The Clarkston Angoras finished in the Top 3 at state for the fifth consecutive season.
The Clarkston Angoras and Lakeside Vikings made appearances on the podium at their respective cross country state meets last Friday at Carrollton to lead the 17 DeKalb County entries to compete on the weekend.
Clarkston, the three-time defending Class 5A state champion, stretched its Top 3 finish streak to five consecutive seasons with a third place finish in Class 5A on Friday at Carrollton.
Rukundo Uwimana led the way for the Angoras as the first of three Top 20 finishers with his time of 17:31.75 to take 13th overall. Ngabo Daniel was 18th in 17:36.41 and Mathurin Allawai was 20th in 17:42.27.
Chamblee finished 13th as a team led by Charles Holt who went under 18 minutes at 17:57.65 to finish 32nd. Southwest DeKalb was 30th and Arabia Mountain was 32nd in the team standings.
In the girls’ state meet, Chamblee was 12th led by Top 50 finishers Beining Xiao (20:55.78) in 23rd and Paris Williams (21:47.95) in 44th. Clarkston’s girls’ team finished 29th in the team standings.
Lakeside’s Mikias Mekonen led the Vikings to a fourth place finish in the Class 7A State Cross Country Meet. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Class 7A
The Lakeside Vikings finished in the Top 5 for the first time since a fifth place finish in 2010 as they took fourth in the Class 7A Boys’ State Meet on Friday at Carrollton.
Four Vikings finished in the Top 50 with times under 17:45.00 led by Mikias Mekonen with a time of 17:22.65 good for 25th. Miles Boyd (17:33.44) was 37th, Jay Clinton (17:35.89) was 39th and Jake Tubesing (17:40.38) was 46th to round out the group of four for the Vikings.
It was the best finish for the Vikings since finishing second in 2009 and was the 13th time in the past 14 seasons for the Vikings to finish in the Top 10. It was also the Vikings 21st Top 5 finish which includes five state titles.
The Lady Vikings finished 15th in the team standings led by Emma Hanson in 32nd with a time of 21:15.23.
Class 6A
Dunwoody stood out in the Class 6A State Meet led by Lady Wildcat Samantha Cameron who made the podium with a sixth place finish overall at Carrollton on Saturday.
Cameron, who was the Class 5A state champion, put up a time of 20:18.52 to lead Dunwoody to its ninth consecutive Top 10 finish and 11th overall.
Stephenson finished 27th and Tucker 30th in the girls’ team standings.
Max Mowrer was the top runner in the Class 6A meet for DeKalb as he ran an excellent time of 17:32.72 to finish 20th overall as an individual regional qualifier from Dunwoody.
The Tucker Tigers finished 20th in the team standings led by Abdilnur Tiroro who came in 44th with a time of 18:01.27. Martin Luther King Jr. made its first appearance in the state meet and finished 26th while Stephenson came in 28th.
Class 4A
The Druid Hills Lady Red Devils finished in the Top 10 for the second consecutive season with a ninth place overall in the Class 4A girls’ team standings on Saturday at Carrollton.
Reese Rathur led the charge for Druid Hills taking 33rd in the girls’ race with a time of 21:35.17. It was the 11th Top 10 finish for Druid Hills.
The Red Devils got a pair of Top 40 finishes to take 11th in the boys’ standings. Senai Ghezai was 32nd in 18:06.25 and Carter Rathur was 33rd in 18:09.97.
Class 3A
The Stone Mountain Pirates were the only team to run at the Class 3A State Meet on Saturday at Carrollton and finished 25th overall.
Mohamed Dirie led the Pirates with his Top 50 finish of 47th with a time of 18:51.19.