LUDOWICI — Ware County High School’s crosscountry teams competed here Thursday in the third running of the Blue Tide Run hosted by Long County.
The Lady Gators (323 points) finished 13th in the 16team field easily led by Savannah Arts Academy (28) with all five runners in the first 12 spots. The Lady Panthers were followed in the Top 10 by Long County (126), Camden County (127), Richmond Hill (136), Savannah Country Day (149), Habersham (151), Calvary Day (221), Islands (223), Wayne County (239) and St. Vincent’s (260).
Rounding out the field were Brantley County (270), Bradwell Institute (315), Ware County, Bacon County (352), First Presbyterian Christian (361) and Jenkins-Savannah (380).
The Gators (203) placed seventh in the 16-team boys event dominated by Benedictine with five runners in the top 13 positions. The Cadets (33 points) were followed in the Top 10 by Habersham (110), Savannah Arts Academy (111), Camden County (145), Jenkins-Savannah (182), Wayne County (201), WCHS, Calvary Day (206), Richmond Hill (224) and Long County (245).
Bradwell Institute (295) led the next grouping of six, followed by First Presbyterian Christian (321), Brantley County (333), Islands (384), Bryan County (384) and Bacon County (388).
Destiny Mendoza paced the Lady Gators with a season-best time of 25:04.54 to place 22nd in the field of 121 runners. The winning time was 20:27.73.
Mendoza was followed by Karla Calvillo (50th, season-best 26:38.67), Olivia Sanders (78th, 28:50.41), Madison Donlon (89th, 30:18.56), Ta’Quanna Keith-Johnson (111th, season-best 36:02.15) and Ariana Compton (112th, seasonbest 36:04).
Caleb Wise led the Gators finishing 11th in the field of 148 runner with a time of 18:42.93. The winning time was 16:30.84.
Wise was followed by Josh Smith (23rd, 19:26.87), Brayten Hood (45th, 20:19.47), De’Marion Zanders (72nd, 21:03.62) and Brock Payne (78th, 21:27.84) for the team score.
Also running were for the 18-member squad were Wesley Frye (90th, 22:06.01), Trey Kurtz (99th, 22:46.43), Hayden Clement (21:26), Silas Mixon (22:10), Steve Valdez (22:34), Daniel Estrada (22:39), Laith Lairsey (22:48), Kelton O’Berry (23:57), Aaron Bennett (25:50), Axel Wright (27:03), Seth King (27:25), Jax Yarger (36:41) and Parth Patel (42:00).
Panther Prowl
CHULA — The Gators finished the week with a second-place finish here Saturday in the six-team Tift Area Academy Panther Prowl.
Ware County netted 64 points to trail Sherwood Christian’s 33 points. Finishing behind the Gators were Trailblazers Athletics (70), Highland Christian Academy (91), Tift County (134) and host Tift Area (137).
The Lady Gators were one runner short of fiveperson team and did not qualify in the team standings.
Wise was the Gators’ top finisher placing fourth in the field of 63 runners posting a time of 20:09.52 to trail the winning mark of 19:16.11. Rounding out the team score were Hood (9th, 21:18.36), Kurtz (17th, 22:25.67), Estrada (18th, season-best 22:32.33) and Payne (19th, 22:32.56).
Also running were Frye (21st, 22:48.39), Zanders (22nd, 22:56.96), Mixon (23rd, 23:02.54), Clement (25th, season-best 23:21.50), Smith (28th, 23:44.43), Valdez (31st, 23:51.10), Lairsey (35th, 24:21.90), Bennett (36th, 24:35.82), Wright (38th, 25:24.03), King (51st, 30:01.09), Yarger (59th, 39:19.64) and Patel (63rd, season-best 43:30.86).
Calvillo paced the Lady Gators placing 12th in the field of 51 runners. Her time of 27:27.28 trailed the winning time of 22:08.31.
Following Calvillo were Sanders (18th, 29:10.10), Donlon (38th, 34:22) and Keith-Johnson (42nd, 36:06.41).
