Clarkston senior Rukundo Uwimana edged out Lakeside’s Mikias Mekonen for the boys’ individual title in the first DCSD cross country race of the season. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Lakeside got the 2018 cross country season off to a big start with a sweep of the first varsity race at the Druid Hills Middle School Course on Tuesday.
The Vikings won the boys’ race with five runners in the Top 10 on the way to a score of 26 to get past Clarkston which finished with 34 points. Stone Mountain (91) was third followed by Dunwoody (93) and Tucker (158) to round out the team scoring.
Clarkston senior Rukundo Uwimana took first with a time of 17:56.90 to edge out Lakeside junior Mikias Mekonen who was right on his heels at .20 of a second behind with a time of 17:57.10.
Sophomore Thaddee Barge of Clarkston was third in 18:12.50 and was followed by Lakeside seniors William Nelson (18:48.00) and Daniel Martinez (19:01.60) to round out the first five runners to cross the finish line.
Another Clarkston senior was sixth as Fillmon Kifle (19:11.90) kept Clarkston in contention for the win, but Lakeside seniors Jay Clinton (19:15.00) and Mark Rotolo (19:21.00) sealed the win for the Vikings.
Dunwoody senior Samuel Mahle (19:22.50) and Clarkston sophomore Firomsa Ibrahim (19.44.20) was 10th.
Stone Mountain’s top finisher was sophomore Chan Tha who came in 19th in 21:38.10 while Tucker’s first to cross the line was junior Jarvis Wynn (22:33.80) in 28th place.
The Lady Vikings swept the first 16 spots in the girls’ race for a perfect score of 15 to outdistance second place Clarkston (64) and third place Dunwoody (65).
Senior Emma Hanson ran away from the crowd to lead the Lady Vikings with a time of 21:24.30. Freshman Abigail McHoul (23:02.20), junior Sydney DeWoody (23:37.60), eighth grader Haley Davis (23:43.00) and freshman Kate Van Horn (23:53.00) completed the Top 5 in order for the Lakeside perfect score.
Stephenson senior Deanna Rawlings broke the string of 16 Lakeside runners to finish as she took 17th in 27:51.80. Clarkston’s top finisher was senior Zyikeirra Robinson at 22nd (28:18.70) with Tucker sophomore Claudine Bidiku (29:27.60) coming in at 27th.
Lakeside senior Emma Hanson ran to the victory in the first girls’ varsity race of the season. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The second varsity race involved just two schools with Martin Luther King Jr. taking a 19-42 win over Lithonia in the boys’ race.
The Lions placed seven runners in the Top 10 to Lithonia’s three.
Senior Demetrius Carson (20:54.80) scores a 4.2 second win over Lithonia senior Brison Rockcliffe (20:59.00) to lead the way for the Lions.
Zai Anderson-Brown, a M.L. King junior was third in 21.27.60) with senior teammates Michael Cook II (21:53.90) and James Aderferakan (21:59.40) rounding out the Top 5 coming across the finish line.
Lithonia swept the first two places in the girls’ race as junior Netanya Wester (29:19.60) was the medalist and senior N’Kyzie Hawkins (29:25.50) was second.
Junior Allison Walker (30:38.00) was third to lead the Lady Lions with senior teammate Niyah Brown (31:00.90) in fourth and junior Corieanna Wilford (32:17.80) in fifth.
Junior Varsity
Redan placed five runners in the first 13 to edge out Dunwoody 42-47 to win the boys’ junior varsity race at Druid Hills Middle.
Kingsley Harris of Martin Luther King Jr. was the individual winner in 13:54.60 of the two-mile race with Dunwoody’s Cameron Tutt (14:08.80) in second and Mark Westrick (14:38.60) in third.
Redan took the fourth and fifth spots as Ronald Antione (14:48.70) was fourth and Edward Ugbaja (15:11.50) was fifth. The next five were Stephenson’s Joshua Brooks (15:13.60), Towers’ Daeshawn Logan (15:39.90), Dunwoody’s Julian Sutin (15:40.20) and a pair of Stone Mountain runners in Oma Cruz-Hernandez (15:49.80) and Oliver Ochoa (16:03.30).
The Lady Raiders were the only team to qualify for the team title in the girls’ race with a perfect 15 on the day led by Zaria Mincey (17:04.00) who finished third overall.
Dunwoody’s Emma Parker (15:52.50) won the individual title while teammate Sadie Schoenrock was fourth in 18:38.50. Martin Luther King Jr. had the final two spots in the Top 5 as Jasmine Page was second in 16:20.40 and Star Grier-Rower was fifth in 19:33.70.
See links below for complete results: