The DCHS cross-country teams finished in the top 10 of AAA teams at the State Meet in Carrollton on Saturday, November 8, to cap off a tremendous 2014 season.

The girls team ran to a fifth place team finish out of 26 competing teams while the boys team captured a ninth place team finish out of 32 competing teams at the State event.

It was definitely a solid day for us, said DCHS head cross-country coach Charles Beusse.

The Lady Tigers were led by the strong running of Marley Hamby, who earned a 25th place overall finish in the race with a time of 22:09.75. Bailey Cotter, who had been sidelined for most of the season due to injury, displayed her running prowess on her way to a 34th place overall finish with a time of 23:08.45. Faith Sinclair (23:39.72), Ansley Costley (23:45.05) and Melanie Rimawi (23:51.43) completed the top five runners for the Lady Tigers at the GHSA event.

I was beyond proud of how our girls performed, Beusse said. We came into the race ranked seventh and knocked off some very good teams to work our way up to fifth. This was a very exciting race to watch. Marley Hamby fought every step of the way and helped us tremendously by placing in the top 25. In this race, as with all the others this season, grouping was key for us. Our girls didnt disappoint at all.

The boys team earned a ninth place team finish at the State Meet thanks in large part to the swift legs of first year runner Jacob Poston. Poston raced his way to a 31st place overall finish out of 215 participating runners with a time of 18:17.66. Freshman Chris Shelp earned a 47th place overall finish with a time of 18:46.85. Brandon Barker (19:08.26), Owen Jordan (19:18.07) and Garrett Carlisle (19:21.51) rounded out the top five runners for the Tigers at the event.

Overall, I was pleased with the performances these young men had, Beusse said. They gave it everything they had and I couldnt be more proud of them. As Ive said all year, this is a very young group. For this group of relatively inexperienced runners to hang tough the way they have this year and come away in the top 10 in the state speaks volumes of the potential this group has going forward. I think that with another solid year of training, we could see this group develop into a top five team in the state.

Beusse gave high praise to senior runner Barker for his part in helping the team capture ninth place in the state.

Knowing that this was his final race, Barker gave it his all out there and Im extremely proud of him, Beusse said. While he wont be back with us next season, the things he has done and the culture among the boys team that he has helped to establish will last long after he has graduated.

Beusse believes that the success enjoyed by both the girls and boys teams this season is just the beginning of what the program has to offer.

When I came in last season, I had two goals in mind, Beusse said. First, put together two teams that could compete at the region level and secondly to help build Dawson into an eventual state contender and, most importantly, to give the runners at DCHS something they can be proud of and take with them long after high school. I feel like this season has served as a step in the right direction toward those goals. I hope that this season can serve as a stepping stone for great things to come for DCHS cross-country.