Jude Bailey crosses the finish line fifth for the Tiftarea Academy varsity boys at the 2021 Panther Prowl.

CHULA — Tiftarea Academy’s biggest meet of cross country’s regular season takes place Sept. 24, the day of the annual Panther Prowl. The meet is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. with the varsity girls.

Varsity girls, varsity boys, middle school boys and middle school girls will all be run, according to meet information. An awards ceremony is listed as taking place at 12:15 p.m. The start line for the Prowl is traditionally at Tiftarea’s baseball field, with the finish line close by, near the visiting football stands and the pond.

As of Sept. 19, 24 middle and high school teams are listed as attending on MileSplit. Tift County is listed as being one of the teams competing, the first time the Blue Devils have visited their neighbors for varsity competition.

Other schools listed as attending include GIAA schools Brookwood, Southland Academy and Terrell Academy and GHSA schools Cook, Fitzgerald, Ware County and Worth County.

Both Tift and Tiftarea competed Sept. 17 at the Deerfield-Windsor Invitational in Albany.

On MileSplit’s results, Blair Golden ran Deerfield’s course in 17:24, giving him 7th overall for the boys. Golden was within 20 seconds of placing 5th. Jude Bailey was 26th at 18:42. Aidan Evans and Russ Benton were also in the top 30 individually.

The Blue Devils were 3rd as a team as Dawson McMillan and Hayden Roberts finished in the top 50 to count towards Tift’s scores. Though they did not count towards the team totals, Sergio Martinez and Owen Davies were top 50 as well.

Ava Wilson finished 20th overall in girls competition, with Lola Reynolds and Kathryn Payne also in the top 30 individual runners. Kate Phillips was Tiftarea’s fastest at 48th overall. In the team standings, the Lady Devils were 6th and Tiftarea placed 7th. Sixteen schools brought full teams.

Bailey was Tiftarea’s top runner at the 2021 varsity portion of the Panther Prowl, 5th overall. Phillips finished 2nd as a middle school runner a year ago.