Tucker’s Yeshak Ergano (left) got past teammate Zinabu Marcus (right) to take the top spots in the first varsity race at Druid Hills Middle. (Photo by Mark Brock)
After storms cancelled the Week 4 meet at Arabia Mountain DeKalb teams sprang back into running form in Week 5 at Druid Hills Middle School course this week.
The first girls’ varsity race title went to Dunwoody with the girls scoring a perfect mark of 15 in out running Martin Luther King Jr. (60) and Clarkston (64).
Dunwoody senior Anna Mothner (23:38.20) led the Lady Wildcats’ sweep of the first five slots. She was followed in order by sophomore Kate Bacon (23:42.40), junior Ahna Lorden (24:08.60), junior Emma Tesler (24:08.70) and freshman Emma Parker (24:14.00).
Clarkston’s Malik Colette broke up a Dunwoody sweep of the Top 10 as she finished sixth in 24:31.00.
Dunwoody’s Mia Whitehurst (25:02.50) was seventh followed by fellow juniors Danielle Amrani (25:05.30) and Sarah Rudder (25:05.40) with sophomore Lucy Neuman (25:05.60) rounding out the Top 10 to finish.
Tucker and Clarkston battled in a close race in boys’ opening action with Tucker nipping Clarkston 44-47. Chamblee (68), M.L. King (71) and Dunwoody (105) rounded out the team scoring.
Junior Yesahk Ergano (18:06.90) and freshman Zinabu Marcos (18:16.80) gave Tucker a big early boost finishing one-two in a race to the finish.
Sophomore Tucker teammates Abedelemeji Kerebo (19:24.30) and Yordanos Ephram (19:33.70) took seventh and eighth to give the Tigers a big lead.
Clarkston closed the gap by taking ninth through 11th led by Innocent Mfitumkiza (19:43.00) followed by Llyass Abdi Nuur (19:47.40) and Thaddee Barge (19:55.10).
Dejen Abtie (20:36.20), a freshman, gave Clarkston its fifth finisher by coming in 14th and the Angoras team total of 47 with Tucker holding at 18 and waiting on a fifth runner.
Junior Jarvis Wynn (22:19.80) would be the fifth Tucker finisher as he came in 29th. Given that score the two teams would be tied atop the scoring, but three runners from Stone Mountain, which did not score as a team, came in ahead of him to elevate his score to 26.
Chamblee had a pair of juniors finish in the Top 5 in Diego DeAlba (18:55.60) and Fisher Isaacson (18:57.90) to aid the Bulldogs’ third place finish. Junior Darian Wragg (19:16.00) of King grabbed sixth.
Southwest DeKalb’s Angelee Mitchell was the first girl to cross the finish line in the second girls’ varsity race of the day. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Southwest DeKalb was the only team qualifier in the girls’ second varsity race of the day taking six of the Top 8 spots to pick up a perfect score of 15.
Junior Angelee Mitchell (26:52.90) took the top individual honors and senior Destiny Remy was second (28:45.80). Southwest DeKalb swept fourth through seventh led by junior Lauryn Bell (29:13.20). Sophomore Dashuna Gillis (29:20.20), senior Calise Starr (30:01.30) and senior Mecca Johnson (30:46.30) rounded out the final group of Lady Panthers.
Towers junior Taheera Abdulah (28:58.40) finished third and senior teammate Shayla Glass (33:35.50) was eighth.
Southwest DeKalb outdueled Towers 25-36 for the title in the boys’ second varsity race. Arabia Mountain (76) and Lithonia (104) rounded out the team scoring.
Southwest DeKalb senior Jalen Bristol (19:02.00) led a group of Panthers in the Top 10 crossing the finish line first while senior Jackson Taylor (19:38.80) took third.
Senior Calvin Mosley (21:40.20) led the other four Panthers in the Top 10 with his sixth place finish followed junior Jalon Kimborough (22:00.70), freshman Xzaviah Taylor (22:06.70) and senior Reginald Lee (22:30.20).
Towers made the race close by taking three of the Top 5 winning times led by Emmanuel Clement (19:32.40) taking second overall. Senior Aye Min Thu (21:19.80) was fourth and Eric Lewis (21:38.30) was fifth. Junior Marquez Cunningham (22:43.00) rounded Towers Top 10 ground by taking 10th overall.
JUNIOR VARSITY
The third junior varsity race of the season in DeKalb was also held at Druid Hills Middle this week with the Lakeside Lady Vikings and Dunwoody Wildcats taking the team titles.
The Lady Vikings squeezed past Dunwoody 30-33 for the win despite Dunwoody taking three of the Top 4 spots led by eighth grader Claire Shelton (13:28.30) who took top honors in the race. Lakeside, which had four of the Top 10, was led by sophomore Ella Steed (16:51.10) in third.
The girls’ team finish including Arabia Mountain (85) in third followed by M.L. King (92), Southwest DeKalb (126) and Towers (158).
The boys’ race was not as close as Dunwoody won by 22 points (32-54) over Redan followed by Lakeside (59), M.L. King (69), and Towers (145).
Lakeside took the top two spots led by Ethan Gregory (12:43.80) and Brandon Rutland (12:48.50). Dunwoody was led by sophomore Wade Parkes (13:25.00) in third as one of four Wildcats in the Top 10.
See links below for full results of Week 5 races: