Deerfield-Windsor girls cross country wins state

ALBANY — Deerfield-Windsor cross country coach Cathy Jones believed her girls team was close before the final results came in Saturday at the GISA Class AAA state meet at Darton State College.

As it turned out, they were more than that.

The Lady Knights took home the state championship, as two runners — Virginia Moore and Camryn Bridges — placed first and second with times of 19:17 and 19:21 respectively. Westminster School of Augusta placed second, while Southland Academy came in third.

The Brentwood School of Sandersville won the Class AA girls competition with an average time of 23:42. Twiggs Academy and Grace Christian Academy followed with average times of 25:31 and 26:10 respectively.

“This is considered one of the fastest courses in the GISA,” Jones said of the Darton State campus. “That’s one of the reasons most of the schools like for us to host state. It’s flat, fast. The weather today was absolutely perfect.”

DWS coach Jake Clawson liked what he saw before the meet began.

“The course is pancake flat,” Clawson said. “That’s good for the kids, though, they love to run faster times.”

The 3.1-mile course starts near the Darton soccer fields and runs around the backside of the campus through the woods and re-emerges near the south side of campus.

Southland Academy took home the gold in the boys’ race with three runners finishing in the top 10. Deerfield-Windsor placed fourth with an average time of 18:35, behind Trinity Christian of Sharpsburg and Augusta Prep.

The Knights’ Ethan Merritt placed sixth with a time of 16:54, while Porter Hill followed him in 20th position with a time of 18:41.

“Obviously, the girls did pretty well,” Clawson said. “They were expected to do well, but they really put a race together today. They performed very well. It’s hard to lose when you get the top two.”

Stephen Griffin and Jason Wilcox, both parents of Deerfield-Windsor runners, co-organized the race.

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