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Surrounding the Autumn scenery of Brown Lake, the Grangers took the field in their most important contest of the season at ONE Church in Fayetteville. The realignment of the regions meant that these boys and girls would be battling faster competition than last year. They rose to the challenge and succeeded in more ways than one. The season goal was accomplished by these talented and hard-working Grangers. 

In a race that was decided in the last 100 meters, the cross country team competed in the 4-AAAA Region Championship and the boys finished 5-points ahead of opponents Fayette County, North Clayton, Riverdale, and Troup County to take the final qualifying position. Led by MVP Walker Vinson and gutsy performances down the roster, the Grangers are going to state. The meet will be held on Nov. 5 in Carrollton. 

In the varsity race, Walker Vinson finished 14th in 18:47, Bo Beall took 20th in 19:39, followed by Sophomore Calder Thurman (20:02, PR), Akeem Bailey (20:50, PR), Gabe Shaw (20:59), David Barrientos (22:06, PR), and Ben Beall (22:09). In the JV race, three more Grangers turned in personal best times: Bo Morman (21:58), Ben Lee (22:03), and Lucas Ernstberger (27:48). John Roberts capped his season with 24:01. The majority of the runners are first-time, XC runners with only two returning members.

Leading the varsity girls, Raleigh Thompson was the first runner to finish after the winner, Starr’s Mill and Whitewater. She finished in twelfth place in 22:38, seconds off her personal best. Teammate Callie Morris was 16th in 25:35, beating the top runners from three other region opponents. Addie Phillips capped her season in the JV race with a personal best of 37:27