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-3A Private Boys
You gotta love an underdog, and that's what we got here. Landon Jonas hadn't raced since early October heading into the state championships. And when a kid doesn't show up at the sectional meet at all, it definitely creates some concern. For that reason I felt like there were three other guys who were probably favored to win the race. But. That's why we run the race. Jonas sat back early, but by halfway he was part of the pack that included everybody you expected to see. And it was also worth wondering if we'd see a race that was a sit and kick type of situation. Instead he made his bid on the 2nd loop and opened up a gap. Samuel Wood tried to cover, but just wasn't able to handle the move and would have to settle for runner up as Jonas came down the final hill with enough of a lead to celebrate some. Haris Flynn was able to keep things close enough to kick down the hill for 3rd place while Eli Floyd also ran better than predicted to snag 4th place. Meanwhile Anderson Mathias ran a smarter race than last year and was able to stick with these top runners close enough to hold on for a strong 5th place finish which were big team points.
This team battle was so interesting. There were so many ways to look at it coming into the meet, and it was hard to predict a favorite. In the end it wound up being Hebron versus Whitefield for the win on the 2nd loop. And these teams matched up really, really evenly at positions 1-3-5. Hebron had the advantage at 2nd man but Whitefield had the advantage at 4th man. The 2nd loop was pure chaos as coaches were franticly telling their teams how close this thing was. In the end, Hebron was able to do just enough to come away with the win in a very tight race. Trinity Christian and Athens Academy had their own battle going on the 2nd loop for 3rd and 4th. Trinity had the advantage up front, but Athens had a much tighter pack and was able to eventually get their 5th man in front of trinity's 4th to try to pull away. But Trinity's 5th was able to hang close enough to get the job done and go home with 3rd place while Athens was a solid 4th.
1A-3A Private Girls
This one played out kind of how I expected it to play out. Morgan Huggins opened up a lead early in this race and tried to just pull away form everybody from the gun. She had a big enough lead at points that you didn't expect her to be challenged at all. And in the end, she wasn't challenged much, as she had control of the race for pretty much the whoe way, but there was probably a little doubt as Weezie Moore and Lauren Thomas moved and were battling for runner up. Had that battle been a little faster, maybe they could have challenged for the win. They came kicking down the hill hard and Thomas did her best to try to catch Moore by the line, but it wasn't quite enough as Moore wound up runner up and Thomas was 3rd. Lucy Blee and Eloise Jones also had big days to displace a couple of the favorites and take 4th and 5th respectively after running patient races this first loop.
In the team battle, Wesleyan appeared to be close to untouchable. And while Mount Vernon certainly made them sweat it out, in the end the wolves were just too much for them. Wesleyan wasn't quite as dominant as last time, but winning is winning. And they were just the best team all season from top to bottom. The bigger surprises happened at 3rd and 4th place this year. Mount Pisgah ran a fantastic team race to take a convincing 3rd place overall. They had the smallest 1-5 pack in the field of contenders and was a huge advantage over their rivals being able to run as a team. Lovett also came flying under the radar this season but put together their best race at the state meet to take home the final trophy.
