VHS Cross Country Takes 4th In State
Courtesy of VHS
On Saturday of last week the Vidalia High School cross country team was in Carrollton to take part in the GHSA State AA Championships. The boys as a team came away with a fourth place finish with Andrew Hodges leading the pack. In the girls' meet Georgia Meredith took third place in the race as she overcame an injury from earlier in the year to make her mark.
Girls
Georgia Meredith, once again led way in record breaking fashion, but it did not come without its challenges. While recovering from knee surgery in the spring, Meredith had a slower season progression than she anticipated, but she teamed up with three freshmen and stayed focused.
Freshmen Sadie Siegmund, Judith Hussey and Gabby Hester committed to the process and joined forces with a few volleyball players to complete the team. Dashia Ford, Alana Claxton and Rori Johnson committed to running cross country after the completion of their volleyball season, this in and of itself is a very difficult task, but they stepped up huge for the Indians.
Georgia Meredith’s capabilities were ignored throughout the season by Milesplit, but that only fueled her fire. Meredith defeated the Region Champion from Savannah Arts and crushed her own school record during the State Meet. It wasn’t an easy race, and it wasn’t until the last 400m of the 5k that she overtook her rival to seal her 3rd place finish, earning a spot on the podium again with her record time of 20:12. She now has three slots on the all time leader boards for the Indians, 1st, 2nd, and 4th.
Boys
The Indians competed with grit and determination in the 2A GHSA Cross Country State Championship in Carrollton.
Leading the pack was Andrew Hodges, who capped out his high school cross country career with a 13th place finish and boosting his name to the number 2 position on the VHS top 20 record board with continued from page
a time of 17:25. Jude Owen, Abrien Anthony and Cash Driggers also marked their spot on the record board. Every single athlete put in their best time for this course. Chamlee Evan ran an exceptional race as well as did Larson Carter and Liam Mac-Gregor.
Coach Mandy Godbee said, “This is by far the best team I have had the honor of coaching. Their grit and determination exceeded expectations every day. Earning a spot on the podium has been in their sights for years, and they knew it was going to be a challenge, but they were up for it.”
Providence Christian Academy took first place with 70 points, Athens Academy was second with 80 points, Fannin County was third with 137 points, and Vidalia came in fourth with 146 points.
