The Dawson County High School boys’ cross country team ran a solid race in last Saturday’s State Class AA meet hosted by Carrollton High School.

The boys finished in 14th place on the very difficult 3.1-mile hilly course.

There were 32 teams in the competition.

“It was a little disappointing we didn’t place in the top 10, as I  believe the guys have the talent to do, but I’m still very proud of them,” said Head Coach Brian DeRose. “It was a feat to make it here. I am very proud of them for that.”

Tyler Thurmond had the strongest showing for the Tigers. Thurmond crossed the finish line in 59th place, out of 221 runners, with a time of 18:55.25.

He was followed by Preston Adams (19:02.84), senior Logan Porter (19:18.92), Jon Erickson (19:22.11), Jonah Bishop (19:49.31), Chris Bywaletz (19:50.46) and Luke Williamson (19:54.09).

Winning the state individual title was Ayala Leonel from Cross Keys with a time of 16:22.44.

Westminster captured the team title scoring 40 points, far outdistancing second place finisher East Jackson who had 101 points.

The Tigers ran in arguably the toughest region in the state this season.

Region 8-AA had three teams finish in the top 10. East Jackson (second), North Oconee (fourth) and Banks County (eighth).

“I’m glad the guys got the chance to run at the state meet. It was a  first for all of them. Next year they will have an even stronger team as we are only losing two of seven varsity runners. They had a taste of the big show. We’ll be back,” said DeRose.