Nolan Miller was the first middle school Blue Devil to the finish line.

CHULA — Tift County won three of the four divisions at Tiftarea Academy’s Panther Prowl Sept. 24, the first of two local meets in two weeks.

The Blue Devils and Lady Devils swept the high school team competition and also won in middle school girls.

Tift was not first in any individual race, but dominated spots near the top. Four Blue Devils were the top nine in varsity boys and all five made the top 12. Three high school Lady Devils were in the top 10 and all five in the top 15. It was similar domination for the middle school Lady Devils: Four in the top eight, with the fifth runner finishing 25.

St. John followed a similar path, second place in middle school boys with Juan Pablo Ledesma-Rodriguez, though first in points as Wesley Warren’s Brookwood team did not have enough runners for a team score. William Meisenzahl finished in second place with Parker Stanton 4th and Samuel Nelson 10th.

Host Tiftarea was 2nd in middle school girls and 3rd in varsity girls and 4th in middle school boys. The Panthers had four runners competing in varsity boys, one short of being eligible for a team score.

Individual winners were Samantha Savinon Rios of Ware County for high school girls at 21:01. Walker Elrod, whose Bainbridge-based Grace Christian team had to be up before dawn to make it to Chula, earned 1st in varsity boys at 17:33.

Fastest from the middle schools were Neicy Perez-Juarez of Furlow Charter at 15:21 and Warren at 12:47.

The Lady Devils totaled 49 points in the high school girls race, 17 ahead of Ware County, which had the top two runners. Tiftarea was 3rd with 94 points.

Ava Wilson finished 5th at 23:24. Also counting towards the team total were Lola Reynolds, Kathryn Payne, Madeline Perrin and Emmalyn Lukas. Lauren Brey, Keira Gibbs and Jennifer Sandoval ran as well.

Tiftarea’s top runner was Kate Phillips in 15th place (13th for points). Sophie Compton, Caroline Barksdale, Ann Catherine Walker and Ruthie Mobley had the rest of the Lady Panthers’ points. Frances Nelson, Jasmine Olson, Sarah Grace Brown and Annaliese Hester also competed.

Blair Golden earned 3rd place individually at 18:36, the fastest of any varsity Blue Devil. Will Clark at 5th, Aidan Evans at 8th in points for eligible teams, Sergio Martinez at 9th and Russ Benton at 12th rounded up their scoring. Dawson McMillan and Hayden Roberts placed in the top 20 individually, with Owen Davies, Anthony Falatico, Alex Birdson, Karson Ponder, Keller Tubbs, Jackson Shirts, Nathan Beck, Jayden Wall, Seth Denham, Reed Allison and Cody Radford competing as well.

Tift had 37 team points, with Valdosta’s Highland Christian 2nd at 77.

Tiftarea’s Jude Bailey was 13th individually, his time at 20:16. Jase Hendricks, John Robert Walker and Preston Barksdale ran the course, too.

In middle school action, Tift’s Lady Devils earned 44 points to Tiftarea’s 54.

Lizzie Hendricks of Tiftarea was the quickest of anyone whose finished counted towards a team score. Her time was 15:46. Ella Branch, Eleanor Walker, Jaycee Powell and Sarah Roberts counted towards the team number, with Julia Rimoczy, Emri Golden, Honey Terrell and Allie Barton additionally running.

Jovia Burke was 4th individually and 2nd towards team scores for the Lady Devils. Stella Byrnes, Bailey Brock, Katherine Currie and Jana Webster added to points column. Chloe Gibbs, Ava Griffin, Elli Davies, Cami Toledo, Elizabeth Crawford and Martha Jane Nelson also donned the white jerseys.

St. John accumulated 37 team points in middle school boys. Ben Hill Middle was second at 39. Tift’s 53 was 3rd and Tiftarea’s 115 gave them 4th.

Counting runners for Tift’s squad were Nolan Miller, Henry Anderson, Kellan Lukas, Reid Tubbs and Caleb Thaba. James Joyner, Larkin Saylor, Kason Horner, Braden Rehberg, Logan Mathis, Jonas Miller, Cedric Johnson, Griffin Goodman John Wood and Caden King also competed.

Tiftarea’s counting crew were Corey Moorman, Uzziah Barton, Ford Bowen, Ethan Moorman and Ty Sorrels. Also on the course were Tate Bailey, Sawyer Campbell Davis Holt and Ford Dark.

Sixteen schools sent varsity teams to Tiftarea, ranging from Grace Christian to the west to Windsor Academy (Macon) to the north. There were also 16 middle schools, though not all from the same schools as varsity. Tifton’s CHESS Academy had runners in all four races.

Tift’s team wins made two kinds of history. There was the victory part, but also it was the first time ever that a Tift County varsity sport had competed on Tiftarea Academy’s grounds. Head coach Cindy Marzen said both she and Tiftarea head coach David Dark talked about it when she signed up her teams. Tiftarea has competed in the Tift County Invitational in recent years. They are set to be there again when it runs at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

Until 2014, the inta-league competition would not have been possible. Before then, the Georgia High School Association banned its teams from interacting with GIAA (then the GISA) schools in varsity competition. The ban was partially lifted in 2014, but only applied to sports not using power ratings. Full interaction was permitted beginning in the 2016-17 school year.

Tift and Tiftarea cross country teams have attended the same meets often since the ban was lifted, but have competed in few other sports. Tiftarea and Tift wrestled one another in January 2016. The Panthers also played a single McDonalds Invitational basketball game in 2018 at TCHS, though their opponent was another private school, St. Anne-Pacelli.