Chamblee’s Talley Pendleton (left) finished fifth in the Class 5A Sectional 2 girls’ race and Dunwoody’s Alex Leffredio (right) finished fourth in the boys’ race to help lead their teams to a state qualifying berth. (Photos by Mark Brock)
DeKalb came out of the first-ever GHSA Cross Country State Sectionals with seven teams and two individuals qualified for their respective state meets to be held on Friday and Saturday at Carrollton High School.
A strong showing in Class 5A had both the boys’ and girls’ teams from Chamblee, Dunwoody and Lakeside headed to the Class 5A state meet on Friday at 10:30 (boys) and 11:15 (girls) am.
The Chamblee Lady Bulldogs had the top team finish for DeKalb taking second behind Decatur (68-134) in the Class 5A Sectional 1 at Toombs County High School this past Saturday.
DeKalb County girls’ champ Talley Pendleton led the way with a time of 18:47.27 to grab a fifth place overall finish. Her Chamblee teammate Leanna Maender (20:10.88) came in 16th out of the 175 runners competing. Shea Fagan (20:28.68) was 30th, Madeline Harron (20:32.55) was 32nd and Esther Solaru (21:28.65) was 51st to wrap up the scoring for the Bulldogs.
Dunwoody ran to a fifth place finish with 177 points led by a pair of Top 30 finishes from Sarah Jane Shipley (20:23.04) in 22nd and Abby Reams (20:25.09) in 26th. Rounding out the scoring for the Wildcats were Brooke Linard (20:57.33) in 38th, Tamar Amrani (21:17.47) in 44th and Jenna McJunkin (21:19.51) in 47th.
Lakeside got a Top 20 finish from Parker White (20:15.53) as the Vikings came in 11th (352).
The Class 5A boys’ meet had all three DeKalb teams finish in the Top 10 led by Chamblee (199) in fifth, Lakeside (209) in sixth and Dunwoody (209) in seventh.
Chamblee benefitted from a pair of Top 25 finishes including Bennett Gerspacher (16:44.59) in 21st and Ryan McCord (16:48.92) to clinch fifth place and a spot in the state meet.
Lakeside got the nod for sixth by the tiebreaker led by Andrew Bitsko’s (16:28.38) 17th place finish and a Top 30 spot by Ben Olesen (16:52.68) in 28th overall.
Dunwoody’s charge to the Top 10 and the state meet was led by DeKalb County champ Alex Loffredio (15:45.90) who crossed in fourth out of 188 runners competing in the meet. His time was the fastest of all the DeKalb boys’ competing in state sectionals.
The final DeKalb squad to qualify as a team for state was Class 2A Redan as the Raiders finished ninth (264) at the Class 2A Sectional 2 in Jefferson on Saturday.
CLASS 2A
Redan had three Top 50 finishes out of 123 runners led by senior Micah Thompkins (18:29.43) as he took 22nd in the race. Juniors Shaun Thornton (19:32.72) and Patrick Yidin (19:39.72) in 41st and 45th, respectively.
Tucker’s Abdeleselam Kerebo finished 10th in the Class 4A Sectional 2 to qualify for Saturday’s Class 4A state meet at Carrollton. (Photo by Mark Brock)
CLASS 4A
DeKalb got one individual state qualifier out of the Class 4A state sectionals in Tucker’s Abdeleselam Kerebo with four teams coming up just short of qualifying for the Class 4A state meet scheduled for Saturday.
Kerebo clocked a time of 16:08.93, the second fastest DeKalb runner over the weekend, to finish 10th overall out of 170 runners at the Class 4A Sectional 2 at the ONE Church Course at Starr’s Mill.
His Tucker team came up just six points shy of qualifying for the state meet as they totaled 389 points good for 13th, but short of the 383 scored by Northview.
In girls’ competition at the ONE Church Course, the Lady Tigers finished 14th as well just ahead of Southwest DeKalb in 15th with an identical score of 434. Mia Huhtanten (20:21.21) led the way for Tucker coming 23rd overall out of 165 competitors.
Martin Luther King Jr. had both its teams finish 14th, two spots out of state qualifying position, at the Class 4A Sectional 1 at Jones County High School.
Senior Braylin Grier came up just five spots shy of a state qualifying berth as he finished in 25th out of 183 competitors with a time of 17:04.95 with the sixth best overall time for a DeKalb runner in sectional competition.
The Lady Lions came up 14 points shy of a state qualifying spot with 349 points led by senior India Thorpe (22:30.61) who crossed the finish line in 36th place.
Towers Innocent Bembetem qualified for the Class 2A state meet on Saturday in Carrollton. (Photo by Mark Brock)
CLASS 1A
Towers pushed a runner through to the Class 1A Division 1 state meet set for 12:00 pm on Friday at Carrollton.
Junior Innocent Bembetem finished 10th out of 149 runners at the meet with his time of 17:52.92 to advance to the state meet.
DCSD STATE CROSS COUNTRY MEET SCHEDULE
Carrolton High School
Friday 11/8/2024
10:30am, 5A BOYS
11:15am, 5A GIRLS
12:00pm, A DIV 1 BOYS
Saturday 11/9/2024
11:00am, 2A BOYS
2:00pm, 4A BOYS
2:45pm, 4A GIRLS