Champion wins third title, aims at conference championship

Published 8:26 pm Monday, October 2, 2023

MOULTRIE — Colquitt County’s Hudson Champion ran away from the field and took first place in Saturday’s 22nd Tift Invitational middle school cross country meet held at ABAC, turning in a course-record time of 11.05.42.

The seventh-grade Packer will take aim at his fourth win of the cross country season when he competes Wednesday morning in conference championships to be held at Packer Park.

Champion won the 3,200-meter race at ABAC by 22 seconds over second-place finisher Marcus Boyd of Valdosta Middle School.

The boys race drew 189 runners with 16 schools sending full teams.

With Champion leading the way, the middle school Packers placed tied for second with Furlow Charter School of Americus with 140 points.

Berrien Middle School was first in the boys race with 83 points.

Also scoring for the Colquitt County boys on Saturday were Chase Enfinger, who was 26th with a 13:15.16; Sam Brown, 28th, 13:17.45; Bryson Gibbs, 42nd, 13:45.91; and Neftali Rodriguez-Falcon, 43rd, 13:51.73.

Also running for the Packers were Emmanuel Hernandez and Owen Avery.

In Champion’s five meets this season he has turned in three first-place finishes, one second-place finish in a race he completed while battling the flu and one third-place finish.

His other first-place finishes came in Cook County Hornet Invitational and the South Georgia Middle School Invitational in Thomas County.

Colquitt County finished eighth in the girls race with 213 points.

Tift County won the girls event with 64 points.

The girls race included 172 runners from 16 schools.

Earning points for the Lady Packers were Lyla DeMott-Skeen, 26th, with a time of 15:21.57; Judith Manuel-Moctezuma, 30th, 15:30.45; Hayden Champion, 46th, 16:13.27; Annabelle Dell, 55th, 16:36.93; and RyLee Dell, 56th, 16:37.58.

Janet Grace Rodriguez and Kenya Leon-Hernandez also ran for the Colquitt County girls.