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Published Sunday, November 01, 2009 in Sports

Eady leads Vikings to Class AAAA state berth

By Chris Goltermann

The Times-Herald

Northgate's boys cross-country team picked a pretty good day to run arguably its strongest effort of the season -- even if it was on a rotten Halloween morning.

Led by senior Bret Eady's third-place finish, the Vikings qualified for next week's Class AAAA state meet, with Eady setting a new school-record on the course at Clinton Farms Preserve in Douglasville.

Northgate's boys finished third behind only McIntosh and Alexander, which was barely able to hold on for second place. Eady set the tone for the Vikings, staying at the front of the pack in a deep region lineup where the top-seven finishers all had sub-17 minute times while led by Starr's Mill's Warren Enriquez in 16:16.

The top-four boys and girls finishers from the region meet now advance to this Saturday's GHSA State Championships in Carrollton.

Whitewater's Lady Wildcats lineup dominated to capture the Region 5-AAAA girls meet with 30 points, ahead of McIntosh (62), Starr's Mill (75) and Alexander (91).

Despite a valiant effort, Northgate's Lady Vikings finished just outside the state qualifiers in fifth place with 137 points.

"It was really bittersweet for the girls, because they ran well," said Northgate head coach Chris Kimes. "I was real proud of their effort."

In the boys race, Eady stayed on the heels of Alexander's Weston Smallwood, who was second, and the Viking crossed in 16:27, breaking Northgate assistant coach Brett Dettmering's school-record. The time was the fastest of the season by a county runner, barely eclipsing Thursday's run at Clinton Farms by Jonathan Ballantyne in the Region 4-AAAAA meet.

The two ran neck-and-neck at the Coweta Cup Championships, won by Ballantyne.

"He's had that race in him all year," said Kimes of Eady, "and he did it in not-so great conditions. It was raining and at one part of the course, it looked like a river. I think we're peaking at the right time. Last year was a situation where we did well (at region) and then ran poorly at state. I told the guys that not going to be the case this year."

McIntosh put together its best run of the year, scoring 37 points to finish well ahead of frontrunner Alexander's 72 points. The Chiefs had its five scorers cross within the top-11 finishers, led by Nathan Reeves and Carl Eifert in fourth and fifth-place respectively, both with times of 16:40.

McIntosh runners John Janigan (16:51) and Artie McCarty (17:00) took eighth and ninth overall, with Andrew Love ending the scoring in 11th place at 17:08.

Northgate's next three scorers were packed in closely, with Gabe Pulsipher, Trent Golay and Chad Albers all in the top 20. Pulsipher was 15th in 17:19, followed by Golay (18th, 17:32) and Albers (20th, 17:33). Tim Rayman crossed in 22nd place in 17:39 as the Vikings' final scorer, while Justin Alderman provided a solid sixth finisher in 25th place in 17:44.

Starr's Mill (111) and Whitewater (129) rounded out the top-five in the 12-team boys race.

Leading Northgate's girls was Hannah Dorsey in 16th place with a time of 21:17, while Brianna Eaton was 27th in 22:10. Four Lady Vikings were packed together at the 22:22 mark, led by Shelby Gray and Chelsea Arriola (22:24). Hannah Jo Eady, at 22:31, finished the scoring, with Quadierer Crafton (22:45) and Caroline Hanks (23:00) providing depth.

Danielle Gray of McIntosh won the girls race in 19:47, ahead of Brittany Truitt of Alexander (19:50) and Stacey Mangan of Whitewater (19:53).

Whitewater's five scorers all finished within the top-10. McIntosh had three and Alexander the other two.

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