Pack, Lady Pack qualify for state cross country

Published 7:43 pm Wednesday, October 31, 2007

MOULTRIE — Colquitt County cross country coach Mell Wier contends that in the Region 1-AAAAA meet, times are not important.

Where runners finish is.

And both the Colquitt County girls and boys teams got the finishes they needed on Wednesday at Freedom Park in Valdosta to place fourth and qualify for the Nov. 10 state meet in Carrollton.

The top four teams in the region meet advance to state.

Warner Robins took first place in both the girls and boys races.

The Demonettes victory ended a string of 12 straight region championships by the Tift County girls.

The Lady Devils finished a distant third.

Warner Robins had 24 points and second-place Lowndes had 59 points. The Tift County girls had 61.

Colquitt’s girls had 110 points and were followed by Houston County and Coffee. Valdosta did not have enough girls to compete for a team championship.

The Lady Packers were led Carly Banks, who had a 22:05 to finish 16th.

She was followed by Karli Brown, who was 20th; Lacey Webb, 23rd; Morgan Hayes, 27th; Carla Duque, 32nd; and Laura Robinson, 33rd.

Abbey Taylor became ill and was unable to finish, leaving Wier concerned.

Taylor and Carly Moore, who was out of town on a choir trip, were the Lady Packers Nos. 3 and 4 runners.

But Webb ran 2 1/2 minutes faster than she has run before and Carla Duque also turned in a personal best time.

“Carla and Lacey really stepped up,” Wier said.

The Colquitt County boys were led by part-time runner Tyler Dismuke, who finished sixth with a 18:01.

On Tuesday, Dismuke practiced with the Colquitt County football team.

“He could be one of the best runners in the state,” Wier said of Dismuke. “As a part-time runner, he is still pretty good.”

He was followed by Carlos Charles, who was 12th; Julio Perez, 23rd; Heath Lamb, 24th; Nic Price, 32nd; Craig Dabdoub, 33rd; and Marcos Gomez, 35th. Gomez was running with a pulled muscle, but his teammates picked him up, Wier said

“The boys ran a good race,” Wier said. “It was a good team effort.”

Tift County finished second and Valdosta was third. Lowndes was fifth, followed by Houston County and Coffee.