Dawson County Middle School Lady Tiger Katya Bessiere set a new course record at the North Georgia Mountain League Championship cross country meet Oct. 9.

Bessiere, a seventh grader, covered the two-mile course at Clear Creek Middle School in Ellijay in a time of 13:28 to claim the title.

In second place for the girls was Lauren Pitkins from the Junior Dragons with a time of 16:26.

Following Bessiere were Lindsey LeBaron (16:26), Jenna Lecours (16:36), Samantha Huggard (18:03), Sarah Teague and Kennedy Maledor.

The team finished in fourth place with 71 points. Winning the team championship was Clear Creek with 40 points.

For the boys, Cody Wood claimed third place. Wood ran the two-mile event in 12:38 just missing out on second place runner Gene Carbonell from Fannin County who ran the meet in 12:35.

Claiming the individual title was Carlos Cruz from Clear Creek with a time of 12:11.

Also racing for Dawson County were: Ben McGinnis (13:53), Austin Arnold (14:36), Hunter Voyles (15:34), Jared Posey and Mitchell McVay.
As a team, the Tigers amassed 79 points, good enough for a fourth place finish. Winning the team title were the Junior Dragons from Jasper with 38 points.

"I thought the runners did a great job yesterday and hoped that they learned a lot about what it takes to be successful at this sport," said Head Coach John Lundy.

"With cross country, you get out what you put in and hopefully this has taught the runners a little about themselves and that nothing worthwhile in life comes easy."