CROSS COUNTRY: West Laurens, Bleckley County stand out at area GHSA sectional races

West Laurens teams, competing in Ludowici, advanced in whole to this weekend’s state championships, while East Laurens High School’s cross country course made its postseason debut, hosting another Bleckley County sweep of the region 2-High A championships, during GHSA sectional cross country action this past Saturday. 

Both sets of Raiders successfully punched their tickets to Carrollton with runner-up team finishes at the AAA sectional race hosted by Long County High School, ensuring their full roster will advance to the state meet this coming Saturday. 

Top Westside finisher Levi Dailey, just a couple seconds behind Whitewater’s Austin Chrouch at the finish after a neck-and-neck race,  bettered his time on this course from a week or two earlier by nearly 50 seconds to take second in the overall standings. The Raiders’ Ronan Pangie, sixth with a time of 17:07.26, led a group of additional runners including Fisher Smith, Dalton Oxford, Nathan Larson, Ayden Smith and Bennett Smith who put the team second in the team scoring. 

The West Laurens girls were led by Landry Hall, who finished fifth individually with a time of 20:53.69. Times of Raidyn Joiner, Rylee Howard, Adelie Saussy, Sophie Kavuri, Ashtyn Norton and Ashley Williams also contributed to their runner-up team finish. 

Back home, East Laurens’ new trail played host to a High-A sectional race, which doubled as region 2’s championship meet. And as usual, there was a lot of Purple and Gold at the front of the pack, as Bleckley County streaked its way to two more in its long line of region championships. 

The Runnin’ Royals – with Jack Harrell leading with a time of 16:27.94 – had five of the first six across the finish line in the boys race. Brody Gibbs, Harrison Rogers, Ryder Garrett and Elliott Lynch also finished in the top 10 to put Bleckley in first place as a team by a lot. 

Curtis Harvey, with a time of 19:39.40, was Dublin’s top finisher at No. 45 overall. East Laurens’ delegation was paced by Colton McCoy and Braylon Makaya, who were 48th and 49th respectively, with times just under 20 minutes. 

But Dublin – with Tal Duke, Jashum Carswell, Christopher Dixon, Wyatt Patisaul, Jayden Cason and Smith Zellner also in the running – finished 13th as a team, and East – whose additional runners were Bradley White, Chris Vasquez and Brody Kight – 15th overall to miss the top-12 window required to advance. 

In the girls’ 5K, Bleckley had four of the top five and six of the top 10, with Lily Farrell taking the region title as overall No. 1, with a time of 18:12.42. 

East Laurens, paced by freshman Caroline Clements with a time of 25:28.69 for 50th overall, placed 13th overall with the help of Amari Kellam, Brailyn Christy, Lara Fincher, Braelen Kight and Ella Smith. 

Dublin, whose only runner was Keasia Jackson (29th overall with a time of 23:27.30), did not score as a team.