The Mill Creek High School cross country teams traveled to Whitesburg, Ga. this past weekend for the Alexander Invitational.
Both teams placed with the boys’ finishing in second and the girls’ earning a third place trophy.
In the varsity boys’ race, the Hawks finished the day with a total of 91 points and a team average time of 16:53.37.
Leading the team and earning individual medals were Austin Boetje (11th, 16:39), Nick Bava (15th, 16:48), and Tim Heffner (17th, 16:50). Also scoring were Steven Zwick (24th, 17:01) and Brandon Gaunt (29th, 17:04).
The junior varsity boys also earned a trophy, placing 2nd with 30 points. Winning the race was freshman Tajay Hoppines with a time of 17:19. Also scoring were Glen Feller (4th, 17:26), Tyler Krug (6th, 17:40), Ben Gaunt (7th, 17:40), and Thomas Varnson (12th, 18:02).
Earning individual medals in the junior varsity II race were: Josh Bridgewater (18:33), Jack McGlinchy (18:34), Brian Benzinger (18:34) and Mickey Hungate (18:36).
Mill Creek head coach Andy Christie said he was very proud of how his teams competed.
“Both the Varsity and JV really ran gutsy races and ran hard for each other,” Christie said. “For the varsity, I was especially happy for Nick Bava who ran a 34 second personal best. For the jv, for Tajay to win the race was very impressive. He's got a bright future in front of him.”
Christie believes Saturday’s performance will help the Hawks as they wrap up the season during the next few weeks.
“There is still a lot of hard work to do, but this will hopefully give us a booster headed into the last month of the season,” he said.
In the girls’ division, the Lady Hawks placed third overall with a team average of 20:14.81.
Mill Creek was led by Brittany Westmoreland with her medal winning time of 19:17.86 (8th). Westmoreland set a new school record. The record is Westmoreland’s second of the season and the second within the past two weeks. She broke the previous school record on September 20 at the Gwinnett County Championships with a time of 19:39.
Megan Steinocher also medaled, running a personal best competition time of 19:44.34 (13th). Alicia Connolly broke the twenty minute mark to medal with her time of 19:44.67 (14th).
Also scoring for the Lady Hawks were Megan Steele (20:49.7) and Hannah Hill (21:37.48).
The junior varsity girls finished in first place at Saturday’s competition with a team time of 21:45.04.
Five runners medaled for the team. The junior Hawks were led by Heather Peterman (21:20.34, 5th). Also scoring were Caitlin Austin (21:41.20, 8th), Kelsey Kennedy (21:43.59, 9th), Christine Gaunt (21:45.99, 11th) and Austine Scales (22:14.05, 14th).
The top 7 girls’ varsity runners will compete at the Furman Invitational on October 11 in Greenville, S.C. All teams will compete at the Coach Wood Invitational in Gainesville on October 18.
