Panthers go the distance at meet

Lakeside dominated the distance events at the Region 3-AAAA girls track and field meet on Tuesday, earning the Panthers to a second-place finish.

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Lakeside won every event longer than 400 meters, led by Anna Bowles' triumphs in the 3,200 and 1,600 meters.

Josey, champions of Richmond County, won the meet by 17 points even though the school did not win a single relay or individual event on a windy afternoon at Grovetown. Westside, dominant in the throwing and jumping events, had an early lead in the team scoring before fading to third.

Evans finished in fifth place, led by a stellar sprinting performance from freshman Brianna Turner, who ran a personal-best 12.49-second 100-meter dash in the preliminaries. She then won the finals, but her time was not available because of a timing malfunction. Turner also anchored the school's 4x100 relay team, which finished first in 49.95.

Teams accumulated points at the meet with top-eight finishes. A first-place finish in an individual event was worth 10 team points. The top two finishers in each event earned trips to the state meet, which is this week in Albany.

Bowles took the four-lap 1,600 race in 5:14, a time she said she must improve. Bowles was second in the state a year ago in both the 1,600 and 3,200 and will be looking to win both events next week.

"In the past few weeks, my miles have been where I want them," said Bowles, who covered the 1,600 in five minutes flat earlier in the year and is looking to get under that mark. "This was kind of off, but I'm pretty sure it was mainly the wind. ... At state, I know what it takes to get there."

Her younger sister, Sarah, won the 800 in 2:26.32. Teammate Katie Townsend was second in the 1,600 and 3,200, running the latter race in 10:58.47, just behind Anna Bowles' winning time of 10:57.59.

The boys' region meet, which was scheduled to start Saturday, concludes Monday night at Westside with individual and relay event finals. Evans won the Columbia County meet earlier in the year and should contend for the region title.