The senior athletes at Dawson County High School are just a couple of days away from moving on to the next chapter in their lives.
During their last year in high school, they will have many special moments to reflect back on.
During the 2014-15 school year, senior Tigers and their underclassmen teammates claimed six Region 7-AAA championships (boys and girls golf, girls basketball, competitive cheerleading, softball and girls cross country), qualified for state competition in 14 out of 17 varsity sports (boys golf, girls golf, girls basketball, softball, girls cross country, boys cross country, wrestling, competitive cheerleading, girls track, boys track, girls soccer, boys soccer, girls tennis, boys tennis) and won the All Sports Trophy for the region.
Softball
Head Coach Jimmy Pruett's varsity softball team finished in fifth place in the Class AAA state tournament in Columbus.
The Lady Tigers completed the season with a 22-8-1 overall record.
The team also captured a Region title.
Pruett's team placed three players on the All-State team: Joy Lewis, Emily Hunsinger and Tabitha Morrison.
Cross Country (girls)
The Lady Tigers won a region championship behind runners Marley Hamby, Bailey Cotter, Ansley Costley, Melanie Rimawi, Taylor Grindstaff and Cassidy Lecours.
The team ran at the state meet in Carrollton and finished in fifth place.
Dawson County was led by freshman Hamby who crossed the finish line in 24th place. She posted a time of 22:09.75.
Hamby was followed by teammates Cotter (23:08), Faith Sinclair (23:39), Ansley Costley (23:45) and Rimawi (23:51).
Also running for the Lady Tigers were Taylor Grindstaff (23:57) and Cassidy Lecours (24:59).
Dawson County will lose two seniors from its varsity squad next season: Lecours and Grindstaff.
Cross country (boys)
The Dawson County High School boys cross country team finished in third place at the Region 7-AAA meet at Banks County High School in October.
Leading the Tigers was Jacob Poston with a third place individual finish and a time of 18:36.
Following Poston were: Chris Shelp-ninth place (19:11), Owen Jordan-16th (19:45), Brandon Barker-17th (19:46) and Ethan Clark-18th (20:05).
Also running for Dawson County were Garrett Carlisle and Ben Umberger.
The team traveled to Carrollton for the state meet and finished in ninth place overall.
Poston led all Dawson County runners with a 31st place finish and a time of 18:17.66.
Poston was followed by Shelp (18:46.85), Barker (19:08.26), Jordan (19:18.07) and Carlisle (19:21.51).
Also running for the Tigers were Clark (20:03.46) and Seth Miller (21:10.48).
Clark, Shelp and Jordan were freshman.
Football
The varsity Tigers football team finished the season with a 2-8 overall record.
Twelve year veteran coach Jeff Lee resigned in January with an overall record of 50-60, best in school history. Lee will be replaced by Sid Maxwell.
Fourteen Dawson County Tiger football players were named to the Region 7-AAA football team.
Players were selected by head coaches throughout the region.
Named to the first team offense for the Tigers was senior wide receiver Dalton Edwards.
On the first team defense was sophomore linebacker Luke Martin.
Martin led the Tigers in tackles during the 2014 season.
On the second team offense was senior fullback Kyle Hayes, freshman quarterback Coey Watson and senior lineman Corbin Thomas.
Voted to the second team defense was senior defensive lineman Brett Whalen and defensive backs Dylan Nix and Hunter Mitchell.
Honorable mention honors went to Tigers wide receiver Jeffrey Partain, offensive linemen AJ Maner and Cameron Hudson, linebackers Colby Padgett and Conor Woodbury and defensive backs Jeremy Whalen and Colin Glover.
Basketball (girls)
The Lady Tigers varsity basketball team completed the season with a perfect 25-0 record, a region championship and an Elite Eight appearance before losing to Laney High School on Feb. 24.
The team finished the season with a 29-1 overall record.
Playing in their last game were seniors Sheyenne Seabolt, Ashley Parker, Jordan Moore and Mikaela Egan.
Also part of the season's perfect team were juniors Karlie Bearden, Katelynn Simpson, Haley Burgess, Erin Chatham, Brittany Griggs, Ansley Costley, Peytan Porter and Lauren Burgess.
Long-time head coach Steve Sweat announced his retirement that is set to begin at the end of June.
Competitive Cheerleading
In five invitational competitions during the season, the team won four and placed third at another.
The team also captured the region title, its first in five years for the school.
At the state meet Head Coach Kim Fleming's team placed 13th.
Dawson County High School Senior Summer Sanders was named Georgia Cheerleader of the Year at the Georgia High School Association state finals.
Wrestling
Coach Arron Haynes' Dawson County High School varsity wrestling team competed at the State Traditional tournament in Macon Feb. 12-14.
The Tigers took six wrestlers to the meet and were led by Gavin Brown (195 pounds), Harrison Adams (138 pounds), Jeremy Whalen (145 pounds), Brett Whalen (182 pounds), Ty Williams (heavyweight) and Justin Evans (113 pounds).
All six wrestlers finished in the top 10.
The team finished in fourth place at the Region 7-AAA Duals Tournament at West Hall High School in Oakwood in mid-January.
Basketball (boys)
Head Coach Thad Burgess' varsity boys basketball team was just one win away from making the state tournament with a very young team.
The Tigers won three of their last four regular season games to go into the region tournament with as the No. 5 seed.
But the team suffered a 63-57 loss to Franklin County to end its season with an overall record of 7-19.
Playing in their last games as seniors were: Jackson Morgan, J.T. Eggert, Logan Crumley, Levi Whitmore and Brandon Abbott.
Baseball
The varsity Tigers baseball team finished the season with an overall record of 9-16.
Head Coach Thad Burgess' team completed Region 7-AAA play with a 7-11 record.
Track (girls)
Savannah Haberkam finished fifth in the discus and seventh in the shot put at the state track meet in Albany.
The senior helped the Lady Tigers to a 20th place team finish.
Freshman Bailey Cotter was only one second off the school record in the 800-meters to finish in 12th place, but not good enough for the finals.
Katelynn Simpson came in 14th place in the 300-meter low hurdles at the state meet.
Track (boys)
Jacob Poston set school records in the 800-meters and 1,600-meters at the state track meet in Jefferson.
Poston finished in sixth place in the 800-meters and in eighth place in the 1,600-meters.
Senior pole vaulter Rhys Adams took a seventh place finish while teammate Cole Smith placed in the discus.
The Tigers came in 21st place as a team.
Tennis
Coach Ryan Coker's and Coach Jamie Bearden's boys and girls tennis teams both led their teams into the state playoffs with a strong showing at the region tournament.
It was the first time in school history that the boys had qualified for state.
Soccer (boys)
Coach Jed Lacey's varsity boys soccer team completed its season with a 12-4-2 overall record and a trip to the Elite Eight.
Unfortunately the Tigers were defeated by Decatur 2-1 to end the season.
The Tigers will graduate Brandon Lund, Josh Sage, Dalton Edwards, Randy Schultz, Sal Mendoza, David Velasquez and Jose Zuniga.
The Lady Tigers played in a very tough region as was evidenced by West Hall's win in the state final game over Calhoun.
Soccer (girls)
Coach Jed Lacey's varsity girls soccer team made a deep run into the state tournament before succumbing to No. 1-ranked Westminster by a 5-1 score.
The top 10 ranked Lady Tigers had a great season and finished with a 14-4 overall team record and a second place finish in the region standings.
Dawson County battled injuries all season, but was able to fight the adversity.
Graduating are seniors: Anela Melton, Meghan Picklesimer, Taylor Bennett, Sara Bywaletz, Ivonne Maldonado, Summer Armstrong, McKay Shively and Emily Stapler.
Golf
Both the boys and girls golf teams were region champions under the tutelage of Head Coach West Greer.
Greer led his team to the state championship, played in Roswell on Monday.
The boys finished ninth, while Blessed Trinity claimed the title .
The girls' team placed fifth, while Calhoun was crowned team champion.
Senior Madison Caldwell captured both the region and the state title as an individual.