Lady Panthers take first place
By JARED PUTNAM

Hannah Dohogne has steadily improved this season.

The Lady Panthers claimed a first place victory as a team Tuesday, defeating Murray County, Fannin County, and Gilmer County at Fannin.

"Fannin is a course that you're not going to get record times on," said Head Coach Jackie Hughes. "It is so narrow and you have to be so careful. Considering that, our times were really, really good."

The Lady Panthers finished with 44 points, while Murray (61), Fannin (69), and Gilmer finished second, third, and fourth, respectively.

Emma Krier was first across the finish line for the Lady Panthers, taking 5th overall with a time of 24:58. She was followed by Hannah Thomas at 6th overall with a time of 25:08, Erika Bunpermkoon 10th overall at 25:37, Jasmin Gonzalez 11th overall at 25:40, and Hannah Dohogne at 12th overall at 26:10.

Coach Hughes said that the team has made a commitment to get tougher. "Since the Unicoi meet we have decided that we are going to be a lot more intense," said Coach Hughes.

At Unicoi the Lady Panthers finished 24th out of 29 teams. A total of 201 girls ran in that race. Emma Krier led the Lady Panthers with a time of 24:56 followed by Erika Bunpermkoon at 25:53, Hannah Dohogne at 26:20, Monica Garcia at 26:11, and Jasmin Gonzalez at 26:38.

Erika Bunpermkoon finished second for the Lady Panthers at Unicoi and third on the team at Fannin County.

"All of them ran a whole lot harder [at Fannin,]" said Coach Hughes. "I was really pleased with their effort and they are really pumped up."

The Panthers boys fared equally well, taking first place in their race as well with 34 points. Gilmer (43), Murray (46), and Fannin (103), finished second, third, and fourth, respectively.

Chris Jones finished first overall for Union County. "He ran a really smart race," said the coach. "The rest of the guys did a good job of pack running."

Jones came in with a time of 18:12 followed by Alex Litman 6th overall at 18:50, Ian Thomas 8th overall at 19:22, T.J. Burgess 9th overall at 19:32, and Beau Kelley 10th overall at 19:34.

At Unicoi the Panthers finished 13th out of 33 teams. Jones finished 16th overall at 17:39, Kelley 72nd overall at 19:17, Litman 76th overall at 19:23, Ian Thomas 102nd overall at 19:50, and T.J. Burgess 129th overall at 20:28.