Panthers slog it out at soggy Lumpkin
By CHRISTIAN LEHMAN Sentinel Writer

Sentinel photo/Jared Putnam The 2006 Lady Panthers Cross Country team takes off.

On a cool and wet Tuesday afternoon, Union County crosscountry teams made the trek to Lumpkin County to take on Lumpkin and East Hall. Both the boys and girls teams finished in second place overall.

Head Coach Jackie Hughes was satisfied with the performances. "This is a difficult course-made even more difficult by the rainy conditions," said Coach Hughes. "Several of the boys had better times than when they ran last year." The Panthers were led by Chris Jones who clocked in at 18:26, good for a second place overall finish; followed by Alex Litman with a time of 19:01; then Ian Thomas with a time of 19:43; then Beau Kelly finished with a 20:01 and rounding out the top five Panther runners was T.J. Burgess with a time of 20:31. All five of the top Union County runners were able to finish in the top eleven overall.

Coach Hughes was proud of the Lady Panthers in this race as well. "The girls finished well in a clump," which was one of her goals after the race at Meeks Park. The Lady

Panthers were able to have seven runners finish in the top 12 overall. Led by Jasmine Gonzalez with a time of 26:33; followed by Emma Krier who finished with a time of 26:46; then Hannah Thomas finished next with a time of 26:47; Erika Bumpermkoon finished next with a time of 26:52 and

Sentinel photo/Jared Putnam Alex Litman runs down the path at Meeks Park.

completing the top five was Hannah Dohogne with a time of 27:03.

The Lady Panthers runners are running well as a team together now but there is always room for improvement. Said Coach Hughes, "We are conditioning to work on reducing times."