The Southwest DeKalb Panthers and Lady Panthers won by double digits to sweep the second boys’ and girls’ varsity cross country races at the Druid Hills Middle School course on Tuesday.
All five of the Panthers finished in the top 10 racers in the boys’ race led by a one-two finish from seniors Jacques Williams (18:15.12) and Christopher Morris (18:31.07) to out do Tucker 24-47. Martin Luther King Jr. was third with 103 and Towers fourth with 159.
Brandon Dorsey was fourth in 18:46.80 while sophomores Khalid Johnson (20:25.52) and Shonto Williams (20:26.73) finished eighth and ninth, respectively.
Miller Grove senior Rahiim Aponte was third in 18:40.19 and Tucker senior Ebenezer Agaro (19:00.89) was fifth to round out the top five finishers.
Tucker got top 10 finishes from seniors Damiyan Bush (20:18.89) and Eyosias Eshetu (20:33.09) to aid the second place finish.
The Lady Panthers placed all seven runners in the top 10 of the girls’ race to beat Tucker 26-44. Martin Luther King Jr. was third with 84 points.
Sophomore Kayla Willis (25:15.95) was third overall to lead the pack of seven Lady Panthers in the top 10.
Tucker got a one-two photo finish from junior sisters Nuba Jackson (22:01.35) and Naima Jackson (22:01.69) to cap the Lady Tigers’ second place finish. The two times were the fastest clocked in DeKalb County through three races.
Druid Hills and Dunwoody split the opening varsity races of the day at Druid Hills Middle. The Druid Hills Red Devils had a one-two finish in the boys’ race as senior Daniel Samuel (16:58.30) and junior Ray Lumb (16:59.91) ran the two fastest times of the season in leading Druid Hills to a relatively easy 32-62 win over Dunwoody.
Clarkston was third with 67 points followed by Chamblee with 82, Lakeside 111, Stephenson 357, Arabia Mountain 427 and Cedar Grove 553 in a race featuring approximately 150 runners. Clarkston had three runners in the top 10 led by junior Hassen Sadik in a time of 17:52.06 (third fastest this season. Dunwoody’s top finisher was senior Connor McKnight as he clocked a time of 18:09.82.
The opening girls’ race was the tightest of the day as Dunwoody held off Druid Hills 44-52 while Lakeside came in third with 62 points. Cedar Grove was fourth with 138 points followed by Chamblee with 232, Stephenson 284 and Arabia Mountain with 338.
Dunwoody won despite not having a runner finish above sixth in the race. Senior Katherine Gephardt (23:19.53) was sixth followed closely by sophomore Ellie Conoley (23:25.67) in seventh and junior Brook Joyner (23:51.74) in eighth.
Senior Anna Dowling was Druid Hills’ top finisher with a time of 23:13.86 to take fourth overall while Lakeside took second and third behind the times of sophomore Grace Clark (22:36.21) and freshman Emma Gray in 22:36.86.
Cedar Grove’s Christian Pryor won her second race this season with a time of 22:12.66.
Mark Brock is the Information Officer/Statistician/Web Manager for DeKalb County Schools Athletics