Lady Warriors earn state bid

If it's November, it's time for the White County girl's cross country team to hop on a bus and head to Carrollton.

The Lady Warriors earned their annual trip to the GHSA State Cross Country Championships with a second place finish at the Region 7-AAA meet last week at Unicoi State Park.

North Hall won the girl's team title, with WCHS, Cherokee Bluff, and Lumpkin County finishing off the Top 4 spots to earn a ticket to the state meet.

The Class AAA girl's race will be held Friday at 11:15 a.m., at Carrollton High School.

The Warriors missed qualifying for the state meet with a sixth place finish in the region meet.

When the Lady Warriors get to Carrollton, they will be looking to record another Top 5 finish on the state level.

Last year, the Lady Warriors finished fourth in the team standings, which was the program's best since 2016. Before last year's fourth place finish, the Lady Warriors had posted three consecutive fifth-place finishes.

Representing the Lady Warriors at the state meet will be Nealeigh Broadwell, Lily Gearing, Emma Lightsey, Reese Vandegriff, Emma Marrow, Lydia Davidson, and Brianna Bilhovde.

“Several of these girls have been to state before, so I expect them to be leaders for the three freshman that have never seen the state course before,” WCHS head coach Carrie Vandegriff said.

In the region meet, the Lady Warriors got Top 10 times from Broadwell, Gearing, and Lightsey on the way to securing the runner-up spot.

North Hall's Clodagh O'Bryant, Harleigh Smith, and Abi Moore led the Lady Trojans to the team title by sweeping the Top 3 spots in the race.

O'Bryant won with a time of 19:26, with Smith (20:04) and Moore (20:27) crossing the finish line next.

Cherokee Bluff's Adison Myers was fourth at 20:34, followed by Broadwell at 20:58, Lumpkin County's Abbie Hilchie (21:05), Gearing (21:08), Dawson County's Anna Lecave (21:33), Lightsey (21:34), and North Hall's Makayla Jones (21:37) to round out the Top 10.

“Nealeigh has taken off,” Vandegriff said. “After she broke her leg in the Mountain Invite her first year, she has not enjoyed the course. I think she had a breakthrough Mountain Invite (this year), and she loves this course now. Lily had her best race of the year, by far. Her motivation might involve soccer, whatever it takes. Emma has been a huge help. When we were down to four (earlier in the year), she stepped in and offered to give us her best. She showed up and she's given it everything she has.”

Gearing is the lone senior on in the program, and she said getting back to the state meet was on the top of the team's priority list.

“We definitely had to step up because we lost a lot of vital seniors that carried us through last year,” Gearing said. “Nealeigh always steps up and she pushes me as well. I had to be the captain of the team because that's what is expected of me, and I had to work hard on that. I hope we can get Top 5 at state because we've consistently been in the Top 5. I'm hoping we can keep that going.”

Gearing picked the perfect moment to post her best time of the year.

“The weather was really nice and I promised myself I would run with Nealeigh,” Gearing said. “Coach (Megan) Runkle is always trying to bargain with me and make a deal, saying I can play striker in soccer, so that really pushed me.”

Marrow finished off the scoring portion of the lineup with a 29th place finish at 24:08.

Lydia Davidson, who has battled an injury this season had a time of 26:08, and Brianna Bilhovde posted a time of 27:40.

“Reese is floating in and out of the Top 4 positions,” Vandegriff said. “People think of cross country as an individual sport, but it's a team sport, it takes all seven. At first, Emma (Marrow) didn't think she made the cut (for the scoring portion), and she was devastated. All these girls are competitors and they all brought their best today. They left it all out there.”

In the girl's junior varsity race, Grace Bythewood had the top time for WCHS, finishing 16th at 29:05. Lydia Durden was next at 31:33, and Shelby Johnson had a time of 40:09.

On the boy's side, Cherokee Bluff won a title battle over North Hall for the team title.

The Bears has three runners in the Top 11, and finished with 57 points, while North Hall had 64 points. Dawson County was third with 86 points, and Lumpkin County grabbed the final state spot with 97 points. Gilmer County (120), East Forysth 133), WCHS (168), and West Hall (196) rounded out the field.

The Warriors, who didn't have a senior on the team this year, were led by Lance Kelley, who finished 20th with a time of 18:49. Wyatt Pilgrim was 30th with a time of 19:28, followed by Cole Gearing in 36th place at 19:52. Aiden Pickett finished 40th at 20:02, and Logan Long was 42nd with a time of 20:08 to complete the scoring part of the lineup. Trevor Butler was just behind Long at 20:12, and Jackson Judice had a time of 20:45.

“The boys wanted to go to state, so it's devastating to them,” Vandegriff said. “They all had a season best time (at region), with the exception of a couple. They are a young team with no senior leadership, and they suffered some growing pains. If they keep putting in the work, we will see great results next year.”

In the boy's junior varsity race, the Warriors finishd fifth in the team standings.

Isaac Sosebee had the team's best finish in 21st place with a time of  21:39, followed Bryce Whitlark in 27th place at 22:10. Jesse Johnson was 29th at 22:28, Levi Foster was 36th at 23:39, and Wyatt Churchwell was 39th at 23:59.