Newton Citizen

CONYERS - Nine local cross country runners have been named to the 2007 8-AAAA All-Region Cross Country teams.

Heritage, which extended its streak of consecutive state meets for its boys and girls squads to 10 this year, leads the way with seven runners. Salem placed two on the teams, and Eastside has one.

The Heritage boys finished second behind Dacula in the region meet, while the Heritage girls also placed second behind Loganville.

The teams were based upon the runners' finishes in the Region 8-AAAA championship at the Georgia International Horse Park on Nov. 3. The top seven runners were named to the first team, the runners who finished eight through 14th were placed on the second team and the runners who finished 15th through 21st were honored on the third team.

On the boys team, Heritage senior standout Shuaib Winters is the only first-team honoree. Winters finished second in the region behind Dacula's Mike McClay with a time of 16 minutes, 53.73 seconds. One week later, he finished fourth in the Class AAAA state meet.

Fellow Patriot Jake Hudson, who finished ninth in the region meet at 17:41.85, is the only local runner on the boys second team. His teammates, Josh Munger (18:27.29) and Brad Hardin (18:27.91), were named to third team after finishing 16th and 17th in the region meet.

Salem's Mitch Purvis also earned a third-team selection with a 19th-place finish at region in 18:29.61.

On the girls team, Heritage senior Whitney Adkins was the only first-team selection with her sixth place finish in the region meet at 21:53.94.

Heritage's Sarah Hayward and Megan Drish earned second-team accolades. Hayward placed ninth at the region meet in 22:16.97, while Drish finished 13th in 22:43.70.

Salem's Shannon Christian also made the second team with an 11th place finish in 22:25.67. Eastside's Whitney Martin was the only local runner on the third team. She finished 19th in the region at 22:59.49.

SideBar: All-Region 8-AAAA Cross Country Team

Boys

First Team

Mike McClay, Dacula

Shuaib Winters, Heritage

Paul Kasay, Clarke Central

Obed Pacheco, Dacula

Jeremy Smith, Winder-Barrow

Chris Patterson, Dacula

Nick Phillips, Dacula

Second Team

David Campbell, Dacula

Jake Hudson, Heritage

Palmer Hicks, Winder-Barrow

Kyle Groover, Dacula

Jay Rains, Clarke Central

Thomas Yoder, Clarke Central

Kevin Hamilton, Habersham Central

Third Team

Chad Riley, Loganville

Josh Munger, Heritage

Brad Hardin, Heritage

Sam Whited, Habersham Central

Mitch Purvis, Salem

Will Spencer, Clarke Central

Jay Stephens, Habersham

Girls

First Team

Bethaney Murphy, Winder-Barrow

Claire Rosemond, Clarke Central

Ashley Smith, Loganville

Brittney Aiken, Jackson County

Kayla Estes, Winder-Barrow

Whitney Adkins, Heritage

Caroline Windham, Loganville

Second Team

Nina Gonzales, Jackson County

Sarah Hayward, Heritage

Nina Kamber, Dacula

Shannon Christian, Salem

Alanna Guffin, Winder-Barrow

Megan Drish, Heritage

Tori Klingensmith, Loganville

Third Team

Philicia Galaviz, Dacula

Maggie Friedline, Clarke Central

Shannon Fagan, Loganville

Brianna Adinolfi, Dacula

Whitney Martin, Eastside

Carlee Flanders, Loganville

Katie Bohannon, Habersham Central