The Dawson County High School varsity cross country teams took part in the Lambert River Run on Saturday at Chattahoochee Point Park in Suwanee.

Once again, Dylan Forrester ran a great race for the boys' team. He finished in fifth place out of 68 runners, with a time of 16:55.

Forrester was just 22 seconds behind first place winner Bryce Schuebert from North Hall.

Tigers Avery Cowart and Brian Colin crossed the finish line in 33rd and 35th place respectively for Dawson County.

Also racing in the varsity boys race were: Armando Jimenez, Mason Carr, Brandon Barker, Ben Umberger, Cole Simmons, Garrette Carlisle and Drew Keller.

The average time for all the boys running was 18:38.

There were seven teams competing in the 5K event. Teams included: North Hall, who won the team event, as well as South Forsyth, West Forsyth, Lambert, Pace Academy and North Forsyth.

"The boys are looking strong, but I believe that almost all have the ability to improve even more as we phase in some new types of training," Beusse said.

For the girls, freshman Bailey Cotter led the charge for the Lady Tigers. Cotter claimed a 32nd place finish. She crossed the line with a time of 23:17.

Junior Cassidy Lecours was on her coat tails coming in 34th with a time of 23:32.

Winning the girls individual race was Savannah Carnahan from South Forsyth with a time of 19:12.

Also competing for the varsity Lady Tigers were: Isabel Queen, Melanie Rimawi, Ansley Costley, Jaylee Leete, Dana Little, Brianna Burt, Laryssa Carlisle and Carly Glaze.

There were 67 runners in the event.

"Our girls team was a little beat up this weekend and we sat two varsity runners out with some minor injuries. This hurt the girls' team's overall performance a bit, but several girls did a good job of stepping up and almost all improved their times from the previous race at Lambert.

"Today's race had some positives and negatives. On the positive side, we are continuing to improve. Of our 29 runners who raced in the first meet at Lambert one month ago, 17 improved by a minute or more and another seven took at least 20 seconds off their time today. Based on that, the kids are responding well to the training and getting fit," Beusse said.

Beusse said the region meet is on the horizon and that is where the team hopes to shine.

"We have six weeks until region and I believe that we will continue to see improvement in runner performance as we begin to phase in some training working at slightly faster paces than we have been. I think we are in a good position as we start looking toward region. If we can continue to improve and learn to be more aggressive during the middle stages of races, we should be set for a strong showing," he said.

In the junior varsity boys race several Tigers posted good times.

Ben Drew finished 37th out of 114 runners with a time of 20:43.

Teammate Ethan Cowart was just behind Drew with a 38th place result and a time of 21:54.

Other Tigers running in the event were: Chris Lafontaine, Andrew Hafermalz, Rhys Adams, Tyler Butler, Jack Zappendorf, Tucker Stowers and Justin Posey.

For the girls, three runners completed the 3.1-mile race. The Lady Tigers were represented by Rebecca Blythe, Emma Daniel and Heidi Collett.