Milton Cross Country Top-10 At State Meet

November 7th

Carrollton, GA

by Andy Carr

The Eagle cross country teams finished off their seasons at the GHSA 5A State meet held on the Carrollton ES course fighting all the way & came away with 2 individuals finishing in the top-10 garnering all-state honors.

GIRLS
The Lady Eagles were a podium contending team most of the race and just missed a state trophy by one place. Milton (5th-187 pts) turned back 19 schools and for the 15th time in the last 16 years placed in the top-9 at the state meet. Over that time frame the Lady Eagles have been 4th 6-times, 3rd 2-times & 5th for the 2nd time including this season. The highlight for Milton was the front running of senior captain & region champion Caroline Spain (8th-19:46) who was in the lead group until late in the race but was able to hang on and reach the podium & become an all-state performer. Spain concludes here career as a Lady Eagle as the 2nd best performer in school history (18:26) & in her 3 trips to the state meet has finished 58th, 22nd & now 8th. Supporting Spain was sophomore Sadie Katekovich (31st-20:54) running 32 seconds faster than last year, freshman Sloane Robers (40th-21:14) finishing as the 12th freshman, sophomore Kenley Sirras (57th-21:49) who moved up in position the entire race, juniors Ava Kane (64th-22:04) running in her first state meet, Lucie Gallagher (72nd-22:12) improving on her time from 2024 by 24 seconds & Aarushi Dhawan (73rd-22:13), improving 10 places from 2024 & 47 seconds! The Lady Eagles will return 6 members of this team and 16 of the next 18 on the Milton roster.

BOYS
Milton (6th-219 pts) turned back 17 schools in their quest to defend their 2024 state title and finished just off the podium. The boy’s teams over the last 21 years at the state meet have won 2 state titles & have finished in the top-10 17 times! Continuing his strong running from the sectional meet, senior captain & region champion Everett Lawder (7th-16:42) returned to the podium & improved one spot & 4-seconds from the 2024 race to lead the Eagles! Lawder was never not in the top-10 the entire race and challenged for 6th & 7th place all the way until the finish line. Lawder concludes his Milton career as the 8th best performer in school history (15:43) & an individual state qualifier the last two years. Following Lawder was the outstanding & gutsy race by senior Ryan Greathouse (35th-17:47) running 15 seconds faster & placing 14 places better than his 2024 race. Next up was junior Will Chambers (36th-17:48) returning from an illness. Freshman sensation Noah Jenkins (43rd-17:51) followed and was the 2nd freshman to finish in the entire 5A race! Junior Boston VanBelle (117th-19:12) & senior captain Veer Upadhyaya (138th-19:42) concluded the Eagle effort.