Harrison Boys Outlast Pope, Cambridge Girls Repeat

Harrison Team Champs (Harrison Boosters)

Boys

(photos by Marc Logan)

Sully Shelton of Harrison Overall Champ

In a great team race only 4 points separated #1 All-Classes Harrison and #3 Pope after each's top 5 had crossed the mats. It was literally a battle 'mano y mano' between boths 3,4,5 runners with Harrison having 7 less points in that spread, as Pope had the lead after the 1,2s crossed the finish line.   Sully Shelton raced to the overall title getting Harrison off to a fast start clocking a 16:11. Also making the All-State squad for the Hoyas' were Noah Connelly in 7th overall in 16:48 and Kaden McVey 9th at 16:51

William Brown and Cole Heron of Pope

Pope was looking good after their top 3 finished their races, including Cole Heron (3rd) and Will Brown (4th)  both having 16:37's only separated by .03 with KC Heron 8th at 16:50. Cambridge was a distant 3rd but good enough to climb the podium across the street led by senior Anders Law who took 10th overall at 17:01. Alpharetta raced to 4th as a team paced by Grady Etheridge back in 16th overall in 17:19.

Sam Rich of Lakeside Evans

As projected soph Sam Rich from Lakeside Evans took the individual runnerup honors turning in a time of 16:24. Rounding out the top 10 and earning All-State recognition were Thomas Hotard of Habersham Central in 5th overall going 16:40 and Jonathan Greene from Evans HS placing 6th at 16:43.

Thomas Hotard of Habersham

Girls

Kayla Gholar of Richmond Hill Overall Champ

Top individuals rulled the spotlight in this race as Richmond Hill's Kayla Gholar closed out a great senior season in her final GHSA cross country race posting the 2nd fastest time of the day at 18:27.69 (.02 back) Jr. Makena Gates had a strong race taking overall runnerup posting a 18:49. McKenna Croft of Douglas County settled for 3rd place in 19:06 followed by fellow senior Katy Earwood of Evans HS at 19:09. Rounding out the All-State team were: Ashley Thompson of Gainesville 7th (19:49), Simone Rojas from Evans HS 9th (20:03) and Anna Windom of Harrison 10th (20:06)

Makena Gates of Creekview Runnerup

McKenna Croft of Douglas County

It was again quite a race for the 6A title as the top 4 schools were only separated by 25 points. One can imagine all of their coaches trying to manually keep track of what place their runners were finishing in. Cambridge came out on top by 9 points, as the outcome was still in question until the Bear's #5 (Camilla Montez) finished 10 spots ahead of her counterpart from team runnerup Allatoona. Sr. Ashley Sechrest led the Bears' quest for a 3-peat placing 5th overall in 19:34. Freshman Kelsey Grass led the Lady Bucs' with a 8th place effort of 19:57. Pope HS ended up only 2 points back and had the better 1-5 split of 1:10 as frosh Charlotte Dunn led the Greyhounds pack placing 12th in 20:12. Johns Creek was within striking distance and claimed the last team podium spot led by Agam Horowitz's 6th place overall race at 19:41.