CARROLLTON, Ga. – Sometimes Goliath is just too good.
That’s what the Heritage High School girls’ cross country team found out Saturday at the GHSA Championships, where the prohibitive favorites from Marist proved why they are the top-ranked team in Georgia in all classifications. Getting three of the top five finishers and five of the top eight in the Class AAAA competition, the Lady War Eagles scored a dominating 22 points while the Lady Generals totaled 98 in finishing second.
“It wasn’t our day to win it all, but two years in a row finishing second in the state to a great program like Marist is still special,” said Heritage coach Jeremy Wynne, whose Region 7 champions came out strong but couldn’t keep up with the leaders. “The girls definitely put their hearts into it, though our times were a little down. We had three of our top five sick with a stomach bug, so considering that and what they were up against today, I couldn’t be more proud.”
Marist’s Morgan Ilse, finishing in 18:53, won the individual title by nearly a minute over teammate Anna Renou, while the Heritage foursome of Sarah Buckler (10th), Caitlin Craft (13th), Emily Poole (15th) and Noor Shabeeh (16th) kept the Lady Generals easily ahead of third-place Chestatee (152 points) and earned at least one admirer in the enemy camp.
“I have to give Heritage a lot of credit, because they always show up tough at state,” Marist coach Eric Heintz said. “We’ve known about them all year long even when other people were not talking about them, and they pushed us. This is the most impressive group we’ve ever had on campus. They are the hardest-working, team-oriented group I’ve seen, and because of that they are willing to do anything for each other.”