Cross country
Brittany Aikens, Jackson County: Set a new school record with a time of 19 minutes, 54 seconds at the Northeast Georgia Championships.
Softball
Madison Franklin, Banks County: Three hits and two runs scored in a win against Jefferson on Thursday.
Jenny Arthur, Chestatee: Had a home run and six RBIs in a win against Gainesville on Thursday.
Brooklyn Stinchcomb, Commerce: Eight strikeouts and only allowed two walks in a win against Towns County on Wednesday.
Rachel Duden, Flowery Branch: Had 12 strikeouts in a win against Johnson on Tuesday.
Caitlin Fowler, Flowery Branch: Three RBIs and a two-run home run in a win against North Hall on Wednesday.
Callie Orr, Flowery Branch: Threw a complete game with five strikeouts in a win against West Hall on Thursday.
Natalie Allen, Gainesville: Three hits and a three-run home run in a loss to West Hall on Tuesday.
Caitlin Presnell, Gainesville: Went 3-for-4 and pitched a two-hitter in a win against Johnson on Thursday.
Megan Rogers, North Hall: Threw a no-hitter for the Lady Trojans in a loss to White County on Thursday.
Volleyball
Mary Fiorentino, Johnson: Six aces and three kills in a win against West Hall on Tuesday.
Louisa Jacobs, Lakeview: Five kills and nine aces in wins against East Jackson and Walnut Grove on Tuesday, and 13 kills and three aces for the Lady Lions in a tri-match against Prince Avenue and Athens Academy on Thursday.
Evann Rowland, North Hall: Had 22 kills, 16 digs and seven aces in a quad-match Tuesday.
Kathryn Bell, North Hall: Had 37 assists, eight digs, six kills and three aces for the Lady Trojans in a quad-match Tuesday, and added 18 assists, eight kills and three aces in a tri-match Thursday..
Lauren Gregory, North Hall: Had 12 kills, four aces, three assists and two digs in wins against Chestatee and Hart County on Thursday.
Erica Grainger, West Hall: Eight assists and eight aces in matches against Gilmer, Johnson and West Forsyth on Tuesday.
Julie Walsh, West Hall: Had 14 aces and 11 assists in tri-match wins against Gainesville and Johnson on Thursday.
McCormack, the Trojans’ team captain, finished first out of about 200 runners the Berry Invitational last Saturday in Rome with a time of 16 minutes, 18 seconds, which happened to be the same time he set a new course record with to win the Northeast Georgia Championships with just seven days prior to that in Athens.
"I’m not concerned with winning the race," McCormack said. "What I care about is scoring points to help my team win."
Since he was the winner at the Northeast Georgia Championships, McCormack’s goal was to have his teammate Cody Barger finish first at the Berry race. The teammates would like best to be able to alternate who wins races and not have the same name in the spotlight too often. However, late in the race that plan had to be scrapped when a runner from first-year Lambert High overtook the North Hall pair to take the lead with only 800 meters remaining.
"I look over at Cody and said we have to go now," said McCormack, trying his best to have a North Hall runner win. "It was a very competitive race."
With a runner from another school running in first, McCormack decided to go full force to the finish line, running a 2:30 over the last « mile and ended up winning the race by seven seconds. Barger finished third (16:25).
"When I looked at the pictures after the race, I could tell that Cody was cramping," McCormack said.
What matters most to McCormack in this final season running cross country for the Trojans is the bond with his teammates, who he considers best friends. He says that the season is going to be devoted to preparing for a run at the team state title in Class AAA.
All this success running cross country is still kind of new for McCormack. This is only his second season running cross country since making the move over from the football field. There were two leading factors that signaled his move to running cross country: He placed third in the 3,200 meter race at the Region 7-AAA meet in track & field, along with being persuaded out to cross country by former Trojans runner Nolan Clark.
Clark’s selling point to bring McCormack out to run track during the 2008 season was to be "the No. 2 man" while the Trojans were rebuilding last season. Since Clark graduated in 2009, McCormack looks to have settled into a leadership role quite comfortably. He’s just trying to bring the best out of North Hall’s team to put the team back on top of the podium at the state meet.