Or you can go check out some of our other coverage like the most Improved Athletes from State or vote on the best performance from the state meet:

Most Improved

Boys Results Merge | Girls Results Merge

Boys Best Performance Vote | Girls Best Performance Vote

Ok. On to the recaps. The 6A races, as always, lived up to the hype.

6A Boys 

This was an incredible race, as it often is. I loved the way this thing shaped up early on. As I expected, this thing was a giant pack through 1000m. But I was fairly surprised to see most of the top ten boys break away by the band field on the first loop. I didn't expect to see gaps like that, I kind of thought we'd see either a really big pack still or we'd see it strung out. And we didn't really see either of those things happen. We kind of saw one big pack and one small pack and then a decent sized gap for that early in the race. Then came the rest of the field. Jameson Pifer was clearly in control, but it was actually Sena Hosu who appeared to be doing much of the leading. I guess he was just focused on making sure the race was as honest as possible from the beginning and didn't want the team battle to be too tightly bunched. By the two mile things were down to basically just two runners as Dash Brackin was stalking Pifer. And huge kudos to Brackin who had less than a month from his first race to the state meet and still found himself attached to Pifer at the hip. Hosu and newcomer Myles Head were still within striking distance at this point, but the individual race was effectively down to just two runners as they headed out from the two mile. What was really interesting was that Pifer never really seemed to move. He was just biding him time and letting Brackin stay in it. It was a little unnerving to watch, but once he go to the final hill he made his bid and pulled away from Brackin. It may have looked closer than it actually was and Pifer may have had this in control the entire time, but Brackin definitely made it interesting and dramatic. In the end though Pifer was able to avenge an off day at state last year and come home with his first state XC title. 

In the team battle this thing is always hard to figure out early, but it looked like Harrison was out strong and had the lead as the headed towards the mile marker. At some point in the 2nd mile it appeared as if West Forsyth moved into the lead and had Brookwood stalking them as they did so. The West runners honestly looked a little more tired than Brookwood as they approached the halfway point, and I thought Brookwood was primed to go win this thing. But by the two mile it looked like West had it in control. They had a front runner with Hosu and then basically you saw Brookwood's 1 with West's 2, 2 was with their 3, etc... giving West the advantage at every spot and they started pulling away. When the runners headed towards the final hill I fully expected to not see much drama and thought that it would be all about how low West Forsyth could go. And on the one had it kind of was, as they put two in the top 10 and all five in the top 18 with only a 44s gap of 1-5. But Carrollton made this thing interesting. They only had one runner in the top 15 on the first loop, as their runners were clearly sitting back early and moving up picking off people that went out a little too hard. In the end I watched as they put four in the top 11 and had me counting how far it was to their 5th. In the end it was a little too much, but it should be noted that USUALLY 64 points and a 16:33 team average is enough to win it, they just unfortunately went up against a team that put up 53 points as West got the win and Carrollton had to settle for one of the strongest runner up performances ever. Harrison was able to still hold on to their strong start and finish 3rd while Brookwood faded to fourth but held on for the podium. 

6A Girls

So I was very hesitant when I wrote in my preview about Marietta and Harrison both potentially putting 3 runners in the top 6. I thought "surely they won't pull that off, somebody will break them up in that pack up front. At least one person can run with them." But apparently not. Lidia Lo Faro should be commended as she came the closest and gave it her best shot, but in the end the two trips were just too strong. But I also thought this thing was over at the two mile while I was watching it and that proved to be very incorrect. The girls ran as a pack early on, but by the halfway point Mary Nesmith had pulled away and opened up a gap. Given her history, I think all of us thought she was probably gone and not coming back. And that looked to be the case at the two mile. So when they came out of the woods and things were in jeopardy, I was definitely surprised. Paige Comstock apparently doesn't know how to quit. It would have been very easy for her to settle for some place in the top 5, but she wasn't going to just roll over like that. In he end she went charging after Nesmith late in this thing and was rewarded for it. When she started kicking she looked close ot invincible, like nobody would ever had a prayer of catching her in a race ever again. She not only caught Nesmith, but pulled away with so much force that it opened the door for Harrison to go 1-2 as Norah Hickerson was able to snag state runner up, giving Harrison a huge head start. Kennedy Troupe, Hazel Davis, and Alyssa Trevino performed admirably in keeping the two team cobb county sweep going through 6 runners. Gabriella Francis and Chloe Miller ran well together to get themselves into the top 10 against some stiff competition. And Adelaide Ellis had a ferocious kick to hold off a trio of freshman behind her, two of whom run for Marietta...

...Which I'm sure you know means Marietta was able to claim yet another team state title. They've now won 6 state titles and 8 of the last 9 which is simply absurd. I know there are some arguments to be made for some strong girl programs in the past, but this might be the most impressive decade any girls program has ever had. To keep doing this in the largest classification with new girls year in and year out is crazy. And they only graduate one of their top 5. Marietta is now in territory that might make them one of one. Their 4-5 runners ran a smart race and just moved up the whole way, almost putting themselves into the top 10 which would have been even crazier. Harrison was also incredible, so let's not let that get lost in the shuffle. Harrison still had the best 4th runner and almost had the best 5th runner other than Marietta. Combine that with their top 3 and this is a team that could almost win every other state title out there, they just ran up against a juggernaut in Marietta. Meanwhile West Forsyth looked so strong the entire race, possibly inspired by their boys performance, and left no doubt who the 3rd best team in class 6A was this year. After an up and down season, they saved their best for last. And taking the final spot on the podium was a very consistent Walton program. Year in and year out the Walton girls have a strong season that often ends with a trophy. They were able to yet again do that as they barely held off a strong North Gwinnett squad for the final spot on the podium. These two were battling all day and it was hard to tell who had it until the final results were posted.