The 2025 GHSA State championships are unfortunately over. But since we just can't get enough of amazing XC races, let's take the next week to recap what happened at the meet. Also, don't forget to check out the state meet hub for full coverage of the meet including results, photos, and videos. Or go back to the preview articles to see just how accurate (or inaccurate) the predictions were:
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:
Ok. On to the recaps.
1A Division 1 Girls
This race had almost no drama as it went more or less according to the script. Lily Farrell got out to an early lead and took care of business posting one of the biggest wins of the weekend. But she also had the 2nd fastest time of the weekend. I'm sure she knew that the team title was well in hand and that she could take a risk and still hold on for the win, something she did by over a minute and a half. So she absolutely went for it. She got out hard and kept pushing hard the entire way where she came home with a very impressive 18:38. Behind her were the only two girls who broke up the Bleckley Sweep with Ansley Moore holding off Sarah Schabort for runner up and third place. Then it was the Bleckley parade as Farrell's teammates finished 4-5-6-7 as Ella Gibbs, Anna Lynch, Natalie Kitchens, and Claira Lynch helped them secure the team title. Bremen and Fannin county were separated by only one point behind them in 2nd and 3rd place while Jeff Davis rounded out the podium with a 4th place finish.
1A Division 1 Boys
This race also had a truly dominant performance by the Bleckley County crew, as expected. It's pretty incredible the streak that they've been on and how well they show up at state every single year. Early on in the race though it Juan Luna from Toombs who was determined to try to break up the Bleckley party. He pushed the pace early and often while the Bleckley trio of Jack Harrell, Ryder Garrett, and Brody Gibbs sat back biding their time. Ultimately they were too well positioned and eventually all overtook Luna on the 2nd loop. When they came across from the band field it was Harrell who began pulling away and would eventually win his first state title, followed closely by Garrett and Gibbs. Alex Everett also came up strong on the 2nd loop to take 4th place and Luna had to settle for 5th. In the team battle the Bleckley crew took care of business. Fannin county and Armuchee ran well like they have all season and took 2nd and 3rd place while Jeff Davis relied on a small pack to get the job done and take home the 4th place trophy in a small upset.
1A Division 2
Remember when I said Farrell had one of the biggest wins and also had the 2nd fastest time of the weekend? Yeah...that's because Averi Lowen had what I consider to be the single best performance in the history of the state meet at Carrollton. And, it might be the greatest performance by a Georgia high school runner ever. Sub 17 at Carrollton. That's just insane. There are very, very few schools out there who have ever had 5 boys break 17 on a slow version of Carrollton. The fact that she could be a scorer on some of the best boys teams we have year in and year out is absolutely crazy. This is the Georgia version of Jane Hedengren where she's so good that we can barely comprehend how good she is, exactly. But I'm telling you, 16:56 at state? That's something other worldly.
In the boys race Sanders Hearne and Ian Burke, the super sophomores from Atlanta Classical, showed up and showed out running really impressive times for underclassmen on Carrollton. It's a young program that could find themselves competing up near the front of the all class rankings in the future. James Alexander was 4th as a freshman in another impressive time and Thomas Bateman took 8th as a sophomore. This team is going to be dangerous against some bigger schools for a couple of years here. Grady Meier ran well to take 3rd and Ibis Gonzalez had a strong showing in 5th place.
In the team races, Atlanta Classical was able to get the sweep, which wasn't much of a surprise to anybody. They looked calm and collected in both races and just took care of the competition. Furlow charter was the only other school to go home with two trophies as they took runner up on the boys side and 3rd on the girls side. Wilcox county nabbed runner up on the girls side while Baconton Charter took 3rd for the boys. to the surprise of nobody, Georgia military went home with hardware, taking 4th on the boys side and Lake Oconee took the final trophy on the girls side.