CHULA — Noah Howington sped to victory Saturday at Tiftarea Academy’s Panther Prowl, one of two local winners on the day. St. John Catholic’s Juan Pablo Ledesma-Rodriguez won in the middle school division.
Valwood placed third in varsity girls, trailing only independent Trailblazers Athletics and host Tiftarea Academy. Highland was fourth for boys.
Howington topped the field with a time of 19:16, 14 seconds ahead of second place. Ian Hulett, also of Highland, was sixth in 20:19. Four Eagles were in the top 40 in overall finish, and top 30 for those with enough runners to qualify for team placements. Joining Howington and Hulett were Gabe Fisher and Deacon Fisher.
Lane Peterman was Valwood’s lone participant.
Valwood got a boost from Vanessa Smith and Lillie Moore to finish third. Smith was sixth overall in 25:32 and Moore was 14th in 27:59. Several schools with fast individual runners did not have enough to count in the team standings.
Julia Soshnik, Ava Garrett and Annabel Musgrove were individually in the top 40.
Highland’s first to finish was Susannah Byram, ninth overall in 26:17. Rachel Wartman was 28th.
In middle school, St. John Catholic’s boys were fourth.
Ledesma-Rodriguez of St. John was the overall middle school boys winner. At 13:08, he was nearly a full minute ahead of his nearest competitor.
St. John got a fifth place from Parker Blanton in 15:11. Nate Stevenson and Troy Richards individually ran in the top 40.
Highland’s Evan Slone was 13th individually, finishing in an even 16 minutes. Zachariah Cleary was in the top 40 as well. Valwood had two middle school boys runners. The fastest was Braden Kerrigan in 17:05.
Toa Wortman paced St. John in middle school girls. Her time of 18:27 was good for 15th place overall. Paisley Davis was 20th in 18:57. Miriam Dennis placed in the top 40.
Highland and Valwood each had two girls run in the middle school race.