The Dawson County High School boys and girls cross country teams participated in one of the largest and most prestigious cross country events in Georgia Tuesday, Oct. 7.

Held in Helen, and sponsored by White County High School, the event attracts some of the best runners in the state. The challenging course is set at Unicoi State Park.

This year, 26 girl's teams and 33 boys teams ran. Not only did high school teams run, but middle school teams also participated in the 3.1-mile event.

Lady Tiger Krista Morgan finished in 30th place out of 186 girls with a time of 22:19.63.

Emily Beusse was not far behind, finishing 31st with a time of 22:20.01.

Also completing the race for the Lady Tigers were Maddy Walters (38th), Morgan Bennett (78th), Genevieve Hoynes, Morgan Williams and Alora Mitchell.

Winning the event for the girls was Lauren Kester of Greater Atlanta Christian School with a time of 18:54.89.

Two runners from North Oconee high school placed second and third. Twin sisters Rebecca Greenwall and Rachel Greenwall posted times of 19:25.04 and 19:25.35 to take the two top spots.

Dawson's girl's team finished a very respectable eighth overall with a combined score of 271. The score was a second best in Region 8-AA, just behind North Oconee High School who scored 231 points for sixth place as a team.

Capturing the team championship was Flowery Branch with a score of 93.

A distant second place went to Chestatee (175), followed by White County (202), GACS (215), and rounding out the top five was Athens Christian (217).

On the boys' side, Tiger Luke Williamson posted the fastest time with a 19:20.73. Williamson finished in 85th place out of 229 runners.

Logan Porter, 89th place, crossed the finish line with a time of 19:23.89.

Also posting times for the Tigers were Stephen Scaiffe, Seth Stowers, Tyler Thurmond, Cody Reidling and Jonah Bishop.

Placing in first with an impressive time of 16:22.59 was Colin Bishoff of Athens Christian.

Coming in second place was Nolan Clark of North Hall with a time of 16:47.25.

Rounding out the top five were Tyler Dunn from Pickens County, Daniel Martinez of Flowery Branch and Ty McCormack of North Hall.

Flowery Branch also captured the team title with a score of 60.

North Hall (79) came in second, followed by West Hall (139), North Oconee (184) and Gainesville (213).

The Tigers finished in 25th place with a team score of 599.

Dawson hosted an event yesterday at home, results were not available as of press time. The race was the last tune-up before the region meet that will be held Nov. 1.

E-mail Pam Jacobs at sports@dawsonnews.com.