Clarkston Beats Stone Mountain in Cross Country Opener

Senior Muhozi Aimable and his Clarkston Angora teammates clocked some very
good times to lead the Angoras to an easy victory over Cross Keys and Stone Mountain in the opening race of the DeKalb County Schools cross country season at Druid Hills Middle School on Tuesday.

Amiable led the way with a time of 17:42.23 and was followed by junior Gidey Shalu in 17:47.46 and senior Leiso Tumbo in 17:51.01. Last year’s first race winner senior Hussen Sadik closed out a sweep of the top four spots by the Angoras with a time of 18:00.67. Freshman Bineyam Tumbo rounded out the top five Clarkston runners in seventh with a time of 19:24.96 to give the Angoras a final total of 17 points.


 Cross Keys’ senior Christian Newkirk helped the Indians squeeze past Stone Mountain into second in the race with a fifth place finish in 18:48.71. Fellow Cross Keys’ seniors Christian Padilla was eighth (19:27.11) and Chao Lin was ninth (19:38.56) as the Indians compiled a score of 60 in the opening race at Druid Hills Middle.

Southwest DeKalb senior Kameron Scott was sixth in 18:51.23 and Stephenson
senior Chaz Berry was 10th in 20:02.24 to round out the Top 10 finishers.

Tucker captured the first girls’ race of the day with 47 points to top Stephenson (56) and Columbia (61).

Twin sisters Nuba and Naima Jackson battled for the top spot with Nuba taking the race in a time of 21:57.74 and Naima in second with a time of 21:58.28. Sophomore Kiera Washington gave the Lady Tigers three Top 10 finishers as she took fourth with a time of 26:11.39.

Stephenson placed four runners in the Top 10 lead by sophomore Jaylyn Williams in fifth with a time of 28:27.27, senior Darien Johnson in seventh (28:43.96), Sarah Lovett in ninth (30:13.39) and senior Nyah Muhammad tenth (30:50.97).

Columbia took the sixth and eight spots in the Top 10 as Danesha Cross was sixth (28:30.27) and Delissa Grant was eighth (29:37.15).

Southwest DeKalb junior Kayla Willis running by herself grabbed the third place finish behind the Jackson sisters with a time of 25:03.70.

Dunwoody swept the boys’ and girls’ races in the second half of the meet putting up perfect scores of 15 points by each team to claim easy victories.

Senior Owen Firebaugh captured the boys’ title in the nightcap with a time of 20:01.03 to lead a Dunwoody sweep of the first seven spots. Senior Noah Doherty was second in 21:07.55 followed by a trio of juniors in Max Noto (21:36.66), Drew D’Alessandro (22:00.13) and Nathan Bryant (22:03.01), respectively.

Senior Brook Joyner led the Lady Wildcats in their sweep of the girls’ race with a time of 22:51.59 to capture the race title. Joyner was followed by, respectively, sophomore Shanel Stewart (22:59.57), freshman Alexandra Womble (23:10.14), sophomore Sydney Drew (23:59.98) and junior Emily Cyr (24:12.36).

Martin Luther King Jr.’s sophomore Aissatou Barry was the only non-Dunwoody runner in the Top 10 as she finished seventh in a time of 25:42.25.