Adairsville, Cartersville, and Woodland XC teams compete at the GHSA State Finals

Five local high school cross country teams including 36 individual runners competed Friday and Saturday (Nov. 3-4) in Carrollton at the 2023 GHSA State Championships.

The Cartersville boys finished 14th in Class 5A while the Woodland boys were 16th of 32 teams on Friday. In the girls' Class 5A championship on Friday, the Woodland girls finished 18th and the Cartersville girls placed 25th of 31 teams.

The Adairsville boys in Saturday’s Class AAA finals finished 21st of 29 teams.

Qualifying as an individual in Class AAA, Adairsville’s Callie Viktora finished 13th of 179 runners. Her time of 21:19 was just over a minute behind individual champion Weezie Moore of Wesleyan School. Wesleyan also won the girls team title in AAA.

Chattahoochee High School won the boys Class 5A team title followed by Jefferson, Clarke Central, Cambridge, and Greenbrier. Jacob Pullen of Maynard Jackson High School was the individual champion in 15:58. The 5A boys 5K race included 222 runners.

Barrett Stepp led the Cartersville boys team with a 38th place individual finish in 17:07. He was followed by fellow Canes Kaleb Lanier (57th, 17:25), Hayden Mitchell (61st, 17:28), Carson Robinson (88th, 17:54), Tripp Chitwood (116th, 18:18), Ben Russell (135th, 18:47), and Micah Sanders (138th, 18:49).

Woodland’s Landon McSwain paced the Wildcats with a 32nd place finish in 17:01. Teammates Andy Forsyth (47th, 17:15), Juan Mendoza (55th, 17:23), Knox Koontz (130th, 18:41), Connor Smith (180th, 19:32), Will Parker (183rd, 19:40), and James Morris (188th, 19:51) followed.

Decatur won the 31-team Class 5A girls championship ahead of McIntosh, Northview, Chattahoochee, and Cambridge. Sanam Rangaraj of Cambridge won the individual title in Class 5A with a 5K time of 18:36.

Miranda Pelow led the Lady Cats of Woodland with a 67th place finish in 21:55. She was followed by teammates Olivia Berry (77th, 22:10), Abby George (112th, 22:57), Addison Brown (118th, 23:15), Autumn Lottner (134th, 24:04), Lily Hiott (135th, 24:04), and Sophia St. James (174th, 25:46).

Kimberly Guerra led the Cartersville girls with a 92nd place finish in 22:30. Teammates Jordan Hathaway (137th, 24:06), Hadley Finnemore (151st, 24:38), Vivi Vest (152nd, 24:38), Meredith Gaines (160th, 25:10), Ella Sabaka (163rd, 25:20), and Helen Learning (198th, 27:50) followed.

The Class AAA boys championship was won by Oconee County followed by Lumpkin County and Hebron Christian. Oconee’s Cooper Timberman won the individual title with a 15:50 time.

Griffin Bozeman placed 26th individually in 18:03 to lead the Adairsville boys. He was followed by Michael Spinks (98th, 19:57), Dutch Hernandez (123rd, 20:32), Aaron Souders (129th, 20:46), Cody Teer (180th, 22:53), Chris Pelchat (193rd, 25:58) and Lucas Henry (195th, 36:41).