The 2018 HCHS Cross-Country Team at the Region Finals (Front L-R): Shelby Oldham, Kimberly Loutzenheiser, Avery Barnes, Annie Bradley (Back L-R): Andrew King, Ethan Lawson, Luke Bennett, Garrett Callahan, Bailey Scarborough (Photo: Lindsey Stewart/HCHS)

(Columbus, GA) — The Heard County High School Cross-Country team competed at the Region 5-AA Finals last week in Columbus and one Lady Brave runner qualified for this Saturday’s State Cross Country Meet.

Sophomore Annie Bradley brought home fifth place with a finishing time of 22:55.03 and advances to this Saturday’s State Meet where she will compete against the best of the best from the entire state.

Other Lady Braves that competed at the region meet were senior Avery Barnes (12th), sophomore Kimberly Loutzenheiser (20th) and sophomore Shelby Oldham.

In boys’ action, the top finishers for the Braves were sophomore Bailey Scarborough (21st), senior Garrett Callahan (23rd), sophomore Ethan Lawson (26th), freshman Andrew King (42nd) and freshman Luke Bennett (45th).

Bremen High finished atop the team standings in both girls and boys competitions at the meet.

The Co-Brave coaches for the 2018 season were Lindsey Stewart and Cynthia O’Reilly and they were both very proud of the team’s effort and especially proud of Bradley’s state qualifying finish at region.

“Considering we only had two returning runners this season, we were very impressed by our new kids. Each one had personal records at the region meet which is all we can ask for,” said the coaches this week.

“We saw improvement every week, which came from intrinsic motivation. Annie Bradley was no different. She managed to juggle color guard and cross country — which was not an easy task. This was her first year doing both and she managed her time wisely and practiced on her own for the majority of the season. As a first year runner, we were so impressed by how she improved and can’t wait to see her grow over the next few years.”

Annie’s race versus the GHSA Class AA field will begin at 10:15 AM this Saturday, November 3 at Carrollton High School.