It’s another strong finish for LaGrange’s Bowie
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, September 23, 2015
LaGrange High cross-country standout Sam Bowie continued his exceptional senior season with a second-place showing at the Coach Daley Invitational in Newnan on Saturday.
The race featured runners representing 20 schools, and it was West Forsyth’s John Green taking top honors in the boys’ race with a time of 16 minutes, 14 seconds.
Bowie (16:29) finished second, and Devin Dixon (16:39) of Eagle’s Landing, Griffin McCauley (16:54) of Paideia and Conner Reynolds (17:20) of McIntosh rounded out the top five.
In three major races this season, Bowie hasn’t finished lower than second.
He began his season with a second-place finish in the Bob Blastow Early Bird race, and he won the AT&T Starr’s Mill Panther Invitational in 15:33, which was the fastest time any cross-country had posted to that point of the season, regardless of classification.
At the Coach Daley race, LaGrange’s next runner behind Bowie was Liam McDonald (19:38), who was 49th overall, and he was followed by Reed Henderson (20:41), Joshua Turman (21:09), Collin Taylor (22:26), Drew Morgan (23:25) and Pierce Skinner (25:21).
Troup was led by Drew Duram (18:49), who was 32nd, and he was followed by teammates Kole Murphy (20:49), Tyler Meadows (21:03), Ryan Fuller (21:08), Kyle Cason (22:41), Chuck Massie (22:56) and Carson Cagle (23:12).
In the girls’ race, LaGrange’s Alaina Tomlinson led the way among the local runners with a 10th-place finish, and she had a time of 21:01.
LaGrange’s other runners were Brianna Stansbury (28:37), Mary Beth Callaway (29:21), Avery Bakarich (31:34) and Emma Kate Shelton (33:05).
Troup’s top runner was Lila Purrough (25:37), who finished 53rd, and she was followed by Abby Barentine (32:56).
There was also a junior-varsity race on Saturday, and the top finishers for the LaGrange boys’ team were Matthew Callaway (21:00), Kd McCauley (22:02), Jason Shin (22:33), Ramon Santiago (23:26), Denver Bracken (25:21), Dane Bateman (27:16) and Reed Slay (27:28).
Troup’s junior-varsity runners were Matthew Bearden (27:21) and Ethan Carlton (29:06).
In the girls’ race, LaGrange’s junior-varsity runners were Emily Bakarich, Jenna Conrad and Catherine Cauthen.
For the Troup girls’ team, Mary Claire Finley and Valerie Hicks were the junior-varsity runners.
Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports