Clarkston’s Abenezer Woellore (left) and Dunwoody’s Claire Shelton (right) won the opening varsity races of the 2022 DCSD cross country season. (Photos by Mark Brock)
Over 150 DeKalb County runners got the DeKalb County School District’s 2022 cross country season underway on Tuesday at the Druid Hills Middle School Course.
The first varsity race of the season featured teams from Dunwoody (girls) and Clarkston (boys) chalking up wins as a total of 119 runner took part in the opener.
Claire Shelton led Dunwoody’s sweep of the first girls’ varsity race of the as she claimed first place and was followed by six teammates as the Lady Wildcats scored a perfect mark of 15 on the day.
Shelton was followed in order by teammates Emma Parker, Chloe Warren, Ronnie Amrani, Bobbi Allen, Jenna McJunkin and Abby Reams.
Lakeside claimed second with 50 points taking the final three Top 10 spots led by Tristan Linscott in eight. Ellie Skelton was ninth and Viviana Arzabe was 10th.
Stephenson was third in the team standings with 94 points led by Caseyona Hight in 27th place. Tucker was the final team to record a team score with 101 points led by Bree Williams in 30th place overall.
Clarkston looked strong in its opener as the Angoras won the boys first race 21-34 over Dunwoody placing five runners in the top eight finishers.
Abenezer Woellore led the way with this first place finish followed by second place finisher Yoeph Beserat. Jean Paul Irasubiza took fourth while Abdul Mahamat was sixth and Mengesha Alebachew crossed in eight.
Dunwoody also put five runners in the Top 10 led by third place finisher Mark Westrick with Alex Loffredio not far behind in fifth. Richard Remigailo was seventh and Parks Rohletter and Addison Hixon closed out the first 10 runners in ninth and 10th, respectively.
Lakeside finished in third (85 points) led by Kyle Marsh and Aidan Vrazel in 19th and 20th, respectively. Tucker (121) took the fourth spot in the team standings led by Jeremiah Alibey in 25th.
Redan’s Lodrick Scott (left) and Martin Luther King’s Morgan Hughes (right) won the boys’ and girls’ titles, respectively, the second varsity race on Tuesday at Druid Hills Middle School. (Photos by Mark Brock)
Second Varsity Race
M.L. King outran Lithonia 15-47 to win the second varsity of the day with a perfect score of 15.
The Lions put six runners in the Top 10 led by runner-up Braylin Grier who was followed in order by Kameron Sutton (3rd), C’Andre Reid (4th) and Elias Sullivan (5th). Jordan Saunders rounded out the Lions’ team scoring with his seventh place finish and Akamofon Ekpoudom came across in 10th.
Phillip Howard led the way for the Lithonia Bulldogs coming across in eight place.
Redan did not qualify for the team results but had three runners finish in the Top 10 led by race champ Lodrick Scott. Jamari Drumright was in sixth and Zamarvian Green took ninth.
The girls’ race only had four runners and not team qualifiers. The Martin Luther King Lady Lions scored the top three finishes led by Morgan Hughes in first place followed by India Thorpe and Aniah Lake.
Arabia Mountain’s Destiny Saladin rounded out the girls’ results in fourth.
Junior Varsity Race
Lakeside swept the girls’ and boy’s races in the first junior varsity competition of the season at Druid Hills Middle.
Lakeside had the first 10 runners to cross the finish line to win 15-50 over Arabia Mountain in the girls’ race.
Aslan Russell grabbed the championship crown followed Emma Hamilton, Amelia Bell, Emma Doering and Kathleen Hudson to get the perfect score at the top of the results.
Arabia Mountain’s second place finish was paced by Amiyah Keel-Harris who finished 11th overall.
The boys’ race was much closer with Lakeside edging Clarkston 29-33 to capture first place in the team standings. Towers was third with 73 points.
Lakeside won despite Clarkston putting five runners in the top 10 to the Vikings four. The Vikings had the second place Michael Teklu and third place Seth Guarnizo leading the way. Bryan Tolbert (6th) and Evan Littlejohn (7th) finished back-to-back to push Clarkston’s final three runners into higher scores.
The finishes by Littlejohn and Tolbert allowed Jason Arent’s 11th place finish seal the race title.
Clarkston’s Weston Uwumuremyi crossed in first place followed teammates Caleb Koerber (5th), Daniale Seyfu (8th), Gromyko Curry (9th) and Mohammad Kanteh (10th).
Towers was led by Innocent Bembetem who finished fourth overall.
The next DCSD cross country competition is set for next Tuesday (Aug. 30) at the Arabia Mountain High School course.
See link below for the DCSD Week 1 Cross Country results: