Clarkston’s Yosef Al (left) and Dunwoody’s Claire Shelton (right) won individual titles in the DeKalb County cross country meet held at Druid Hills Middle School on Tuesday. (Photos by Mark Brock)
Varsity races at the Druid Hills Middle School cross country course on Tuesday featured wins by four different DeKalb schools in the third DeKalb County meet of the season.
Clarkston won its second DeKalb varsity boys race of the season easily outdistancing Dunwoody 28-79 in the opening varsity race of the day.
The Angoras placed five runners in the first 11 to cross the finish line led by a 1-2 finish by seniors Yosef Al (17:05.30) and Claude Tusiime (17:18.20). Senior Mengesha Alebachew (18:16.20) was sixth while junior Abdul Mahamat (18:36.40) was eight. Junior Amani Diedonne (19:16.50) finished 11th to round out the first five for Clarkston and seal the win.
Dunwoody finished ahead of Lakeside (83) by just four points despite not placing a runner in the Top 10 but had six finish in the Top 20. Junior Oliver Abbott (19:22.30) and sophomore Alex Loffredio (19:22.40) finished back-to-back in 12th and 13th, respectively.
Lakeside had a pair of Top 10 finishers in senior Aidan Vrazel (18:35.60) and sophomore Andrew Bitsko (19:02.50).
Druid Hills fourth-place finish was fueled by seniors Owen Blount (17:55.40) in fourth and Micah Burton (19:02.60) in 10th.
Tucker had a pair of Top 5 finishers in junior Abdeleselam Kerebo (17:19.00) and senior Norris Minnis (17:56.00).
The opening girls’ race went to the Dunwoody Lady Wildcats as they swept the first three spots on the way to a 24-75 win over Lakeside.
Seniors Claire Shelton (23:11.60) and Ronnie Amrani (23:12.90) eased across in a 1-2 finish followed by junior Abby Reams (23:26.80) in third. Junior Hannah Litvak (24:13.00) was ninth and junior Chloe Warren (24:48.00) wrapped up the victory in 11th. Shelton won the Fleet Foot Warpath Invitational at Canton last week with a time of 17:58.90.
Five other schools were represented in the Top 10 including Lakeside’s freshman Parker White (23:56.80) and senior Savannah Spires (23:58.90) who catalyst in the second-place finish.
Sophomore Indie Shuler (23:50.60) topped the Lady Red Devils finishers taking sixth overall to lead Druid Hills to the third-place finish. Fourth place Tucker got a 10th place finish from junior Nuhamin E’Tegenu (24:44.50).
Southwest DeKalb’s Janiya McCoy (23:37.00) ran across the line in fourth for the Lady Panthers and senior Say Paw (23:42.50) of Stone Mountain was fifth.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Braylin Grier (left) and India Thorpe (right) swept the individual titles in the second varsity race at Druid Hills Middle School on Tuesday. (Photos by Mark Brock)
SECOND VARSITY RACES
Martin Luther King (boys) and Cedar Grove (girls) captured the wins at the second varsity races of the day at Druid Hills Middle School on Tuesday.
The Lions ran away with the victory in the boys’ competition winning 18-54 over Towers as King had seven runners cross the finish line in the Top 10.
Junior Braylin Grier (18:13.90) and senior Omari Sawyer (18:42.20) had a 1-2 finish for the Lions and then senior Kameron Sutton (19:11.00), junior C’Andre Reid (19:12.50) and senior Khamani Avant (19:50.40) finished fourth through sixth, respectively to secure the win. Junior Jordan Saunders (20:29.00) was eighth and sophomore Brandon Williams (20:39.80) came across in ninth.
Towers second-place finish came on the back of sophomore Innocent Bembetem (18:45.70) who finished third and senior Quandarius Freeman (22:17.50) was 10th.
Redan’s Zamarvian Green (20:06.80), a senior, filled out the Top 10 with a seventh-place finish.
The girls’ second varsity race was a tight one between Cedar Grove and Martin Luther King Jr. as the Lady Saints nipped the Lady Lions 27-28.
King took the first two spots as juniors India Thorpe (23:01.00) and Taryn Adams (25:33.40) finished first and second, respectively.
Cedar Grove took the next three spots led by freshman Charnai Callender (27:43.20) in third, junior Demonia Johnson-Weeks (27:43.90) in fourth and freshman Kyra Burkett (27:44.30) taking fifth.
Junior Aniah Lake (27:47.20) kept King in the running with her sixth-place finish. Cedar Grove closed out the win behind a seventh-place finish by junior Janeah Bailey (27:55.20) and with freshman Cadence Brown (28:38.71) taking ninth. King’s Jarriatou Faye (28:58.60) came in 10th overall.
Lithonia sophomore Surraya Winters (27:56.80) took eight-place to break up the Cedar Grove-King monopoly of the Top 10.
JUNIOR VARSITY RACES
Clarkston (boys) and Lakeside (girls) topped the fields in the junior varsity races held between the two varsity races at Druid Hills Middle on Tuesday after both finished second in the first junior varsity event on September 4.
Clarkston picked up five of the first seven finishes in the boys’ race including a 1-2-3 finish by Daniale Seyfu (12:54.30), Rubin Dhuivn (12:55.90) and Fiston Shema (14:08.20). Abenezer Fen (14:11.40) was fifth and Ali Ismail (15:10.80) came across in seventh.
Arabia Mountain had two runners in the midst of the Clarkston crowd with Kristian Oliver (14:10.60) in fourth and Quen-En Sawyer (14:22.10) crossing in sixth.
Second-place Redan was led by Amare Medhin (15:18.00) while third-place Towers had Domyius McFarland (15:53.40) and Marsalis Grier (15:53.40) in ninth and 10th, respectively.
Lakeside had five girls in the Top 10 on the way to a 28-58 win over Clarkston to take the girls’ title.
Carmen Pollard (16:32.10) and Megan Wright (16:46.00) crossed in first and second, respectively, for the Lady Vikings and Shreya Chatterjee (18:40.40) was sixth. Lillian Robb (18:50.40) was ninth and Willa Hudson (18:53.70) followed in 10th.
Clarkston’s Bouchra Abdillahi (18:16.20) was fourth and Lay Paw (18:47.70) was seventh to lead the Lady Angoras run to second.
Arabia Mountain finished third spurred by Amiyah Keel-Harris (17:05.20) in third and Jaelyn James (18:50.20) in eighth. Redan’s Kishel Bygrave (18:21.80) came in fifth as the Lady Raiders finished just one point behind Arabia.
See link below for the results of the DCSD cross country races at Druid Hills Middle School: