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Runners face tough competition
Girls Cross Country pic
Freshman Bailey Cotter led all Lady Tigers with a 33rd place finish in the season opening cross country event at Chattahoochee Point in Suwanee. - photo by Ryan Coker Dawson Community News

The Dawson County High School girls cross country team opened the season on Saturday with a race at Chattahoochee Point Park in Suwanee. The event was hosted by Lambert High School.

Coach Charles Beusse's team competed against eight schools, all in Classes AAAAA and AAAAAA.

"We faced some very tough competition this morning with teams such as Centennial High School, Johns Creek, Archer and Lambert in the field. It's always tough to go up against these bigger schools, but I really think it can be beneficial for our runners to get to see some good competition from larger programs early on," Beusse said.

Also competing in the race were Lanier, Alpharetta, Chattahoochee and Cambridge high schools.

Freshman Bailey Cotter led the Dawson County varsity girls, it was Cotter's first cross country race. Cotter finished in 33rd place out of 83 runners with a time of 23:34.

"I felt like she showed good maturity and instinct during the race. There's a serious learning curve involved in racing cross country and I believe that as Bailey adapts and learns this year, she will quickly improve. She has a very competitive spirit about her," Beusse said.

The next four varsity finishers in the race for Dawson County were Faith Sinclair (23:48), Isabel Queen, a freshman, (24:13), Cassidy Lecours and Melanie Rimawi.

Also running in the varsity division for the Lady Tigers were Dana Little, Ansley Costley, Jaylee Leete, Heidi Collett and Brianna Burt.

Normally meets allow six runners in the varsity race, but Saturday's competition saw each school allowed 10 runners.

Centennial High School took the top three spots in the varsity race. Winning the title was Grace Tavani with a time of 20:45. Runner-up was teammate Haley McKay with a time of 21:09.

Centennial also took the team title with 28 points. Lambert finished in second place with 55 points. The Lady Tigers posted 204 points to finish in eighth place.

"I think that as of now, things are shaping up for all of our teams to have success this season. We have a good blend of junior/senior leadership mixed with talented youth," Beusse said.