By Kevin Eckleberry

kevin.eckleberry@lagrangenews.com

LAGRANGE – They ran away with the title.

The LaGrange Grangers captured three of the top seven spots on Thursday to roll to the Region 5-AAAA boys’ cross-country championship.

It was also a successful day for the LaGrange girls’ team, which finished third to secure a spot in the state meet next week.

In the boys’ meet, LaGrange was led by Alex Bowie, who had a personal-best time of 16 minutes, 56 seconds to finish fourth.

Bowie was followed closely by teammate Joshua Turman (16:59), who finished fifth, and John McDonald (17:14) placed seventh.

Cameron Thomas (17:37) was 11th, Matthew Callaway (17:46) placed 13th, Logan Lopez (17:54) finished 17th, and Donta Dunson (18:09) was 20th.

“I’m glad that all the summer hours they put in, and all the after-school hours that they put in paid off for them,” LaGrange coach Chase Wilson said. “We’re real proud of them.”

For Bowie, it was a breakthrough day as he finished in less than 17 minutes for the first time.

“He finally broke 17,” Wilson said. “When he was here last time, I think he ran it, he was so close.”

Bowie and Turman are LaGrange’s top two runners, and Wilson said they have pushed each other all season.

“I think the best thing that happened was Josh being able to get to that level and push Alex a little bit more, which pushes Josh a little bit more,” Wilson said. “That competition’s good.”

For Troup, Christian Gay (18:24) came through with a 23rd-place finish, and Tre Lance (18:35) and Ryan Fuller (18:43) were 28th and 29th, respectively.

Tyler Meadows (19:31) finished 35th, Lawson Lynd (19:56) was 38th, Cole Young (20:16) was 41st, and Parker Stover (20:17) finished 42nd.

In the girls’ race, Anna Doerr (21:51) led LaGrange with a seventh-place finish.

Next was Zemya Rhaney (22:32) in 12th place, and Chloe Morman (22;48) and Zanay Rhaney (22:48) were 14th and 15th, respectively.

Brianna Stansbury (24:28) finished 29th, and Mary Claire Bakarich (24:44) was a spot back in 30th.

For Troup, Natalie Figiel (22:54) was the top finisher in 16th place, and Catherine Leveritt (23:35) placed 22nd.