Lakeside’s Emma Hanson (left) and Mikias Mekonen (right) made a clean sweep for the Vikings in the individual standings. (Photos by Mark Brock)
The Lakeside boys’ and girls’ cross country teams swept the first race of Week 5 competition at the Druid Hills Middle School course as the top boys’ and girls’ runners for the teams set season best times in the event.
Senior Emma Hanson knocked 54 seconds off her previous DeKalb best time at Druid Hills and overall at both DeKalb venues (Arabia Mountain) with her time of 20:30.30 to lead the Lady Vikings to a tight 29-36 win over Druid Hills. Dunwoody was a distant third with 75 points.
Lakeside had three other runners in the Top 10 finishers in freshman Abigail McHoul (22:06.70) in third, junior Sydney DeWoody (22:29.10) in sixth and eighth grader Haley Davis (23:18.70) in seventh.
Druid Hills had six of the first 11 runners to finish led by juniors Genevieve Ferrara (22:12.40) and Amelia Benjamin (22:22.80) in fourth and fifth, respectively. The Lady Red Devils took the final three Top 10 spots in order led by junior Asena Anderson (23:26.60), sophomore Charlotte Walker (23:39.70) and junior Annie Blount (23:39.90).
Sophomore Reese Rather (23:40.10) was 11th, but it was not enough to offset the higher finishes by Lakeside as Lady Viking junior Gracie Ellett (23:57.40) came in 12th.
Dunwoody’s third place finish was paced by junior Anna Mothner (20:53.50) who took second behind Hanson.
Lakeside made the complete sweep of the first race as junior Mikias Mekonen (17:27.50) won by 14 seconds to set a new course best time for 2018 and overall in DeKalb.
The Vikings won by 15 points (49-64) over Clarkston which took four of the Top 10 spots to Lakeside’s three. Seniors William Nelson (18:19.00) and Daniel Martinez (18:27.40) came in seventh and eighth, respectively, for the Vikings.
Clarkston sophomore Thadde Barge (17:41.70) was second and fellow sophomore Firomsa Ibrahim (18:12.10) was fifth and Piyo Micheale (18:18.70) was in sixth. Senior Rukundo Uwimana (18:28.20) was ninth.
Druid Hills was third with 78 points paced by senior Carter Rathur (18:03.80) with a fourth place finish while fourth place Tucker put a pair of runners in the Top 10 as senior Abdilnur Tiroro (18:02.20) was third and junior Yeshak Ergano (18:42.40) was 10th.
Cedar Grove’s Luis Vazquez (left) won his second consecutive race and Southwest DeKalb’s Lanee Edwards picked up her third win of the season at Druid Hills in Week 5. (Photos by Mark Brock)
Second Varsity Race
The second varsity race featured a tight finish between the top three teams with Southwest DeKalb squeaking by Cedar Grove (48) and Arabia Mountain (50) with its team total of 46.
The Panthers put three runners in the Top 10 in junior Calvin Mosley (21:42.40) in fourth, senior Emmanuel Smith (22:39.30) in seventh and sophomore Ka’Juan Williams (22:44.90) in eighth.
Cedar Grove had its second one-two finish in the past two weeks as senior Luis Vazquez (20:31.30) nipped senior teammate Mikaiel Jack (20:31.50) at the finish line for the second consecutive meet.
Arabia Mountain made it a tight finish by putting three runners in the Top 10 led by senior Torrance Allen (21:18.30) in third, senior Elijah Bibbs (22:47.40) in ninth and junior Richard Gladney (23:50.10) in 10th.
Lithonia finished fourth in the team standings as junior Jalen Bristol (22:03.00) took fifth and senior Brison Rockcliffe ((22:19.10) was sixth.
Southwest DeKalb also won the girls’ race as the only team scoring points once again led by senior Lanee Edwards (25:26.30) who was first.
Senior Raven Thurmond (26:32.30) was second and junior Nya Bostic (26:39.80) was third. Senior Caniece Collins (28:52.40) took sixth and junior Calise Starr (31:44.60) was eighth.
Cedar Grove put four runners in the Top 10 led by senior Bobbi Turner (27:52.80) in fourth, Sydney Mitchell (28:15.70) in fifth, Aubrey Guyden (32:18.50) in ninth and junior Aniyah Brooks (32:27.60) in tenth.
Arabia Mountain freshman Candace Taylor (30:34.70) was seventh.
Junior Varsity
Stone Mountain won the boys’ junior varsity race at Druid Hills Middle School by 50 points over Towers 18-58.
Sophomore Sean Robinson (14:27.40) led a group of four Pirates with Top 10 finishes as he grabbed third in the standings. Sophomore Oliver Ochoa (14:30.40) was fourth, freshman Jalen Patterson (15:20.40) was sixth and junior Cesar Morales (15:54.00) was ninth.
Dunwoody had just four runners in the race, but they finished one-two as the leaders. Eighth graders Cameron Tutt (13:55.80) and Mark Westrick (14:21.00) crossed the finish line in order to grab the top two spots at the end. Fellow eighth grade teammate Julian Sutin (14:35.20) was fifth.
Miller Grove junior Keyshawn Streater (15:31.90) was seventh, Cross Keys sophomore Jose Garcia (15:49.80) was eighth and Towers senior Deion Kelly (15:57.90) was 10th.
The girls’ race did not get a team score from any of the teams as Dunwoody eighth grader Emma Parker (15:59.40) won individual honors.
Second and third went Martin Luther King Jr. Jasmine Paige (17:16.60) and Dunwoody sophomore Sadie Schoenrock (17:50.80), respectively.
Arabia Mountain placed three in the Top 10 led by sophomores Mecca Johnson (19:20.10) and Samaria Robinson (19:57.60) in fifth and sixth, respectively. Freshman Tayla Clark (21:50.10) came in ninth in the race.
Stephenson junior Faith Watkins took fourth in 18:52.30 and Southwest DeKalb senior Akeila Ward (20:35.10) was seventh.
Cross Keys had a pair of runners in the Top 10 in Marisol Garcia (21:13.00, 7th) and sophomore Jessica Lin (22:19.10) in 10th.
The varsity runs the final DeKalb County meet of the season on Tuesday, September 25 with races set for 5:15 and 5:55 pm at Arabia Mountain.
The 2018 DCSD Junior Varsity County Championships are set for Thursday, September 27 at the Druid Hills Middle School course. The girls’ race starts at 5:15 pm followed by the boys’ at 5:45.
See full results of the Week 5 Races at the links below: