GREENE COUNTY
Both of Lake Oconee Academy’s cross-country teams traveled to Carrollton earlier this November to compete in the GHSA Class A Division II state championship meet.
The Lady Titans finished ninth overall as a team, and junior Jane Monachello was the squad’s highest finisher. She completed the race with the fifth-best overall time individually after running a 24:22.35.
Monachello ended up about 30 seconds off the top spot, and the team effort was helped by multiple teammates that finished in the top 100 of all runners.
Fellow basketball teammate Kensi Stevens contributed by running a 27:12.11 and freshman Marley Dellinger impressed some people by running a 28:45.85 and rounding out the top 40.
Other notable performances came from sophomores Ana Garcia and Brenlee Brown.
The Titans finished fifth overall as a team in the boys’ division with Carson Johnson has led the way. The freshman ran a time of 20:20.40 in his first state meet and he finished 19th overall.
He was accompanied by three teammates who finished relatively close behind him and all in the top 30.
Senior Justin Zahler was 21 seconds behind Johnson and ran a 20:41.80 to have the second-fastest time on the Titans’ roster.
Freshman Todd Anthony kept close to Zahler’s pace and ran a 20:49.90 to finish 27th overall individually.
Lastly, sophomore Yael Rodriguez crossed the finish line less than two seconds after Anthony did to run a 20:51.70.
With both programs having a young core of runners, Lake Oconee Academy could prove to be a tough team to run against in the future.