Honor roll
Cross country
Ty McCormack, North Hall: Won the Hall County Championships on Thursday with a time of 17 minutes, one second at Chestatee Middle. The Trojans also won the team title on the boys side.
Cody Barger, North Hall: Finished second at Hall County (17:21).
Patrice Sweet, North Hall: Finished fourth at Hall County championships (21:55).
Eileen Devico, Flowery Branch: Placed third at Hall County championships (21:31). The Lady Falcons won the team title.
Brenda Navarro, Flowery Branch: Finished fifth at Hall County (21:57).
David Farist, Flowery Branch: finished third at Hall County (17:39).
Kenny Slavik, Flowery Branch: Placed fourth at Hall County (17:42).
David Whitson, Gainesville: Fifth at Hall County (17:44).
Kelsey Neukum, Chestatee: Second place at Hall County (21:20).
Softball
Melissa Dickie, Buford: Only allowed two walks and two hits in a win against Westminster Thursday.
Morgan McKinney, Jefferson: Drove in four runs in a win against Oglethorpe County on Thursday.
Megan Rogers, North Hall: Had eight strikeouts in a no-hitter against Johnson on Thursday.
Amber Youngblood, North Hall: Three hits with a pair of runs scored against Johnson.
Miranda Miller, West Hall: Had three hits and two RBIs in a win against Pickens on Thursday.
Stephanie Satterfield, White County: Had seven strikeouts in a shutout against Flowery Branch.
Volleyball
Elizabeth Darden, Buford: Had 39 digs in wins against Chestatee, Providence and Paideia on Wednesday.
Jamie Pridemore, Buford: Had 14 assists against Chestatee, Providence and Paideia.
Shaye Roper, Gainesville: 11 digs and eight assists in losses against Johnson and Creekview on Tuesday.
Shelley Farley, Johnson: 13 digs and 13 assists in a win against Gainesville and a loss to Creekview on Tuesday.
Louisa Jacobs, Lakeview Academy: Had 19 kills and three aces in wins against Johnson and Cedar Shoals. Had 19 kills, 10 aces and seven digs in wins against Habersham Central and Tallulah Falls on Thursday.
Kristen Holmes, West Hall: 17 kills in wins against North Hall and East Hall on Tuesday.
Erica Grainger, West Hall: 30 assists in against North Hall and East Hall.
FLOWERY BRANCH — When it comes to running, Kiara Woods is just one of the boys.
Whether it is training with the boys cross country in an early morning practice, or running with her coach, Woods is pushing her training to excel at what she does.
And she’s been able to see tangible results since taking up practicing with the Falcons’ boys cross country team last summer. Last week, Woods emerged as the Hall County girls champion with a time of 19 minutes, 35 seconds, a full 1:30 ahead of the second-place finisher.
“It’s was definitely exciting to win the Hall County championships,” Woods said.
Woods’ training isn’t just designed by choice to run with the boys team. Flowery Branch’s cross country teams use an equation commonly known as a VDOT chart which gives predicted outcomes for a race based on running shorter distances.
Her time in the mile is about 5:14 and her fastest cross country time this season came in a second-place finish (18:47.11) at the Carrollton Invitational, finishing just behind Lambert’s Allie Schaich.
“Kiara’s serious in the sense of her focus on running,” Flowery Branch coach Jimmy Sorrells said. “She’s worked very hard and it is paying off.
“She really has untapped potential.”
Not only are those at the high school level taking notice of Woods’ talent, but college coaches are too. University of Alabama women’s cross country coach Randy Hasenbank inquired Monday about coming to observe a practice.
According to Woods, the coach of the Crimson Tide coach commented in his message that this year’s Hall County champion is one of the most improved runners in the state since her freshman season, based on comparing times.
“That’s always been a dream school for me,” Woods said. “I’ve always liked their football team.”
If there’s a trip to Tuscaloosa to visit the Alabama campus to be taken, it’ll have to be later in the fall. Woods already has visits to check out the cross country program at the University of Kansas on Oct. 10, and Clemson on Oct. 17 on her calendar.
She’s also looking at Georgia Tech, which was the first Division-I school to express interest, as well as Lipscomb.