Dawson County High School’s girls’ cross country team is the 2009 Region 8-AA champions.
Head Coach Brian DeRose and his team captured the Region 8-AA championship last Saturday, Oct. 31 at Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville.
This is the first region title for girls in Dawson County High School history.
They now qualify for the Georgia High School Association state meet to be hosted by Carrollton High School next Saturday, Nov. 7 in Carrollton.
The Lady Tigers came in as somewhat of an underdog to North Oconee and East Jackson in last Saturday’s meet. A strong finish by Morgan Williams, ninth place, Kerstin Hilnster, 11th place, Krista Morgan, 17th place and Rachel Gloeckner, 21st place, pushed Dawson past both teams.
Genevieve Hoynes also ran strong for the Lady Tigers. Hoynes crossed the finish line in 26th place with a time of 23:56.54.
Dawson finished the meet with 45 teams points, which was 17 points better than second place East and third place North Oconee.
Also qualifying for the state meet was Jefferson with 108 team points for a fourth place standing.
The course at Riverside was muddy due to a constant rain that started Friday night and continued Saturday morning. The Lady Tigers didn’t let a mushy course bother them.
Sophomore sensation Maddy Walters crossed the finish line with a time of 19:35.54 (personal record) to take a second place finish.
“The girls ran as planned. Everyone had a solid race. Maddy Walters raced for the win and the senior Greenwall twin took her in the last 50 meters.
“Maddy once again lowered the school record by 30 seconds. It was a good learning experience for Maddy. She was sandwiched by two seniors (first and third). She will have her day in the coming years. She ran a perfect race, never letting the attacks by Greenwall affect her until the very end,” said DeRose.
Walters was only 4 seconds behind region champion Rebecca Greenwall from North Oconee. Greenwall won the race with a time of 19:31.01.
Walters finished 17th in last year’s state meet with a time of 21:10.55. Her time in this year’s region meet is 6 seconds faster than the winning time in last year’s state meet.
Rebecca Greenwall’s twin sister, Rachel, won the state meet last season with a time of 19:41.28.
Lady Tiger Emily Beusse also ran a tremendous race for Dawson County.
Beusse came in sixth place with a time of 21:34.38.
Beusse finished last year’s state meet with a time of 22:05.84 and 30th place.
“I’m happy with the region win, but that is not our primary goal for the season.
The girls’ goal for the season is to get on the state podium, which is the top four teams in the state. We still have some work to do this week to accomplish that, and it’s going to be tough,” said DeRose.