Bridges, Gartman win opening meet

RINGGOLD, Ga. — There was a lot of mixed reaction about the Chattanooga Cross Country League’s first-ever race in Georgia, but there was one thing everybody could agree on.

It was hot.

Fifty teams and almost 400 runners took part in the meet at Heritage High School, and temperatures maxing out at 97 degrees on the field led to slower times and a number unable to finish the race.

Red Bank’s Robert Bridges and GPS’s Johanna Gartman were the individual winners, while Baylor’s boys won the team race with 94 points, easily outdistancing second-place Heritage with 183. Heritage’s Lady Generals won the girls’ race with 93 points, beating the home-school Chattanooga Patriots by six points.

The top two girls’ teams combined for half of the top 10 individual finishers.

Bridges remained with the lead pack for most of the race but started to pull away in the second mile and won the five-kilometer event in 17 minutes, 57.43 seconds. Baylor’s Simon Holden finished second with Walker Valley’s Seth Goudzward, Chattanooga Christian’s Cameron Anderson and Polk County’s Patrick Shultz rounding out the top five.

“My coach (Hugh Enicks) told me to run with the lead pack and don’t let the other guys get too far ahead,” Bridges said.

Bridges said the course was altered before the start, which caused confusion for some runners.

“I didn’t like the way they changed it; I felt like I ran it in reverse,” he said. “It didn’t change the fact that I didn’t run my best race; it wasn’t awful, but it was worse than usual.”

Gartman held a comfortable lead throughout the girls’ race and finished in 20:59.86. She admitted to some confusion as well with the course changes, calling it “stressful,” but also noted that “I’m an easygoing person, so I just went with it.”

Second place went to 2008 Division II-A state champion Keeley Stewart of St. Andrew’s-Sewanee, with Dalton’s Bekah Houston, Cumberland County’s Kayla Daniels and Heritage’s Mallory Edwards finishing third through fifth.

“It was very hot. I was sweating before the race even started,” Gartman said. “I wanted to get under 19 minutes and that’s my goal for this year, and I’m a little disappointed with my time, but I’m OK with getting the win.”