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Published Friday, October 30, 2009 in Sports

Ballantyne's best run helps Cougars clinch state berth

By Sports Staff

The Times-Herald

DOUGLASVILLE -- Defending champion Chapel Hill ran away with another Region 4-AAAAA cross-country title on Thursday here at Clinton Farms Nature Preserve, with a boys lineup that included nine of the top-10 finishers.

Yet there was a smidgen of navy packed in with that mass of purple jerseys.

Newnan junior Jonathan Ballantyne stayed at the head of the pack, challenging Chapel Hill duo Wade Voyles and Chance Eldredge to finish with a personal-best time of 16 minutes, 30 seconds in an impressive third-place effort.

Ballantyne, who ran a time of 17:36 last Saturday at Carrollton's Last Chance Invitational, was pitted against two of the top 20 ranked runners in Class AAAAA at Thursday's meet in Voyles and Eldredge. The trio broke away from the pack, finishing at least 30 seconds ahead of fourth-place finisher Ayain Ward of Chapel Hill.

Ballantyne's finish was a second ahead of last year's region finish, also at Clinton Farms.

Voyles, a junior, crossed first in 16:18, with Eldredge, a sophomore, next at 16:20.

With eight of the 10 region schools in competition, both Newnan and East Coweta's boys teams clinched state berths behind Chapel Hill's 18-point effort. Newnan, led by Ballantyne, finished second with 60 points, followed by the Indians, who had 78 in third place. Pebblebrook rounded out the top-four.

Newnan's boys and girls and East Coweta's boys clinched berths to next week's GHSA State Championship meet in Carrollton.

East Coweta's Austin Freeman was the next local boys finisher on Thursday behind Ballantyne, crossing in 11th place in 18:17, followed shortly by Indians teammate Logan Dorson, who took 21st in 18:21.

Newnan had the next three local finishers with Sean Blinco (15th, 18:38), Stuart Sumner (19th, 18:47) and Tyler Mulvenna (22nd, 19:06). James Sprinkle, in 26th place, completed the Cougars scoring.

East Coweta teammates Kristjan Lacroix and Anthony Davilla finished just seconds apart at 19:06 and 19:13 in 23rd and 24th position, respectively, and Josh Abercrombie rounded out the Indians scoring in 31st (19:29).

In the girls race, Chapel Hill had seven of the top 10 finishers to earn a sweep of region titles. But Newnan's Lady Cougars, led by Katie Davis and Sandy Gamino, finished a solid second place with 50 points, well ahead of Pebblebrook (111) and Creekside (125). East Coweta, which had its top four runners cross within the top 40 finishers, missed a state berth, by taking fifth with 136 points.

Davis, who has been Newnan's No. 2 runner behind Gamino for much of the season, got a chance to lead the way for Newnan on Thursday, finishing fifth with a personal-best time of 20:44. Gamino, who had run her best time of 20:29 at Clinton Farms on Oct. 3, was right behind Davis in sixth place, crossing in 21:01.

Freshmen Ashton Lord and Hope Kimberly of Chapel Hill led a 1-2 finish for the Lady Panthers with times of 19:13 and 19:56. Westlake senior Aubrielle Wright took third in 20:16.

All five of Newnan's scorers were among the first 20 to cross the line. Also scoring were Ashley Quesinberry, who took 13th in 21:48 and Kate Lawrence, who was 15th in 22:17. Cessily Skinner was 17th in 22:40 and freshman Gabby Busby finished 21st as the Lady Cougars' sixth runner.

East Coweta was led by sophomores Ray Elliott (24:02) and Alex Madrid (24:09) , who finished 28th and 29th, respectively. Anna Harkness (25:24) was 35th and Sydney Siver took 29th.

Northgate's teams will also run at Clinton Farms on Saturday in respective Region 5-AAAA meets.

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