East Jackson Boys Score Region Title

It took a couple of tie-breaking sixth runners, but both East Jackson cross country teams will travel to Carrollton Saturday for the state Class AA meet.

The boys can add another title to their trophy case, as the Eagles came away with the region 8-AA title Saturday at Riverside Military Academy.

Both East Jackson and North Oconee scored 39 points, with the tie broken by the sixth-place runner. East Jackson’s sixth runner, Cale Pirtle, placed 20th overall and North Oconee’s sixth runner came in 26th, which secured the title for East Jackson.

East Jackson’s fastest runner, Kevin Kesler, placed fifth overall with a time of 17:38. Brandon Banks finished sixth with a 17:42, followed by Josh Kesler (seventh at 17:45), Terry Miller (10th at 18:05) and Eric Van Deventer (11th at 18:14) Pirtle’s 20th-place effort was done in 18:46.

Blake Albright placed 23rd with a personal best time of 18:58.

“Our goal was to put five runners in the top 10 and all five in front of North Oconee’s number three runner,” said coach Bob Roller. “We knew the top two runners from North would be tough to beat and Oglethorpe and Banks had a couple of strong runners. We were able to place three in front of North’s number three runner and two directly behind him and in front of their number four. We placed five runners in the top 11 as the seniors wanted the championship back after finishing second in 2008.”

Sherri Blalock topped the Lady Eagles with a third-place run, turning in a national elite and new school record time of 19:44.

Skyler Cozzens placed eighth (22:11), Kassie Mull 14th (22:36), Amanda Anderson 15th (22:49), Courtney McDowell 22nd (23:18) and Courtney Clarke 31st (24:29). Dakota Chandler placed 34th with a 25:07.

The teams will next travel to Carrollton for the GHSA State Meet on Saturday.

For more EJCHS cross country, see the Nov. 4 edition of The Commerce News or The Jackson Herald.