Darton sweeps 6th consecutive titles; Thornton and Bowles take individual events

October 25, 2014

MACON - Darton State College took its 6th consecutive sweep of the Region 17 Cross Country Championships at the Georgia Children's Home in Macon, today, and sophomore David Thornton set a new school-record time in the men's 8,000-meter run.

Thornton finished the 8K (5 miles) in 25:38.26, winning the individual Region title and trampling the previous Darton record of 26:04.38 set by Jared Richmond at the 2012 Region Championships. "I was racing the clock," he said. "I wanted to break the record, and I felt like this race was going to be my best shot."

Darton won with 25 points. South Georgia College took 2nd with 49 points, and Gordon State finished 3rd with 77.

In the women's race, Reese Bowles of North Georgia Technical College won the women's 5K (3.1 miles) in 20:36. Bowles has won several races this year and capped it off taking the individual accolade. However it was not enough to keep the Lady Cavaliers from their 7th Region title since the program began 8 years ago.

Darton scored 27 points. North Georgia Tech finished 2nd with 51 points, and Oxford College of Emory scored 86 points to finish 3rd.

The wins punched Darton's ticket to the 2014 NJCAA D-3 National Cross Country Championships at Finger Lakes Community College in New York on Nov. 8 and Bowles and the rest of the Lady Wolves from North Georgia Technical College will head to Lubbock TX on Nov. 8 for the NJCAA DI championship

Full results: http://www.ptgrouponline.com/Live/2014/XC/GCAA/

Men's 1st Team, All Region 17: David Thornton, Austin Stewart, Jose Bautista, Jelani Omari, Darton; Robert Bledsoe, South Georgia State

Men's 2nd Team, All Region 17: William Miller, Nathan Dukes- South Georgia State; Danny Shaw, Eddie Stafford- Central Georgia Tech; Timothy Neal- Oxford of Emory

Women's 1st Team, All Region 17: Reese Bowles, Hailey Budd- North Georgia Tech; Amber Braswell, Tatiana Forester-Darton; Marijose Martinez-Oxford of Emory

Women's 2nd Team, All Region 17: Victoria Parra, Shamicah Tardy, Stephanie Estrada- Darton; Ashley Young- Georgia Military; Madison Smith-South Georgia State

Pictured:(Below) Reese Bowles of North Georgia Tech; David Thornton of Darton State.