Seniors Lead Cross Country Teams to Region Championships
By Alan Parish - FF/S
Four years ago a strong group of freshmen joined the Darlington cross country teams and started an impressive string of Region Championships. Now seniors, their success continued yesterday as they capped off their final home races with individual and team Region 6A titles.
On the girls’ side, seniors Ansley McDurmon and Lindsay Evans led the team to their sixth straight region championship. Ansley won the individual region title with an impressive win over defending region champion Camilla Loggins of Gordon Lee. Ansley placed first in the Region meet three times in her four-year career. Lindsay used an outstanding finishing kick to grab third place; she placed in the top three all four of her years in Region 6A.
Also placing for the girls were freshman Kinslee Clevenger in 5th, and sophomores Anna Cantrell (9th), Bethany Cagle (10th) and Callee Manna (11th).
Led by seniors Jesse Baker, Cam Collins and Sean Healy, the boys’ team recaptured the Region title after Mount Paran won it in 2010. They won three region championships in their four-year careers. Jesse won his second individual region title with an impressive start-to-finish lead; he also placed first in 2009. Cam was 10th and Sean 13th. The three seniors were complimented by junior Alex Cox (9th), sophomores Avery Cypress (11th) and Andrew Hudson (12th), and freshman Spencer Fields (14th).
Darlington dominated the JV races; Remy Jennings won the girls’ JV race and Trammell Braden won the boys’ JV race. Also medaling with top-10 JV finishes were Jonathan Tierney (5th), Shan Paracka (8th), Charlie Xu (10th), Shelby Martin (2nd), Polly von Saldern (3rd), Anne Marie McDurmon (4th), Katie Hutchins (5th), Megan Healy (6th), Jordan Hutchins (9th), and Lindsey Vaughn (10th). Jonathan capped off his four-year career with his fastest 5K time ever, a personal record (PR) of 20:55 for 5K. Also running PR’s were Shelby Martin, Katie Hutchins, Harbin Peek, and Du Zhang.
The cross country teams will conclude their seasons Saturday, November 5 in Carrollton at the GHSA State Championship. The boys run at 10 AM and the girls at 10:30.
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