2016 DCSD Cross Country County Girls Champions -- Lakeside Vikings

2016 DCSD Cross Country County Girls Champions — Lakeside Vikings

New champions were crowned at the 2016 DeKalb County School District’s Cross Country County Championships on Tuesday as the Lakeside Lady Vikings and Clarkston Angoras rolled to the titles at the Druid Hills Middle School Course.

Senior Morgan Mihalis ran the fastest girls’ time of the season at Druid Hills to capture the individual title while leading a group of five Lady Vikings in the Top 10 for a 29-44 win over four-time defending champion Dunwoody.

Druid Hills (85) was fourth followed by Chamblee (99), Southwest DeKalb (145), Clarkston (188), Tucker (210), Stephenson (225) and Arabia Mountain (226).

Lakeside's Morgan Mihalis gave Lakeside back-to-back county champs. (Photo by Mark Brock)

Lakeside’s Morgan Mihalis gave Lakeside back-to-back county champs. (Photo by Mark Brock)

Mihalis clocked the season low time of 19:30.70 to outduel defending Class 5A state champion junior Samantha Cameron (19:56.30) of Dunwoody.

Chamblee’s Beining Xiao finished third in a time of 19:58.10 followed by Lakeside sophomore Emma Hanson (21:26.20) and freshman Lena Ayoub (21:28.50) to round out the first five to cross the finish line.

Lakeside wrapped up the title as freshman Margaret Racine (21:44.40) was ninth and junior Eliana Blam (21:49.40) was tenth.

Dunwoody senior Emma Sheehan was sixth in 21:37.30 with teammate senior Kelly May Sheehan in eighth to give the Lady Wildcats three in the Top 10.

Southwest DeKalb sophomore Lanee Edwards cruised in in seventh with a time of 21:38.70.

Third place Druid Hills had three runners in the Top 15 in junior Lisa Medford in 11th (21:57.40) followed by senior Rachel Juieng in 14th (22:24.90) and freshman Genevieve Ferrara in 15th (22:32.90).

It was Lakeside’s 16th girls’ DCSD title since winning their first in 1992.

2016 DCSD Cross Country Boys' County Champions -- Clarkston Angoras

2016 DCSD Cross Country Boys’ County Champions — Clarkston Angoras

Boys Championship
The Clarkston Angoras placed seven runners in the Top 12 with all seven breaking the 18 minute barrier on the way to winning their third DCSD Boys’ Championship in the past four years.

Senior Suheib Mohamed set the pace with the fastest time of the season at Druid Hills at 16:52.30 to lead the Angoras to the convincing 17-73 victory over defending champion Lakeside. The 54 points was the third largest margin of victory in team scores recorded since 1970 following 73 points in 1986 by Chamblee (33) over Walker (106) and 61 in 1973 by Lakeside (46) over Henderson (107).

Druid Hills swept the third place honors in both championships with 84 points followed by Tucker (96), Dunwoody (107), Chamblee (153), Stone Mountain (204), Arabia Mountain (281), Redan (292), Lithonia (297), Stephenson (322), Martin Luther King Jr. (347) and Towers (377).

Clarkston's Suheib Mohamed became Clarkstons' first gold medalist since the 2014 championships. (Photo by Mark Brock)

Clarkston’s Suheib Mohamed became Clarkstons’ first gold medalist since the 2014 championships. (Photo by Mark Brock)

Mohamed became just the fourth Clarkston runner to win the individual title and the first in 12 years joining Said Ahmed (2004), Asheber Robi (2003) and Asmerom Gebreab (1997). He finished third a year ago with a time of 16:57.

Clarkston senior Bineyam Tumbo who had set the fastest time of the season with three wins this fall took the silver medal with a time of 17:03.90 as the Angoras took four of the Top 5 places. Druid Hills senior Ermias Tewolde, the 2014 individual champ, grabbed the bronze in 17:10.70 to move up one spot from last year’s fourth place finish.

Sophomores Rukundo Uwimana (17:17.70) and Thomas Weldemichal (17:18.40) finished back-to-back in fourth and fifth for the Angoras.

Senior Bosco Hakuzimana (17:25.00) and junior Abdi Nasir Yahye (17:35.70) were seventh and eighth respectively to help the Angoras seal the victory with six runners in the Top 8. Sophomore Ngabo Daniel (17:52.90) finished 12th to give the Angoras a complete team finish with all seven runners under the 18 minute mark.

Dunwoody’s Max Mowrer (17:22.60) was sixth while Lakeside juniors Myles Boyd (17:40.10) and Jake Tubesing (17:46.40) rounded out the Top 10.

Druid Hills junior Ian Shunk (17:52.40) was 11th and Tucker sophomore Abdilnur Tiroro (17:58.20) and senior Ryan Wurapa (17:58.50) completed a run of 14 runners coming in under the 18 minute barrier.

Clarkston is the two-time defending Class 5A state champion and had won the DCSD title in 2013 and 2014.