Sanchez wins region championship for Union County

Senior Zoe Sanchez won the Region 8-AA cross country championship with a time of 20 minutes, 35 seconds.

LEXINGTON, GA – Senior Zoe Sanchez has brought a Region 8-AA championship to Union County High School.

Sanchez took first place for the Lady Panthers cross country team at the Region 8-AA championships last week at Oglethorpe County High in Lexington.

Sanchez ran to the top spot Oct. 22 with a time of 20 minutes, 35 seconds, more than 25 seconds faster than the next closest finisher, senior Mari Jablonski (21:02) from Monticello.

Senior Sadie Underwood competes for the Union County Cross Country team.

Oglethorpe Co. freshman Lizzie Wadsworth placed third with a time of 21:56, while sophomore Julie Russell, from Social Circle, finished fourth with a time of 22:03.

Madison Nimmons, a senior from Oglethorpe Co. rounded out the top five region finishers with a time of 22:11.

For Union County, senior Sadie Underwood placed eighth with a time of 22:52. Underwood finished as the second-fastest runner for the Lady Panthers.

Fellow senior Lexi Ochoa placed 23rd overall out of 50 runners with a time of 25:37.

As a team, Union County placed fourth overall with a total time of 2 hours, 1 minute, and 20 seconds. The average finishing time for Union County was 24:16.

James Wolfe