Dawson County High School freshman Maddy Walters was named to the Gainesville Times first team All-Area cross country team last week.

Walters was picked from all regions, no matter the classification, from this area.

Walters had a tremendous season and finished fifth at the Region 8-AA meet held at Riverside Military Academy in October.

The freshman sensation ran the 3.1-mile course in a time of 21:10. It was the fastest time of all freshmen at the meet and also broke the Dawson County High School record.

Dawson County finished third overall in the Region 8-AA meet at Riverside Military Academy, to qualify for the state AA meet for the second consecutive year.

Dawson County High School Cross Country Coach Brian DeRose remarked about Walters, “She started the beginning of the season at around 27 minutes, just running with partners she felt comfortable with. We kept pushing her to run with girls that will make her work and obviously she did. She could be potentially the best runner in this region before it’s all over. This is a great honor for her to be named to first team All-Area.”

In Carrollton, at the state AA meet, Walters finished a respectable 17th out of over a 100 runners at the meet. Walters turned in an impressive time of 21:10.55, which tied her school record.

The Lady Tigers finished eighth overall at the meet.