Lakeside’s Mikias Mekonen and Ellie Skelton won individual titles to lead Lakeside to a sweep in the opening run of DCSD Cross Country this week at the Druid Hills Middle School course. (Photos by Mark Brock)
Mikias Mekonen picked up where he left off at the 2018 DCSD County Cross Country Championships with a blistering time of 16:46.30 to lead the Vikings to a win in the opening meet of the 2019 season.
Mekonen, who won the 2018 individual county title, got out to a quick start this week and never looked back.
Lakeside finished with a team total of 33 points to edge Chamblee (39) with Tucker (82) in third and Dunwoody (84) fourth.
Three other Vikings finished in the Top 10 including sophomore Adam Grisch (19:57.90) in fourth, juniors Mason Mihalis (20:08.80) in sixth and Brandon Rutland (20:09.00) in seventh.
Chamblee also put four runners in the Top 10 led by junior Diego DeAlba (19:33.90) in third and sophomore Brandon Carpenter (20:05.70) in fifth. Junior Fisher Isaacson (20:44.20) was eighth and junior Nicholas Oselette (20:58.30) was 10th to have the Bulldogs in striking distance of the Vikings.
Despite having sophomore Eli Scruggs (21:31.20) finishing 13th the Bulldogs came up short as the Vikings four top seven finishes combined with sophomore Evan Leahy (21:32.40) taking 15th overall were able to pick up the victory.
Dunwoody sophomore Ethan Archibald took second in 19:09.10 and Tucker sophomore Abedelemejid Kerebo finished in 2):54.30 for ninth overall to round out the Top 10.
Lakeside made it a clean sweep in the first race of the day as the Lady Vikings took the first seven spots to outduel Chamblee 15-50 as a group finished with five seconds of each other.
Freshman Ellie Skelton (26:05.60) took the individual girls’ title followed by senior Sydney DeWoody (26:06.70) and sophomore Abigail McHoul (26:08.30) to round out the first three to cross the finish line.
Sophomores Olivia Rotolo (26.09.20) Lilian Hanson (26:10.20), Kate Van Horn (26:10.80), and senior Gracie Ellett (26:10.90) comprised the next four places for Lakeside, respectively.
Chamblee grabbed the next five spots in the finish led by senior Klara Nitsche (26:13.60). Following Nitsche in order were sophomore Madeleine Quick (26:17.80), freshman Olivia Tabron (26:30.70), senior Hattie Carter (26:31.70) and freshman Anna Zhai (26:41.70).
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Darian Wragg and Demetria Lind won individual titles in the second race at Druid Hills Middle. (Photos by Mark Brock)
The Martin Luther King Jr. Lions took the first five spots on the way to a 15-50 win over Lithonia in the boys’ second race of the day.
The Lions had five seniors claim the top spots in the race led by Darian Wragg (20:04.20) who grabbed first. Teammates Kingsley Harris (21:01.20), Zaire Anderson-Brown (21:09.90), Christian Boyd (21:19.80) and Jamari Hopkins (21:25.30) followed in order.
King also had three more in the Top 10 in senior Phillip Ellison Jr. (22:38.70) in seventh, junior Mekhi Keith (23:48.20) in eighth and senior Lametreis Mede (24:16.80) in 10th.
Towers senior Aye Min Thu (21:46.90) was sixth and Cross Keys Siam Sarower (24:16.50) was ninth.
The girls race only had a pair of runners from King led by sophomore Demetria Lind (27:54.60) in first and senior Allsion Walker (31:07.70) in second.