Powell, Pappas lead Lady Hawks at state meet
From STAFF REPORTSsports@newnan.com
ALBANY — Heritage School freshman Ruthie Powell captured high-points honors and teammates Alexis Pappas and Chase Parker also scored in multiple events to lead the Lady Hawks to a 113-plus point effort at this weekend’s Georgia Independent Christian School’s state track and field championships held at Hugh Mills Stadium.
A state champion cross-country runner in the fall, Powell bookended the school year by sweeping all three long distance events among Class AA girls en route to a 34-point effort. She powered her way to a win in the 800 meters in 2:27, added a 10-second victory in the mile in 5:40 and was nearly 40 seconds ahead of the rest of the field in the 3,200.
Powell then ended the meet by anchoring Heritage’s 1,600-meter victory while joining Pappas and teammates Lauren Brandner and MacKenzie York. A winning time of 4:16.62 held off Gatewood’s ‘A’-relay by less than a second.
The Lady Hawks’ 400-relay team of Brandner, Powell, Chase Parker and Pappas finished third in 53.10.
Pappas finished right behind Powell among high-points honors, scoring 32 points while winning a pair of events. The Lady Hawks standout captured state titles in the long jump at 16-9 and the 200 in 26.70, where Brandner added a sixth-place finish.
Pappas came within one-hundredth of a second of matching Powell’s three victories, settling for second in the 100 to Brentwood’s Katrina Walls.
Heritage also received efforts of more than 10 points from both Parker and Brandner. A standout hurdler, Parker finished third in the 100 intermediates during a tight 1-2-3 finish, while also taking second in the 300 lows. She also placed fifth in the high jump.
Brandner added a third-place effort in the 400 to go with both relay efforts. York also scored in the 400, finishing eighth.
Heritage’s boys team also put together a solid effort, getting help from the baseball team’s junior center-fielder Candler Rich this week. Rich was the 10th top scorer in Class AA with 15.75 points while finishing second in the 100 and third in the 200 individually.
He finished the 100 in 11.42, nearly catching champion Zach Benjamin of Piedmont. But Benjamin had an easier time while winning the 200.
Rich was also on a pair of scoring Hawks relays. Heritage’s 400 relay of Will Duke, David Bready, Carl Grant and Rich finished fifth in 46.32. Bready and Rich joined Reed Jackson and Kyle Schuman for a seventh-place effort in the 1,600 relay.
Bready also scored for the Hawks in field events, finishing seventh in the triple jump.
