A new Lake Country star in the distance running scene may have emerged from the woods around Council Farms last Thursday.

Putnam County High freshman Alyssa Pennington, obviously without a lot of high school varsity experience in 5K cross country races, outran two seniors by a wide margin to win the girls competition at the 2022 Georgia Military College Prep Bulldog Dash Bash. Pennington timed 21:40.52, almost 40 seconds ahead of Sophie Bolan of Mt. De Sales and almost a minute better than third-place finisher Alivia Blanton of Perry High.

Pennington said she broke away from the pack – and there were about 30 schools represented at Council Farms – less than a mile into the run. This was her first win in her third race for Putnam County High, the other two being a second-place showing in Augusta and, amid 1,400 runners at North Oconee High, she took 12th.

Coming off a successful fall as an 8th grader in the Putnam Middle School program – placing 12th in state when the distance was 3K – Pennington said it hasn’t been a big difference going 5K in high school.

“I feel like I can run with anybody,” she said. “Maybe (I’ll win region). I have a good chance.”

The Bulldog Bash featured some schools from Putnam County’s region who didn’t have a runner near Pennington. It will be a matter, then, of her checking results during the season for other schools like Thomson to see who the top challengers are.

First Presbyterian Day won the team girls first-place prize with 88 points, nine ahead of Macon and GIAA rival Stratford. Morgan County was the top GHSA school, third place overall at 106. John Milledge Academy placed 10th (252), Greene County High 12th (336), Putnam 13th (354) and host GMC Prep was 14th (380).

Baldwin High’s Jasmine Williams, one of four runners for the Bravettes, took 14th overall at 24:07.75. John Milledge’s Piper Cowart was 24th at just a tad over 25 minutes.

In the boys varsity portion of the Bulldog Bash, Trinity Christian of Dublin snagged the top two positions, and both were sophomores. Nolan Lane won at 17:16.64, 20 seconds ahead of teammate Jack Miller.

Baldwin’s Emanuel Dixon placed fourth at 17:56.87 with GMC Prep’s Julian Council fifth (17:59.16). Nathan Mitchell of the Braves was 31st in 19:53.15, and the host Bulldogs also crossed the line at 34th – Brian Sherwood in 20:07.85 – and 38th – Walker Strom in 20:15.19.

The team first place award for boys went to Barrow Arts & Sciences with 68 points, Jones County taking second at 89. GMC Prep was fifth at 168 and Baldwin eighth at 249.