Pisgah Cross Country Teams Qualify for State

The Mount Pisgah cross country teams both posted second-place finishes at the 2012 Area 4/Region 6 Championships hosted by the Darlington School on Thursday. Both teams will now compete in the state meet on Saturday, November 3rd in Macon.

The boys turned in an impressive performance, placing three runners in the top 10, but were edged by Darlington 51-55. The girls had a pair of runners in the top five, but also finished as a runner-up to the Tigers, 61-64.

Shane Sullivan continued his excellent season by leading the way for the boy's squad finishing in 3rd place on the 5K course with a time of 17:13. Senior captain Grant Hicks was right behind in 6th place with a 17:32, and senior Chris Spriggs turned in a stellar performance breaking 18 minutes for the first time in his running career with a 17:56. Despite having four of the top thirteen finishers, Darlington was able to take five of the top fourteen spots to take the Patriots. Other strong finishers for the Patriots were Bo Stuart (18:13) andKevin Ginty (18:45). Kevin Ginty's time is the second fastest time by a freshman since the beginning of the varsity cross country program in 2004. Rounding out the top seven boys were Conner Clark (19:39) and Nick Poline (21:01).

On the girl's side, senior captain Katie Strawinski led the way in 3rd place with a time of 20:34. She was followed by 5th place finisher Mattie Millikan with a personal record of 20:49. Junior captain Alexa Hudgins was the third medalist in 12th place (22:05). Other top finishers for the Lady Patriots were Katherine Wilkison (23:11), Elizabeth Dworkin (23:25) and Alex Brady with her best performance to date, improving her time by well over a minute in 23:37. Also competing for the Patriots were senior Michelle Stofberg and freshman Lindsey Odom.