It was a banner day for the Dawson County cross country team last Saturday in Commerce. Under rainy skies and soggy conditions, Madelyn Walters and her Lady Tiger teammates captured first place at the Eagle Run held at East Jackson High School.

Walters (20:48) crossed the finish line seven seconds in front of second place finisher Brittany Aikens (20:55) of Jackson County.

Walters is currently ranked No. 4 in AA throughout the state.

Lady Tiger Emily Beusse also had a strong showing, finishing in third place with a time of 21:10. Beusse completed the race five seconds ahead of Sherri Blalock of East Jackson (21:15). It was an impressive race for Beusse, who is ranked as the No. 12 runner in AA, as she defeated Blalock who is ranked No. 10 in the state.

Head Coach Brian DeRose and his team also placed first in the team event dominating the field with 45 points. The total was 46 points ahead of second place Jefferson who had a team total of 91 points. Finishing third was host East Jackson with 99 points, followed by West Hall, Heritage, Jackson County, Clarke Central, Habersham Central, Stephens County and Cedar Shoals.

The No. 4-ranked team also had strong runs from Krista Morgan who finished in 10th place with a time of 22:45, Kerstin Hlinski in 11th place (22:46), Morgan Williams (25:25), Rachael Gloeckner (25:28) and Genevieve Hoynes (26:21).

The boy’s team also had a notable performance.

Preston Adams led the Tigers with a 23rd place finish out of 134 runners. Adams finished the 3.1-mile race with a time of 19:32.24.

Winning the individual 5000-m race was Aaron Worthy of Heritage with a time of 17:46.51. Runner-up was Ethan Alexander of Elbert County High with a time of 17:52.93.

Tiger Logan Porter placed 30th with a time of 19:49.24. He was followed by teammates John Erickson (19:59.98), Luke Williamson (20:22.69), Chris Bywaletz (20:38.07), Jonah Bishop (20:51.21) and Zach Yarborough (21:24.99).

Coach DeRose’s boy’s team came in 56th overall earning 175 points.

Habersham Central ended up in first place with a team score of 69 points.

Both teams will be back in action today with a home meet. The race is scheduled to begin around 4 p.m. at the high school.