Dunwoody Girls Win Cross Country State Championship

Thirty years had passed since a girls’ team from DeKalb County Schools won a cross country state title, but Dunwoody ended the streak by capturing the Class AAAAA state crown on Saturday at Carrollton.

Junior Alex Cameron had finished third in the 2010 and 2011 Class AAAA state meets, but broke through for the individual title this season with a time of 19:49.96 to lead the Lady Wildcats to an 86-135 victory over fellow DeKalb County entry Lakeside.

The last girls’ team victory came by Gordon in 1982 with a 44-48 win over Westminster that fall. It is also just the fourth girls’ title for DeKalb with only Chamblee (1981) and Peachtree (1979) owning state titles.

Lakeside, getting its 21st Top 10 finish, was right on Dunwoody’s heels as Jenn Cora (20:08.96) and Hayley Keadey (20:12.54) finished second and third, respectively. Kailey Williams cruised across the finish line in 20:15.67 to take fourth overall while Ansley Heavern was 16th in 20:54.69.

Lakeside’s Victoria Thompson was 21st in 21:16.48 to keep the Lady Vikings in striking distance.

Erin Berger moved Dunwoody one spot closer to the title as she crossed in 25th with a time of 21:21.83 and Kenzie Johnson sealed the Lady Wildcat’s first ever state title by taking 41st overall in 21:46.20. Other Dunwoody finishers include Ann-Marie Sills in 49th (21:59.70) and Jennifer Hardister in 91st (22:50.89).

Lakeside’s Taylor Bergstrom crossed 55th (22:04.47) followed by Shannon Hagopian in 60th (22:11.26), Emma Gray in 62nd (22:17.93) and Carsen Pastirik in 116th (23:21.89).

Tucker finished 24th in the team standings in its first girls’ state appearance since 1989 led by Naima Jackson’s 31st place finish in 21:28.81.

The Lakeside Vikings finished sixth in the Class AAAAA boys’ state meet to pick up the team’s 31st Top 10 finish. Davis Stockwell led the Vikings by finishing 18th overall in 17:32.57.

Dunwoody was 12th overall led by Blake Tiede’s 50th place finish in 18:21.45 followed by Clarkston in 19th and Southwest DeKalb in 20th losing out a place to Clarkston on a sixth runner tie-breaker. Leiso Tumbo led Clarkston with a time of 17:54.46 good for 28th while Southwest DeKalb’s Jacques Williams took 25th in 17:50.03 to lead the Panthers.

Class AAAAAA
Druid Hills picked up a pair of Top 25 finishes in the Class AAAAAA state meet led by the Red Devils’ 16th place finish in the boys’ race. Ray Lumb led the way for Druid Hills finishing 54th overall with a time of 17:51.74.

The girls’ squad was 25th overall led by Anna Dowling’s finish of 126th overall in a time of 23:06.23.

Class AAAA
Stone Mountain led the DeKalb boys’ contingent in Class AAAA with a 13th  place finish behind a top 10 finish of ninth by Abel Abay in a time of 17:09.30.

Chamblee was 16th and Redan came in 25th in the boys’ standings. Chamblee’s Semere Araya was 36th in 18:07.64 and Redan’s Cedric Roberts was 78th in 18:46.60 to lead their respective teams.

The Redan Lady Raiders picked up a 15th place finish overall and Chamblee took 21st in the girls’ state meet. Maddy Wetterhall of Chamblee was the top DeKalb finisher in a time of 21:24.41 good for 22nd overall while Redan was led by Destiny Reid in 62nd with a time of 23:09.56.

Class AAA
The only entry for DeKalb in Class AAA was the Cross Keys Indians who made their second appearance at the state meet in three seasons and came away with a 12th place team finish.

Juan Garcia led the way with a time of 18:31.35 good for 45th overall as the Indians had four runners in the top 90 of the 213 participants.

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