For Amanda Cope and the Winder-Barrow High School girls cross country team, it was the same song, only a different verse for a different season.
The Lady Bulldoggs won their third consecutive Region 8-AAAA title in Conyers Saturday while Cope once again won the individual region honor. Cope (19:54) was way out in front of the pack with her closest competitor being teammate Caitlin Connell, who finished second in 20:10, helping WBHS to another region crown.
Whitley Kennedy (20:31) was third overall at region while Anna Dean (20:52) was fifth, just missed out on fourth place. Winder-Barrow’s Isabel Martin (22:44) was 18th overall while Amber Duffey was 20th in 22:51.
Team-wise it was a battle between the Lady Bulldoggs and the Lady Falcons of Flowery Branch. While WBHS earned the top three finishers, all of Flowery Branch’s runners were in the top 10. The key turned out to be Dean’s taking fifth place.
“It was a good race,” said coach Michael Lofton. “It was an early-morning race and it was very cold. If the race had been later in the day, some of our kids would have done even better.”
An odd turn of events took place leading up to the region meet last week. Lofton, as well as other coaches in Region 8-AAAA, believed the race was Thursday. However, the day for the region meet had apparently been changed several weeks prior to Saturday. The only problem was word did not reach Lofton and others.
“Several coaches were upset about it,” Lofton said. “We had been training to compete on Thursday and then find out on Tuesday that wasn’t when region was.”
WBHS girls coach Amanda Partee-Manders said the Lady Bulldoggs earned a major accomplishment with their third consecutive region title.
“The competition was fierce with Flowery Branch being a very tough competitor,” Partee-Manders said. “The girls stepped up their game and ran hard and ran smart.”
For the WBHS boys, Josiah Bennett was sixth in the individual results in 17:11.
The WBHS varsity boys were third at region. The Bulldoggs were without one of their key runners as Shane Davis missed region due to a family matter.
Habersham Central finished two points in front of WBHS. The Bulldoggs will still compete at state as the top four region teams will be in Carrollton Saturday.
As the WBHS teams prepare for state this week, Lofton said he would like to have two top 10 finishes. “Our boys will really have to work,” Lofton said. “We will need a great race to be in the Top 10.”
The Lady Bulldoggs, Lofton said, are a legit Top 10 team.
“We finished as high as third at state since I’ve been working with the program,” Lofton said. “We were 10th last season. I would love for us to be in the top three again and be on the winners’ podium.”
