Flowery Branch, North Hall boys dominate AAA meet; Falcons win title

CARROLLTON -- While both the Flowery Branch and North Hall cross country teams came into Saturday's Class AAA state meet looking for titles, both teams also were looking to make a statement to the rest of the state about which region is No. 1 in the state.

Flowery Branch and North Hall dominated the state meet at Carrollton High School placing seven runners in the top 15 combined. And in the end the Falcons took the team crown placing all five runners in the top 24 to beat the Trojans 66-92 and claim their first-ever team title for the school.

"It was an awesome day for us and the guys ran strong and stayed focused," Flowery Branch coach Jimmy Sorrells said. "But I think it says as much about Region 7-AAA that the best runners are in this area and in and Hall County. Our goal was to win the title and the guys came through with a lot of pressure on them."

How dominating were the Falcons and Trojans? Eagles Landing took third place 65 points behind North Hall with 157 points and fourth place St. PIus had 160 points. Those two teams had just two runners combined in the top 15.

Daniel Martinez was the Falcons top runner finishing eighth in a time of 16:32.36. David Farist was 11th, Maurice Riden 13th, Kenny Slavik 15th, and Jeffrey Velez took 24th as the five runners to count in the scoring.

Nabil Hamid of Druid Hills won the individual state title with a time of 15:49.82 beating Nathan Vassey of Woodward Academy, who finished at 15:53.89. Ty McCormack of North Hall placed fifth with a time 16:22.03 to pace the Trojans.

Also for North Hall, Cody Barger finished ninth, Nolan Clark was 10th, Brandon Lawson was 31st, and Reese Walker was 42nd. North Hall coach Jonathan Lillie said it was a great showing for his squad.

"We came into the meet looking to win it but we knew Flowery Branch was going to be tough to beat," Lillie said. "Ty ran the best race of his career and the whole team ran well. They beat us with their fourth and fifth runners because they are so deep. But we felt like (Region) 7-AAA was the best region and we went out and proved it. That's something we can all be proud of."

West Hall also had a strong showing taking eighth overall and Chestatee finished 17th in the 32-team field.

Two-time defending individual champion Charlie Sparks of Columbus had a rough meet. Sparks, a junior, has been battling IT Band Syndrome, which irritates the tendon in the knee. He started the race okay staying with the lead pack. But the pain was too much to overcome and he was forced to pull off the course at the midway point.

"The coaches gave me the option of running and I wanted to defend the title and help the team," Sparks said. "(The knee) just gave out on me on the hills. I'm disappointed but I'm going to rest it and try to get ready for track season."

The Falcons were ranked No. 1 virtually the entire season and came into the meet as the overwhelming favorite to win the title. Sorrells said one of the keys was Rider, who broke the 17 minute barrier for the first time ever with a time of 16:45.23. The 15 seconds shaved off his time was good enough for 12 points in the final points standings.