HELEN — The Dawson County boys and North Hall girls ran their way to the Region 7-AAA cross country titles on Thursday at Unicoi State Park in Helen.
North Hall's Devan Crow ran his way to first place individually (15:47.9), while Dawson's Frankie Muldoon claimed the gold in the girls meet (19:11.9).
The Trojans followed the Tigers in second place, while Union County was third -- paced by Lance Underwood, who was second individually (16:12.2).
The Dawson County girls also finished second, with the Lumpkin County girls third and the Union County girls fourth -- Zoe Sanchez paced the Lady Panthers, finishing second individually (19:33.5).
The top four teams and top six individuals each qualified for the state meet in Carrollton.
BRANCH, BUFORD TEAMS, JOHNSON GIRLS QUALIFY FOR STATE
The Flowery Branch girls claimed the Region 8-AAAAA title, while the Branch boys finished second at the meet, held Thursday at Unicoi State Park in Helen. Both the Buford boys and girls also clinched state berths, finishing fourth and third, respectively. The Johnson girls also made it into the state meet in Carrollton, taking fourth place.
Falcons runners also swept individual honors, with Flowery Branch's Collin Kilgore winning the boys meet with a time of 16:18.7. The Lady Falcons' Erika Plummer also won the girls meet, finishing in 18:44.5.
LAKEVIEW TAKES FIFTH
The Lions finished just outside of qualification for the state meet, taking fifth -- 10 points behind Providence Christian on Thursday in a tough region meet. Lakeview senior T.O. Sosebee took ninth overall, three spots out of qualifying individually with a time of 17:41.
It marked the first time in seven years the Lions have not qualified for state. The Lady Lions, meanwhile, finished 10th with an average time of 28:15.
