Panthers take first place in regular season finale
By CHRISTIAN LEHMAN

Seniors T.J. Burgess, Ian Thomas, Matt Purvis and Jasmine Gonzalez pose together after their final regular season run, which was held at Meeks Park.

Union County High crosscountry runners successfully completed their regular season this past Thursday with a home meet at Meeks Park. Both the boys and the girls competed against athletes from Towns, Rabun and Banks Counties in what was the final meet before the regional race in Oglethorpe.

The Lady Panthers finished fourth as a team with 68 points. Towns County took team first place with 39 points. Leading the Lady Panthers was Emma Krier who placed fifth overall with a time of 24:04. Finishing tenth overall was Erika Bunpermkoon, with a time of 24:37. Coming in at 25:38 was Monica Garcia, which was good for 16th place, followed by Rachel Litman with a time of 25:47.

Finishing the top five for the girls was Hannah Dohogne who clocked a 25:53.

The boys finished very strong, taking first place as a team with a very impressive 24 points. Chris Jones, who won the race with a time of 18:12, led the Panther runners. In all, Union County had six runners in the top ten. Coming in third place was Alex Litman with a time of 18:33, followed by fourth place finisher, T.J. Burgess with a 19:14. Taking sixth place was Ian Thomas with a time of 19:40.

Emma Krier placed fifth overall.

Victor Gonzalez took eighth place with a 19:49. Beau Kelley finished with a time of 19:51 and took ninth place in a race that was dominated by the Panthers.

Both teams travel to Oglethorpe on Saturday for the region reet. "It will be a battle for both teams," said Head Coach Jackie Hughes. "They will have to place in the top four as a team in order to go on to the state meet. Three of the

teams the boys will be racing against are ranked in the top ten in the state, and are very solid. For the girls to advance, we need to have all of the top five runners to have a good race."

The region meet in Oglethorpe kicks off at 3 p.m. with the Junior Varsity girls, and the JV boys follow at 3:30. Varsity girls begin at 4:00 and the varsity boys start at 4:30.

This photo was request from the seniors. Chris Jones finishes first just ahead of a Banks runner.