CALE PIRTLE enjoyed his best finish of the young cross country season Saturday, winning the Mountain Eagle Invitational in Clarkesville with a time of 18:31. The Eagle senior won the varsity race by three seconds over Buford’s Dylan Price.
East Jackson will now host the 13-team Eagle Run Saturday, which will feature 375 athletes. In addition to East Jackson, teams include Athens Christian, Buford High School, Clarke Central, Dawson County, Elbert County, Franklin County, Habersham Central, Jackson County, Madison County, Rabun County, Tallulah Falls and West Hall.
As for this past weekend’s meet, Pirtle’s first-place showing helped the East Jackson boys place fifth out of 12 teams at the event.
Teammate Vladik Staples added a top 10 finish to help the Eagles’ cause, running a 19:07 to place ninth.
Rounding out the scoring for East Jackson — which was running in its second meet of the season — were Cory McClung (20:40, 31st), Michael Adair (20:45, 33rd) and Tyler Cone (21:03, 40th).
East Jackson’s girls finished fourth out of seven teams, paced by Haleigh Smith’s 24:50, which was good for 10th overall. McKenzie Parr (24:54) and Courtney McDowell (24:58) finished closely behind Smith, placing 12th and 13th respectively.
Others scoring for the Lady Eagles were Sheena McEachin (26:18, 29th) and Maggie Adams (26:39, 32nd).
