Bleckley County boys win GHSA cross country title

The Bleckley County boys cross country team claimed its first GHSA championship Saturday, winning the Class AA competition in Carrollton.

Led by individual champion Carl Ellis Corley, the Royals had five runners place in the top 12 to finish with 42 points, nine better than second-place Pace Academy.

Corley finished in 17 minutes, 50.67 seconds, winning the race by nearly six seconds over Pace Academy's Jack Douglass.

Also winning an individual title was Telfair County's Blake Bargeron, who won the Class A public race in 18:27.28, 18 seconds faster than second-place Andres Abeja of Echols County.

The GMC boys finished second in Class A public with 92 points, well behind Drew Charter's winning total of 42. Adan Martinez of Hawkinsville finished third, Israel Sanchez of Montgomery County finished seventh, Kaylon Farley of GMC in ninth and Josue Ramirez of Montgomery County in 10th.

Jones County's girls placed fifth as a team in Class AAAAA, with Erin Leonard placing fifth and Kate Boland 12th. Perry's girls were 12th in Class AAAA, with Alyssa Mountin finishing 12th and Tiffany Mountin 15th.

In Class A private girls, Mount de Sales was sixth, with the Cavaliers' Jessy Tallant finishing 14th individually. In Class A private boys, Mount de Sales' Tunji Afolabi-Brown was ninth individually.

Telfair County was seventh in Class A public girls, with Arnesha Hardee placing fifth individually. Johnson County's Elizabeth Richards was 15th individually, with her team taking eighth in the classification.

In Class AA girls, Bleckley County finished eighth, with the Royals' Ellen Powell finishing 15th individually.

This story was originally published November 7, 2015 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Bleckley County boys win GHSA cross country title ."