A host of Tigers runs at the front of the field early in the boys' race on October 25 on the W-W campus. The Washington-Wilkes Cross- Country teams hosted a three-waym meet on the W-WCHS campus October 25. The other teams running represented Morgan County and Putnam County.

There were 16 runners in the girls' race. The Tigers' Ricola Patterson and W-WMS eighth grader Dixie Lee Trim ran side-by-side in the lead for virtually the entire 3.1-mile race. Both runners finished with a time of 23:24. Ricola was credited with first place based on her lean at the finish line. Eighth grader Angela Broome finished eighth with a time of 29:44.

The boys' race featured 30 runners. Ian Coe led the Tigers by leading the race from start to finish and winning with a time of 18:01. James Cade was third at 19:25, Jacob Davis was fourth at 19:35, Tyson Gilland was sixth at 19:49, Evan Harrison was seventh at 19:55, John Lovvorn was ninth at 20:28, Ryen Scarboro was 10th at 20:44, Brantley Stevens was 14th at 20:48, Jesse Crago was 14th at 21:16, Josh Cosby was 21st at 23:32, and Rodrigo Rodriquez was 24th at 24:31. In the team competition the Tigers took first place with a score of 21 points compared to 50 for Morgan County and 82 for Putnam County.

Ricola Patterson and Dixie Lee Trim race each other to the finish line in a meet held on the WW campus October 25. The girls finished with the same time with Ricola getting the win "by a nose" at the finish line. Washington-Wilkes Middle School had four Tiger runners who competed as well. Eighth grader Tyler Stasyshyn ran a time of 19:52 and would have finished seventh overall. Seventh grader Josh McLeroy ran 21:29 and eighth graders John Pope and Rob Lovvorn ran times of 21:47 and 26:53, respectively.

Region 8-AA

meet November 4

The W-WCHS Tiger Cross-country teams traveled to Oglethorpe County on Saturday, November 4, for the Region 8-AA Cross Country meet. There were ten schools in Region 8-AA competing. Those teams included Oglethorpe County, Dawson County, Rabun County, Union County, Putnam County, North Oconee, Morgan County, Banks County, Washington-Wilkes, and Fannin County.

The event began with a girls' JV/ B-team race. The Tigers had no one to compete in this race. That race was followed by a boys' JV/B-Team race. There were five Tigers participating. Brantley Stevens finished 14th with a time of 20:37, Ryen Scarboro was 17th at 20:45, Jesse Crago was 28th at 22:00, Josh Cosby was 43rd at 23:32, and Rodrigo Rodriquez was 49th at 25:00.

In the girls' varsity competition, the Tigers only had one runner competing and that was Ricola Patterson. There were 57 runners in this race. Ricola finished 38th with a time of 25:21. In her first season of Cross Country, Ricola has had a very successful year.

In the boys' varsity race each school could only run seven people. There were 68 total competitors. The top four teams would advance to the State AA meet as well as any individual runner who finished in the top six. The Tigers were again led by Ian Coe who finished third with a time of 17:30 and Taylor Echols who finished 19th with a time of 18:31. Jacob Davis was 34th at 19:24, James Cade was 36th at 19:25, Tyson Gilland was 41st at 19:43, John Lovvorn was 49th at 19:54, and Evan Harrison was 51st at 20:07.

The top five Tiger runners' finishing positions gave the Tiger team a score of 133. This was good enough for a fifth place finish in the Region 8-AA meet. Final team results for
the boys' race were:
  1. Oglethorpe County - 29
  2. North Oconee HS - 73
  3. Dawson County - 74
  4. Union County - 94
  5. Washington-Wilkes - 133
  6. Banks County - 164
  7. Rabun County - 179
  8. Morgan County - 226
  9. Fanin County - 259
  10. Putnam County - 303

Unfortunately, the Tigers, as a team, will not move on to run in the state meet. However, Ian Coe will represent W-WCHS at the state meet. The state AA boys' meet will begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, November 11, in Carrollton, Georgia.

The W-WCHS Cross-Country team says goodbye to four seniors this year. Three of them have been a part of the Tiger cross-country teams who have won three straight Region Championships and have run at the State Meet three times. They include: Taylor Echols who is completing his seventh season of cross-country. James Cade completes his third year of cross-country. Brantley Stevens completes his fifth year of cross-country. Another senior on this team is Jesse Crago who is finishing his first year of cross-country.

The Tigers have a strong group of underclassmen that should return next year and will allow the Tigers to be very competitive again. The

2006 Tigers included five juniors, two sophomores, two freshman, eight eighth graders, and one seventh grader.