The Lakeside Lady Vikings (top photo) and Vikings both pulled out one-point wins to capture the 2021 DCSD JV Cross Country County Championships. (Photos by Mark Brock)
The 2021 DeKalb County Junior Varsity Cross Country Championships were the closest ever first through third finishes as Lakeside took both titles by one point to sweep the event.
Lakeside won its fourth consecutive girls’ title edging out Dunwoody 41-42 with Chamblee coming in third with 53 points to make it the closest 1-2-3 finish going back to the 2005 competition.
The Lady Vikings trailed by eight points and Chamblee by 13 when Lakeside’s Caroline Racine (16:13.03) and Emma Doering (16:14.49) crossed the finish line in the 11th and 12th spots to score the 41.
Dunwoody’s Emily Wallace finished 15th in 16:45.27 just behind Chamblee’s Kathleen Mattison (16:40.61) to pull Dunwoody within striking distance. Chamblee’s Ashley Nelson (16:45.61) finished 16th to push Dunwoody’s Caroline Veal (16:53.14) to 17th to make the one-point difference that separated the top two teams.
All three teams had three runners finish in the Top 10 led by Dunwoody’s Ronnie Amrani who crossed the finish line first in a time of 14:10.91, the 15th best time in the books since 2005. Teammates Jenna McJunkin was second in 15:11.80 and Clara Green was seventh in 15:55.91.
Lakeside’s top three runners included third overall finisher Shreya Chatterjee (15:14.36), Sadie McMillen in fifth (15:32.29) and Kennedy Strader (16:07.56) was 10th.
Chamblee’s Brooke Robinson led the Lady Bulldogs coming in sixth overall in 15:35.48 while teammates Olivia Bell (15:56.22) and Cassidy Pfau (16:03.82) were eighth and ninth, respectively.
Martin Luther King’s Dymond Thompson rounded out the Top 10 with an excellent fourth place finish in a time of 15:20.86.
Junior Varsity runner sin action at the 2021 DCSD JV County Championships. (Photos by Mark Brock)
BOYS CHAMPIONSHIP
A 2.01 second advantage provided the Lakeside Vikings a one-point win (68-69) over Chamblee in the boys’ race giving Lakeside a sweep of the junior varsity titles.
The sweep was the first in the Junior Varsity Championships since Dunwoody claimed both titles in 2015.
Lakeside’s Michael Teklu (13:44.23) finished 24th overall just getting past Chamblee’s Gunnar Hagan (13:46.24) who crossed in 26th to provide the difference in the final tally.
Aidan Vrazel set the tone for the Vikings with an 11th best time in the championships at 11:49.90 to claim the individual title while teammate Alex Katsoudas (12:46.35) grabbed ninth. Cory Cannon crossed in 14th with a time of 13:05.88 and Joshua Pohl was 20th in 13:36.65.
Chamblee’s run at the title was set up by a back-to-back finish by Josh Griffith (12:24.02) in second and Carson Rae (12:27.34) in third. Nathan Jovanovic (13:25.89) was 16th and Daniel Luo (13:40.05) was 22nd.
Dunwoody’s third place finish of 75 points provided the closest 1-2-3 team finish in records dating back to 2005 as the Top 3 teams were separated by a mere seven points.
Dunwoody’s third place effort was fueled by Parks Rohletter (12:42.49) in eighth and Christian Lee (12:46.97) in 10th.
Clarkston which finished fourth overall with 79 points was led by Claude Tusiime (12:32.75) in fourth and Yoseph Beserat (12:40.01) in seventh.
Martin Luther King’s Kameron Sutton (12:35.94) crossed in fifth place and Druid Hills Jack Fishbein (12:39.40) was sixth to complete the Top 10 individuals.
See links below for full results/JV Championships history: