The 2015 Marietta team after winning the coach wood invitational
Editor's note: All lists in this series are the opinion of the author of this article, they are not meant to be a definitive final ranking, but more a way to take a look back at the best of the best in recent history.
Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a great summer. Just like with the top 10 runners articles, I thought it would be a fun exercise to rank the top 10 cross country teams in Georgia from the past 10 years (2014-2023). We've seen some incredible teams come and go. Some of these programs continue to be great today, and some may have hit a peak that they haven't reached since. This list is obviously not definitive and is subjective, and it's meant to praise some of GA's best teams in recent history. If you disagree, that's totally fine!
Before we dive into the list, here are the rules I abided by in my rankings. The most important rule was that I tried to weight state meet and postseason performance about equally with regular season performance. Sometimes, that meant picking teams that performed very well at state over teams that may have defeated them in the regular season but didn't do as well at state. I only selected from teams that finished in the top two at their respective state meets. Finally, I limited each school to only two slots on this list. I wanted to make sure we saw some variation in the teams that were selected here. With that out of the way, here's the list.
Honorable mention: 2014 St. Pius X; 2018 Pope; 2017 Marist; 2022 Westminster; 2020 Marietta
2016 Lambert
Lambert has been one of Georgia's most consistently great programs over the past decade plus, and much of that success can be attributed to coach James Tigue's excellent program-building. Despite being in the mix for a state title nearly every season, the team has only a single state championship in the school's history -- and this is that season. Lambert improved all the way from 19th at state in 2013, to 9th in 2014, to 5th in 2015, but their top runner from 2015, Jonathan Schwind, graduated. However, the Longhorn boys did not let that disrupt their charge for a championship. Junior Tyler Fox developed into a key front-runner for the team late in the season, and he was followed closely behind by senior Byron Grogan and junior Lee Keil. Lambert's first victory of the season came at the Clara Bowl Invitational, where they defeated Blessed Trinity, St. Pius, and others. Fox missed a few races, but junior Brandon Burt stepped up in his absence. Lambert finished tied with St. Pius and ahead of Marietta and Marist at the Great American Invitational in NC, and they featured the lowest 1-5 split of any Championship race team at Coach Wood. Lambert then defeated a strong 12-team area meet, and they put everything together for a 26-point victory at 7A state. Junior Tanner Baker rounded out the top 5 at state behind Fox, Keil, Grogan, and Burt. Lambert ended the season with four runners having a 16:10 SB or better.
2016 Marist
The 2016 Marist squad was so close to ranking in the top five of this list. This was a team had won the previous 4A championship, and they took the loss of state champion Frank Pittman in stride and dominated at the beginning of the 2016 season. This team included two future state champions (sophomore Leif Andersen and junior Knox Pittman) and two state runner-ups (junior William O'Rielly and senior Quinn Burden). Also consistently in the top two or three was junior David Reteneller, but there was a drop-off to the #6 man. Marist easily won the Clara Bowl Invitational with good pack running and fast team averages. The 16:43 team average for the win at Double Dip was the fastest team average to that point in recent memory, and that was only a prelude to a 64-point margin of victory at Warpath where all of Marist's top five finished in the top 10 of the race. They also showed out well against out-of-state competition at the FSU Invitational, winning that meet as well. Unfortunately, Reteneller must have received an injury after the race, which completely altered the trajectory of the season. Marist still easily overcame Blessed Trinity at region, but missing Reteneller hurt them at state. At state, Marist's top four all broke 17:00, but their 4-5 split was 55 seconds, which allowed St. Pius to grab the team title. Still without Reteneller, Marist finished 9th at NXN Southeast, and they might have been able to finish in the top five with a full roster.
2021 Mill Creek
The 7A championship was pretty wide open entering 2021. Marietta was the defending champion, but Harrison, Denmark, and Mill Creek all returned enough firepower to contend. In the end, a surprising Mill Creek team led by Coach Andy Christie not only proved that they were the top team in 7A, but the best in the state for most of the 2021 season. This team was deep and experienced, with senior Ethan Nordman leading the way for the Hawks. Other impactful seniors included Jacob Peters, Shahzeb Rashid, Joseph Kim, and Will Ort. Junior Luke Kalarickal also came out of nowhere (in his first fall racing XC) to have an excellent season in the #2 or 3 slot. Mill Creek opened their GA racing season at the Starr's Mill Panther Invitational, where they defeated Decatur and some other strong teams, thanks in part to a 14-second 2-5 split. That meet was a sign of things to come, as Mill Creek ended up winning every race they ran for the rest of the season. They won Wingfoot, Alexander/Asics, and Coach Wood. After winning region with 19 points, Mill Creek set their sights on their team's first state championship since 2012. Though the team did not have its best race in a chaotic 7A field, the Hawks did enough to hold off a charging Marietta squad to win by two points and capture the championship.
2021 Decatur
Decatur had been improving consistently under coach Mary Souther for years until breaking through with a state title in 2019. St. Pius joined 5A in 2020, which prevented Decatur from repeating by two measly points. However, the Bulldogs bounced back in 2021. Led by the 1-2 punch of senior Christian Gonzalez and junior William Carlton, this Decatur squad had front running and good depth. This team faced off three times against Mill Creek and lost all three times; that is true. However, they are ranked higher than MC for a few reasons: each of those losses were by small margins, Decatur beat every other Georgia team, and they had a much better state performance. Decatur had a very strong top four led by Gonzalez, Carlton, senior Daniel Blaich, and junior Jake Westing, which led them to a runner-up finish at Starr's Mill Panther and a win at Carrollton Orthopedic. Decatur still finished a narrow second at Alexander/Asics to Mill Creek despite their #5 finishing 55 seconds behind their #4. It was a similar story at Coach Wood, but a new #5 emerged at that meet, junior Zakariye Abdulahi. Decatur proceeded to soundly beat St. Pius at region despite missing Westing, and they sealed the deal at state. Gonzalez won, Carlton finished third, and Abdulahi closed the team out in 24th place as Decatur put together a 16:44 team average that ranks third all-time on the current Carrollton layout. They also won the Meet of Champions while missing Blaich and Westing.
2018 St. Pius X
Marist had gotten the better of St. Pius at state in 2017, so the Golden Lions were extra motivated to get the job done in 2018. The Golden Lions returned six of their seven state runners and started the season strong with a significant victory over a strong field at the Clara Bowl Invitational. Seniors Rowan Wiley and Nicolas Fontova led the team for most of the season, with Wiley running under 16:00 three times. But as usual with St. Pius, this team's strength lay in its depth. For example, at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota and the Coach Wood Invitational, the team had a 1-5 split of under 30 seconds. Runners such as senior John Owens, junior Jack Voss, and junior Chad DeWitt were crucial to the team's success at these meets. St. Pius finished as the top GA team at every meet they ran that season, including at Warpath, Great American, and Coach Wood. At 4A state, the team placed four runners (Voss, Wiley, Fontova, and Owens) in the top eight and won the meet with a 63-point margin of victory, scoring just 37 points. Their season continued at NXN Southeast, where St. Pius finished 17th.
2019 Harrison
Coaches Jason Scott and Kent Simmons have done an excellent job building their program into a perennial state contender, but that status wasn't always the case for the Hoyas. In 2018, Harrison nearly won their first XC title ever, but they were beaten by Pope at state. In 2019, the Hoyas were motivated to get the job done. They started off the season early at their home 2-mile invitational, beating 7A teams Brookwood, Mill Creek, and Parkview without their top runner, junior Sully Shelton. When Shelton returned, the results were more of the same. Sophomore Kaden McVey and junior Noah Connelly gave Shelton support. Senior Matthew Wyman, junior Brian Boyle, and sophomore Mark Ravenscraft rotated in the back half of the top five. Harrison topped Marietta at Cobb County, they overcame the field at the Gulf Coast Stampede in Florida, and they even won Wingfoot by 60+ points with a 16:05 team average. Harrison finished first among GA schools at Coach Wood with a 15:48 average, one of the fastest team averages by any team in state history. After scoring a perfect 15 points at region, Harrison had one final obstacle to overcome at state: their old nemesis Pope. With Shelton leading the way and Wyman closing out the scoring, Harrison pulled out the victory by four points to capture their school's first boys' XC title. They followed that breakthrough with a win at the Meet of Champions and 16th at NXN Southeast.
2013 St. Pius X
St. Pius X has had a lot of great teams over the past decade, but none were quite as good as the first team in that span. In six regular-season meets, the Golden Lions only lost to another GA team once. This squad was led by senior Austin Sprague, one of GA's top individual runners, but the team also featured four other runners with SBs under 16:20. Senior Joseph Ferrugia was an excellent #2 and junior Stephen Martinez was another key piece. St. Pius took down a very strong Peachtree Ridge team at the Clara Bowl Invitational by a single point, and then beat the same team by 19 points two weeks later at Carrollton Orthopedic. St. Pius also won Hare & Hounds, finished first among GA teams at Great American, and still managed third at Coach Wood on a bit of an off day. Junior Nik Calia and senior Andrew Anastasiades surged at the end of the season to help St. Pius dominate the 3A state meet. All five runners finished in the top nine as St. Pius scored just 26 points with a 16:40 team average, the second-fastest state team average on the current layout to date. This season was also the school's fourth straight winning the state XC championship. St. Pius returned at NXN Southeast, where they raced to a very strong fifth place and a 15:52 team average.
2014 Marietta
Believe it or not, Marietta had not ever won a boys' state championship before 2014. Coach Jack Coleman and the Blue Devils decided they wouldn't leave anything to chance in 2014, though. They went completely undefeated against GA schools, and their closest call was a 20-point win over Etowah in the first meet of the season. Some of the results were absurd, as when Marietta won the 41-team Battle of Atlanta with 26 points and a 12-second 1-5 split. Other times Marietta was content to show their speed, as when they put down a 15:57 team average at Great American for second place overall (and over 150 points ahead of St. Pius, who is an honorable mention team). They won Carrollton Orthopedic and Coach Wood, and they swept their region meet's first six spots. This team was led by junior Khayvonn Benson and senior Jack Henderson, but this squad was very deep. It also featured future stars Carlos Torres (junior), Ben Patterson (sophomore) and Hayden Tullos (sophomore). The team had enough depth to easily overcome subpar races from both Benson and Henderson at 6A state to win by over 90 points. Without Benson, who was their #1 runner for most of the season, the Marietta boys still finished fifth at NXN Southeast to bookend their first state title-winning season and set up an epic 2015.
2017 Milton
Coaches Bill Marra and Andy Carr had been improving the Milton XC program for years leading up to 2017, as the team finished on the podium at 6A or 7A state for three years in a row. However, 2017 was going to be a make-or-break year with defending 7A champ Sam Bowers and classmate Michael Malkowski now seniors. Fellow seniors Samuel Milton and Ryan Beitzell put in some major work over the spring and summer to greatly improve their performances. Junior Luke Bonneville and freshman Hayden Marshall were also good enough to be top-three runners on most teams. Milton received a huge boost when senior Nicholas Yanek transferred to Milton from Iowa, where he had been one of the state's top runners. As it turned out, Bowers and Yanek would be an unbeatable duo, and the rest of the squad would form GA's best 3-7 packs as well. Put it all together, and you had a team that scored no more than 40 points in any race (excluding a tempo run). The Eagles won Knight's Crossing (NC), Wingfoot, and Coach Wood all by 100+ points. Bowers and Yanek never lost to another GHSA runner, and Malkowski only lost to a handful of athletes besides his teammates. At 7A state, Milton scored 40 points to win by 138 over defending champion Lambert, with Samuel Milton, Beitzell, and Marshall having especially great races in the 3-5 slots. Milton's average of 16:36 is the best ever on Carrollton's current layout. At NXN Southeast, despite scoring 155 points with a 15:45 average, Milton only finished fifth at the top-heavy meet. (Marietta had won NXN Southeast with 156 points two years earlier.) Either way, the finish showed that Milton could compete with the nation's best teams, and it was certainly one of GA's top teams of the last ten years.
2015 Marietta
The Blue Devils returned in 2015 as the clear-cut favorite to win everything in GA that year, as they returned senior Khayvonn Benson, junior Ben Patterson, junior Hayden Tullos, and senior Carlos Torres. Torres took the lead for most of the season, running 15:50 or faster four times and eventually winning the 6A state meet individually. Senior David Savic also improved enough to join the team's top runners. Marietta won the Saucony Kickoff Classic despite missing Benson, and they were missing both Patterson and Savic for a third-place finish at Carrollton Orthopedic. Once the team was whole, however, there was no stopping them. The Blue Devils won the very strong Adidas Challenge in North Carolina with a 15:52 team average, and they dominated the Cobb County Championships while missing Patterson. Where this team really separated itself from the 2014 squad was at the end of the season. Marietta won Coach Wood with a mere 47 points, almost 100 points ahead of second place, before sweeping their region meet for the second straight season. At the 6A state meet, which was an altered course due to heavy rain, Marietta put four runners in the top six spots (Torres, Tullos, Benson, and Savic), and Patterson closed out the win in 14th place for a miniscule 27 points. However, the team's season was far from over. At NXN Southeast, where only the top two teams qualify for nationals, Marietta finished first with a 15:50 average and a 34-second 1-5 split, the only GA team to qualify for NXN in the past 10 years. At the national meet in Oregon, all five runners performed well to lead Marietta to 15th place among literally the strongest teams in the nation.