On Aug. 31, 2019, Decatur High School’s varsity boys and girls cross country teams travelled down to coastal Georgia to compete for their races in the Jekyll Island Invitational. 

The boys’ team placed first overall out of 30 schools in the competition, finishing the race with 44 points overall. Sophomore Christian Gonzalez had the fastest time, running a 16:26 5k. Gonzalez ended up placing 3rd overall out of the 235 boys racing in the meet.

Gonzalez said that Decatur’s runners “all push each other to run faster, and I think it helped [motivate us] that there were four of us in the top 10.”  

Running a 17:10, varsity captain Eoin McNally finished sixth place overall and second place among the Decatur runners. Billy Carlton and Jake Westing also placed, reaching seventh and ninth place respectively. Billy and Jake are the only freshmen on the Decatur varsity team.

In the girls’ race, senior Adelaide Taylor finished with the fastest Decatur time, leading the team to finish fourth place out of the 28 schools competing.

The Decatur teams had another race last weekend where they competed in the Carrollton Orthopedic Invitational 5000 meter race. McNally and Gonzalez both finished in fourth and fifth place respectively with times under 17 minutes.

Carlton had a time of 17:13 for 5000 meters, which placed him at 18th place, making him the fastest freshman in the entire race.

In the girls’ championship race, Taylor finished her race with a time of 22:46, making her the fastest out of the DHS girls. Alexis Siegler came in at second out of the Decatur girls, running a 23:04 race.

The cross country team plans to hold their next race this weekend where they will compete in the Winder-Barrow Invitational against 37 other schools.