Cross country action continued this weekend as McIntosh ran in the Vulcan Invitational and Sandy Creek, Starr's Mill, Fayette County and Landmark ran in the Bleckley Invitational .

Though Vulcan suggests otherworldly, the Vulcan Invitational took place in in Alabama, which can sometimes seem like another world itself. The meet brings top programs from around the country to race. This past weekend included runners from Georgia, Alabama and Florida and even from as far away as Wisconsin and California. McIntosh sent their boys and girl's squads down to race at Vulcan and Coach Charles Buckle is glad he did.

The girl's won it all. On the strength of their freshmen, McIntosh beat out Westminster, from Georgia, and Santa Rosa, California. One of the runners for the Santa Rosa team is considered to be one of the top runners in the country. During the Sandy Creek Invitational the week before, the Chiefs girls squad ran without two of their fabulous freshmen, Mary Katherine Crofton and Judy Thomasson. They were present for Vulcan and it is obvious what they can do with a full squad when they put their mind to it.

The times for the girls are as follows, Dana Van Winkle finished third overall with a time of 18:57 and Judy Thomasson finished fifth overall with a time of 19:26. Elizabeth Gardner finished with a time of 19:32, which earned her sixth place overall. Mary Katherine Crofton and Tina Paone rounded out McIntosh's top five with times of 20:28 and 22:14 respectively. Crofton placed 17 and Paone placed 50 in the meet. The course at Vulcan was much more difficult than any course they have run so far this season and the strength of competition was great. By winning it all the girls are very confident in their skills.

The boys team fared pretty well at Vulcan as well. They placed sixth overall with their top five runners starting to finish closer to each other. Geoff Melymuk and Kevin Panke, the top two runners for the Chiefs, finished with times of 17:05 and 17:33 respectively. Melymuk placed 18th and Panke placed 35th. Robby Johnston, Nick Van Winkle and Michael Patrick finished with times of 17:51, 18:02 and 18:55. They placed 48th, 55th and 111th respectively.

The Chiefs will run at the LaGrange Invitational this Tuesday. The race was scheduled for last week but was rained out and rescheduled to this week. LaGrange is where the regional meet is run later in the season and will serve as a pretty good indicator as to the strength of the region and how one's team will fare on the course.

Starr's Mill, Sandy Creek and Fayette County all ran at the Bleckley Invitational on Saturday. For the first time in the meet's history, the scores of the boys and girl's squads were combined for a school overall. Fayette County placed second overall, as the boys finished fifth overall and the girls placed third overall. The top runners for the boys were Preston Pack, second overall with a time of 17:32 and Blake Riley, sixth overall with a time of 17:41. Adam Lester, Robert Riley and Mark King all finished with times of 18:38, 18:56 and 19:12 respectively. The girls ran in a tight pack with the top five all finishing within the top 22. Jessica Tyre was eighth overall finishing at 21:36 and Dana Teat was 13th overall with a time of 22:20. Rachel Swafford, Carrie Howard and Clarinda Phillips finished within 14 seconds of each other with times of 22:31, 22:35 and 22:45. Fayette County heads to LaGrange for a preview of the regional meet this Tuesday. After qualifying for the state meet at Sandy Creek the week before, the Starr's Mill boys squad was fired up. They took third place at Bleckley on Saturday and ran together in a pack that was separated by a total of 37 seconds. Starr's Mill earned their first running trophy ever at Bleckley with runners Jacob Davis and Les Page finishing with times of 18:03 and 18:17. Jay Touchstone, Jason Fitzgerald and Chad Troop all finished within five seconds of each other with times of 18:35, 18:37 and 18:40 respectively.The girls team placed seventh overall at the meet. Jennifer Bright ran well, finishing with a time of 22:58 and Jessica Hellinas finished with a time of 23:14. Kelsi Matwick continued to pick up her pace as she finished with a time of 23:24. The Panthers will head to Alexander on Tuesday to take on Alexander and Harris in a tri-meet.Sandy Creek's boys placed fourth at Bleckley with their top five runners, Thomas Rivers, Lukas Fortunado, Matt and Brian Wetmiller and Tim Owens, all placing in the top 32. Thomas Rivers and Rae Lynch, for the girls squad, both placed fourth overall in their runs. Sandy Creek competed against some tough AAAA programs and will run at LaGrange on Tuesday.

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