By MICHAEL BOYLAN
Sports Editor

The Berry Invitational, one of the larger cross country meets in the state, was conducted Saturday. The meet gives teams a pretty good idea of where they stand, not only in their region but against the state powerhouses. Each race has a field of over 300 runners

The McIntosh girls are definitely considered the team to beat in AAAA. Ranked number one despite missing some of their top runners in Tina Paone (who re-injured her ankle during Saturday's race) and Elizabeth Gardner (also unable to race), the Lady Chiefs took first place Saturday with 96 points. South Gwinnett finished in second place with 103 points and Walton took third with 104 points.

“It was a little closer than I would have liked,” said Coach Charles Buckle. “Considering the injuries, though, I'm quite pleased with our depth.” Placing sixth overall and finishing first for her team was Dana Van Winkle with a time of 19:58. Van Winkle had only recently returned to the team from injury. Judy Thomasson (20:15) placed 12th overall, Mary Katherine Crofton (20:44) placed 21st and Keri Pendergrass finished 30th with a time of 20:58. Morgan Cunningham, Bryony Fuller and Tabitha Lowey placed 32nd, 43rd and 72nd respectively with times of 21:06, 21:21 and 21:53.

The boys were in the last race of the day and did not know how they finished overall. Ryan Emery finished first for the Chiefs coming in 90th place with a time of 18:15. Mike Smiley finished second for the Chiefs and placed 123rd with a time of 18:38. Freshman Ben Brantley finished 132nd overall with a time of 18:42. Brantley was followed by Justin Boron and Charlie Gonzalez, finishing 152nd and 162nd overall with times of 18:55 and 18:59 respectively. Randy Hutchinson and Tom Scott rounded out the top seven with times of 19:02 and 19:08. They finished 170th and 179th.

McIntosh will travel to Marist this weekend to face several top notch cross country programs from the state. The Chiefs also will enter a national race in Charlotte, The Great American Cross Country Festival, in a few weeks. The race will pit McIntosh against the strongest programs in the country.

Coach Stephen Pruitt was pleased with his team's performance at Berry as well. The girls finished in fourth place overall and second in the state in AAA. Their placement and time qualified them for the state meet at the end of the season. The top five finishers for the Lady Panthers were Katie Hughes (20:23), Eva Massmann (20:33), Ashley Meredith (21:06), Cassie Shular (21:14), and Rachel Sargent (23:30).

The boys ran well but missed qualifying for the state meet by 33 seconds. Pruitt was still pleased by their run because four of the top seven runners for the boys had been sick during the past week. The boys placed seventh overall in the race and fifth in the state in AAA. The top five runners for the boys were Les Page (17:40), Jay Touchstone (18:26), Ricardo Ramos (18:31), Jake Davis (18:33) and Brandon Adams (18:40).

Fayette County Coach David Phillips did not have final results, positions or official times for his team from the Berry Invitational, but he said the boys' performance Saturday was not indicative of what they can do. The boys' team is his strongest suit this year but his number two runner was sick Saturday, also hurting his cause.

“I feel we raced better the week before in East Coweta,” Phillips said. “I don't know if this weekend's showing was because of a late start or race anxiety. I think they are starting to expect more from themselves and they're learning how to respond to that pressure.” The Tigers travel to the Carrollton meet Saturday.

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