For most of the cross country teams that participated in the Georgia Highlands Classic Invitational it was their final tune-up for their respective region meets next week.

Both the Rome girls and Rockmart boys seem to be hitting their stride just in time as they took the team titles at the event on Tuesday at Georgia Highlands College.

The two teams also provided each race with its individual winner as Sydney Champagne (20:44), of Rome, took the girls race and Brock Shanks (17:31), of Rockmart, took the boys race.

Champagne finished ahead of teammate Sydney Waldrop (21:11), Cartersville’s Lyndsey Anderson (21:55), Pepperell’s Anna Beth Leroy (22:16) and Excel’s Walker Bell (22:22) to make up the top five.

“It felt good to win because it’s my senior year, and last year I got second so this was my last chance here,” said Champagne. “I’m not real pleased with my time because it was off from what my goal was, but this is a little bit slower of a course.”

Following Shanks in the boys’ race was Bremen’s Sam Caldwell (17:55), Rockmart’s Ethan Purser (18:16), Rome’s Thomas Caldwell (18:19) and Rockmart’s Brad Hunt (18:40) in the top five.

“It feels alright,” said Shanks. “I won at Ridge Ferry too so I was hoping I would win another one. The outlook (for region) is good now because this meet was mostly region teams with a few more added in so it’s really a preview.”

With Shanks strong performance and several other Yellow Jackets runners in the top 10, Rockmart stormed to a win with a combined total of 34 points in front of second-place Rome with 47. Calhoun (93), Cartersville (99) and host Pepperell (117) rounded out the top five.

“I thought they ran very well, and I was pleased with their performance,” said Rockmart coach Darrell Lee of his team. “Of course this is our region course so we wanted to come out and run well on it today. I had a couple of runners that had never run on this course so this is a good opportunity for them to see it before the region meet.”

The Rome girls took first place with a team score of 48 followed by Cartersville in second with 74. Pepperell (93), Armuchee (107) and Excel (169) made up the rest of the top five.

“We’ve been working on improving our team grouping for the girls because we’re in a tough region so our goal is to qualify as many girls for state as possible,” said Rome coach Andy Blackburn. “Of course the Sydney’s ran very well and they are going to take care of business on the top end. We just need the other girls to bring it up and get a little bit closer.”

Rome will compete in the Region 7-AAAA meet on Oct. 31 at Taylor Farms in Paulding County.

The Region 7-AA meet will be back at Georgia Highlands Oct. 29.

Georgia Highlands Classic Invitational Results

BOYS

Team scores: Rockmart, 34; Rome, 47; Calhoun, 93; Cartersville, 99; Pepperell, 117; Bremen, 149; Gordon Central, 202; Coosa, 234; Model, 291; Cedartown, 291; Armuchee, 308; Adairsville, 316; Excel, 353.

Individual top ten

1. Brock Shanks (Rockmart), 17:31

2. Sam Caldwell (Bremen), 17:55

3. Ethan Purser (Rockmart), 18:16

4. Thomas Caldwell (Rome), 18:19

5. Brad Hunt (Rockmart), 18:22

6. Zach Cravey (Cartersville), 18:40

7. Ben Woodard (Rome), 18:41

8. Alex Hernandez (Calhoun), 18:50.71

9. Abraham Rodrigues (Calhoun), 18:50.96

10. Matt Bishop (Rockmart), 18:55

GIRLS

Team scores: Rome, 48; Cartersville, 74; Pepperell, 93; Armuchee, 107; Excel, 169; Coosa, 195; Rockmart, 203; Calhoun, 206; Gordon Central, 207; Bremen, 209; Adairsville, 285; Cedartown, 342; Model, no team score; Sonoraville, no team score.

Individual top ten

1. Sydney Champagne (Rome), 20:44

2. Sydney Waldrop (Rome), 21:12

3. Lindsey Anderson (Cartersville), 21:55

4. Anna Beth Leroy (Pepperell), 22:16

5. Walker Bell (Excel), 22:22

6. Natalie Shoemaker (Armuchee), 22:23

7. Taylor Phillips (Model), 22:24

8. Brittney Mathis (Pepperell), 22:34

9. Mili Galven (Calhoun), 22:36

10. Ashley Camp (Bremen), 23:03