Cross Country: SW DeKalb Wins Redan Tiebraker

The Southwest DeKalb Panthers and Redan Raiders had to go to a tiebreaker to determine the winner of the first boys’ varsity cross country race at Arabia Mountain on Wednesday with the Panthers’ sixth runner finishing one spot faster for the win.

The top five runners for Southwest DeKalb and Redan had the two teams tied at 35 points each after 13 runners had crossed the finish line. Southwest DeKalb sophomore Shonto Williams broke the tie finishing in 14th with a time of 21:26.78 ahead of Redan junior Blake Bastian in 15th in 21:42.13 giving the Panthers the victory in a race that could not get closer for the top two spots.

Senior Jacques Williams of Southwest won the individual title in a time of 19:09.40 just ahead of Miller Grove senior Rahiim Aponte (19:10.34). Redan sophomore Cedric Roberts was third in 19:11.83 with Southwest DeKalb seniors Christopher Morris (19:21.25) and Brandon Dorsey (19:22.26) rounding out the top five.

Redan secured four of the next five spots led by sophomore Keith Terry in sixth (19:28.29), senior Micah Richards in seventh (19:51.35), Michael Waters in ninth (20:34.28) and Earnest McNease in 10th (20:38.65). Tucker’s Ebenezer Agaro was eighth in a time of 20:14.04 to round out the top 10 finishers.

Southwest DeKalb tied the scoring as Isaac Marble (21:12.50) was 12th and Khalid Johnson (21:14.79) was 13th.

Redan pulled out the first girls’ varsity race by a score of 53 to 57 over Cedar Grove despite Cedar Grove’s Christian Pryor winning her third race of the season in a time of 22:44.60.

Tucker juniors Naima Jackson (22:55.63) and Nuba Jackson (22:55.97) finished second and third, respectively, with Southwest DeKalb sophomores Kayla Willis (25:43.14) and Makayla Mincey (26:00.45) right behind.

Redan was led by seniors Destiny Reid (27:52.43) and Danielle Worthy (27:53.32) and sophomore Miyah Golden (27:44.80) who finished sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.

Druid Hills and Clarkston battled for the title in the second boys’ varsity race at Arabia Mountain with the Red Devils coming out on top behind the one-two finish of senior Daniel Samuel and junior RayLumb for a 27-34 team victory.

Samuel ran the fastest time at Arabia Mountain this year with a clocking of 17:43.22 while Lumb ran the second fastest in 18:27.29 to lead a group of five Red Devils in the top 10 finishers.

Clarkston kept it close taking the third through fifth spots led by junior Hussen Sadik (18:38.17) and his junior teammates Leiso Tumbo (19:23.75) and Muhozi Aimable (19:28.75).

Druid Hills senior Joel Medford (19:42.14) was seventh followed by junior Kennarye Blackshear (20:06.24) and senior Jack Cherry (20:19.50) as the Red Devils took three more of the top 10 spots. Clarkston senior Adisu Adane was 10th in 20:31.39 to round out the top 10 which included Cross Keys senior Juan Garcia in sixth with a time of 19:41.61.

Druid Hills earned the sweep in the second race as the Lady Red Devils totaled 21 points as the only full team competing in the race.

Arabia Mountain freshman Matoaka Wilson won individual honors with a time of 24:36.29 to take first. Sophomore Paulette Juieng was second in 25:00.66 to lead a group of four Druid Hills' runners in the top 5.

Teams will compete at Druid Hills Middle School on Tuesday, Sept. 24 beginning with the 5:15 p.m. boys’ and girls’ varsity race. The junior varsity competes at 5:45 p.m. followed by the second boys’ and girls’ varsity race at approximately 6 p.m.

Mark Brock is the Information Officer/Statistician/Web Manager for DeKalb County Schools Athletics