The long trip to Savannah produced positive results for the Winder-Barrow High School cross country program.
Both the Bulldoggs and Lady Bulldoggs won first place during the Saucony Fleet Feet Cross Country Kickoff Saturday.
“We had an excellent performance from all of our runners,” said WBHS boys coach Michael Lofton. “I was thrilled with how we ran and showed up on the scoreboard. The course is long and had open stretches. It had rained for two days and we knew it would be a muddy event.”
WBHS entered two teams in both varsity events. The JV Lady Bulldoggs and JV boys competed up since the race’s junior varsity event was only two miles. Many of the schools entered had eighth graders as part of their junior varsity, but Lofton said he wanted the WBHS JV teams to run a full race.
For the first-place WBHS boys, William Wright was the top runner in 17:34 followed by Nelson Lofton in 17:47. Timmy Villameter (18:31), Skyler Lowe (18:36) and Tony Rowden (18:54) rounded out the top five.
The WBHS JV boys finished 15th, running at the varsity level. The top runners included Brad Burgess, Cody Smith, Byron Mooney, Quinn McDaniels and Taylor Smith.
For the Lady Bulldoggs, senior Caitlin Connell had a standout performance winning first overall.
“Caitlin led the race from mile one to the finish line,” Lofton said.
Connell finished the course in 20:37. Teammate Whitley Kennedy was third overall in 21:19. Kennedy battled a runner from Richmond Hill throughout the race for second place.
Lady Bulldogg Anna Dean was fifth overall in 21:32. Kiana Perez was 10th (22:02) with Amber Duffy in 16th (22:33).
“Our girls did a great job in taking first place,” Lofton said.
The WBHS JV girls, who also ran in the varsity race, finished 14th out of 30. Haley Mewborn, Isabel Martin, Meghan Bramlett, Kristen DeBrock and Lizette Mendoza paced the JV Lady Doggs.
“It was a muddy and difficult course,” Lofton said. “The kids had a blast. We have a saying of ‘when it be raining, we be training.’ We’ve really worked on our core development and total body strength. We expect our times to keep getting better.”
Lady Bulldogg coach Amanda Partee-Manders was also pleased with how Winder-Barrow’s runners performed.
“Saturday proved to be an exciting day for both teams,” Partee-Manders said. “The course was flat, but was challenging because of the wet grass and mud. Several hair-pin turns, large roots and obstacles such as hay bales to leap over and loose sand made the race fun, muddy and difficult.
We train on hills so to compete on a flat course presents a new set of challenges. There is no recovery like you would have on a downhill and it is 100 percent your own body propelling your forward. The runners ran an outstanding first race. There were many personal records despite the challenges of the course.”
Mendoza trimmed four minutes off her trial time. Mewborn led the “Red” varsity team (junior varsity runners) with a time of 24:32. Amber Palermo was also instrumental in the girls taking home the first place win for the team, Partee-Manders said.
“I am very proud of the performances in Savannah,” she said. “Now we hit our training hard this week to prep for the UGA invitational, which is next Saturday in Bishop.
The WBHS cross country teams will compete at the University of Georgia Invitational Saturday beinning at 9:15 a.m. The race will be at the UGA Equestrian Farm.
