s Jaylen Thigpen took eighth in AA boys.

            For complete results, go here.

http://www.ptgrouponline.com/Live/2018/XC/GHSA/

Top 20 finishes (and the winning time) and team finishes

Class 4A girls

9. Mary Persons

16. West Laurens

17. Perry

Class 4A boys (16:75.75)

2. Justin Wachtel, Mary Persons, 16:18.59

Teams

12. Mary Persons

15. West Laurens

22. Perry

28. Baldwin

Class 3A girls

26. Central

Class AA girls (20:04.45)

2. Emily Youngblood, Bleckley County, 20:55.89

3. Austin Perez, Bleckley County, 21:14.29

4. Christa Hall, Bleckley County, 21:18.73

9. Macy Moe, Bleckley County, 22:08.91

11. Mari Jablonski, Monticello, 22:28.20

Team

1. Bleckley County

14. Lamar County

16. East Laurens

18. Washington County

23. Southwest Macon

Class AA boys (17:18.77)

8. Jaylen Thigpen, Bleckley County, 18:08.67

14. Austin Hiner, Bleckley County, 18:23.25

20. Jacob Johnson, Bleckley County, 18:44.33

Team

5. Bleckley County

11. Lamar County

12. Putnam County

20. Washington County

25. Dodge County

30. East Laurens

Class A Public girls (20:56.63)

5. Olivia Lowrimore, ACE, 23:24.66

9. Katelyn Taylor, ACE, 24;07.19

14. Haley Whitehead, ACE, 24:52.11

16. Ann Elizabeth Howard, ACE, 25:04.04

Team

2. ACE

7. Hawkinsville

8. GMC

Class A Public boys (17:20.04)

3. Colin McCabe, GMC, 18:39.85

7. Logan Steinmeyer, GMC, 19:03.70

15. Taylor Sherwood, GMC, 19:35.58

Team

1. GMC

12. Hawkinsville