Christopher Akins

Matthew Brafford, a junior at George Washington High School, just won the young men's high school division at the AAU National Cross Country Championships at Winthrop University / Rock Hill, SC.

CONGRATULATIONS Georgia on another outstanding year of Cross Country.  For the 10th year in a row the Atlanta Track Club has continued its generosity with youth athletics and has agreed to sponsor TEAM GEORGIA by outfitting the top 15 boys and 15 girls who will run at the Footlocker South XC meet. The Footlocker South Regional will take place in Charlotte, NC on Saturday, 11/24 and is the precursor to the National XC Championships.   

This season, the course at Carrollton has ran slower, and may have been lengthened a few meters which should favor the 'strength' runners. At press-time, it has been discussed that mats may possibly be covering the many pavement crossings which has been a sore subject for XC purists as the growth of Carollton Schools has stirred the pot enough for a few schools willing to loan the mats they have to cover the pavement. This article will include 2A thru 6A State Previews only. The weather for raceday looks very promising at this time and bodes well for fast times  http://www.weather.com/weather/wxdetail3/USGA0096  6A...we have been saving the Best for Last, and here it is from Ga.MileSplit.com,  thanks to Pre1962 as expounds his unique and detailed breakdown for the Community....Ga.MileSplit.com and GATFXC would like to thank all the Rankers and Runner of the Week Committee members for the tough, time consuming efforts put forth this season to rank each class along with  contributing  articles and selections. This often is a thankless endeavor, as the Community is eager to differ on selections. We care about the kids, programs, coaches, fans and parents who support the programs and athletes. Good Luck to everyone in Carrollton and once again congrats to the Class A Winners, Podium teams, All-State individuals and volunteers that made it happen!

Ben Pleak of Marietta is the 6A Boys 'ROW'  file photo Berry ran :20 slower than recent years due to perhaps the ground being softer and grass longer, but it still produced performances worthy of 'Runners of the Week. Morgan Ainslie of Lassiter had arguably the top Girls peformance at Berry winning the 5A-6A race at 19:06.  Austin Sprague turned in the best Boys performance at Berry making him the 3A Stud in Week 3...We are going to attempt to recognize different runners as 'ROW's' other than the 'Usual Suspects' like Josh Brickell...who is clearly 'The Man' so far this Fall, especially after his Covered Bridge race clocking a 15:48 on a tougher trail than Berry...

It was another great duel this Saurday at the Darlington CC Festival between county rivals as Jesse Baker of Darlington and Christopher Akins of Model fought it out the entire race with Baker once again emerging the victor with a very fast 16:15 compared to Akins 16:20. Just a bit less than 2 weeks ago at the Floyd County Championships on the Ridge Ferry course both went at it turning in 16:39 and 16:41 respectively. Ansley McDurmon of Darlington, who led the Girls squad to the Class A title last year won the Individual title in the Girls Varsity race with a strong time of  19:47 Kennesaw Mountain's Girls won the team title scoring 30 points placing 5 runners in the top 11 led by freshman Brady Young in 20:06 and junior Mary McPartlan in 20:16. Megan Gavin of North Cobb Christian (pictured above) obliterated the MS Girls course record by over :20 in winning the overall title in 12:14. In a tightly contested team race Holy Innocents squeeked out a narrow victory with 71 points over a surprising Model MS squad (73). The MS Boys Team title was won by Westminster led by brothers Derek and Erek Cox at 11:17 and 11:41. Frank Pittman of Sutton MS was the overall champ at 11:07.  all Images by Bruce Taylor-Fast Feet Timing/gatfxc.com