Raiders finish third and Lady Raiders finish fourth at GIAA Region 3-AAA XC Meet

Published 5:11 pm Monday, October 24, 2022

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

From Staff Reports

 

AMERICUS – Both the Southland Academy boys’ and girls’ cross country teams turned in strong performances at the GIAA Region 3-AAA Meet held at Southland Academy on Saturday, October 22. The Raiders finished in third place, while the Lady Raiders finished fourth.

As a team, the Raiders finished in third place with 85 points behind meet runner-up Brookwood (48 points) and region champion Deerfield-Windsor, who scored a total of 20 points. As far as the Lady Raiders were concerned, they finished in fourth place with 110 points, 23 points behind third place finisher Tiftarea Academy (87). Deerfield-Windsor was the meet runner-up with 35 points and the Valwood Lady Valiants won the region team championship with 31 points.

From an individual standpoint, Southland eighth grader Alyssa Godwin turned in the best finish for the Lady Raiders. Godwin finished in 11th place out of 37 competitors, crossing the finish line in a time of 23:33.17. Her teammate, freshman Brianna Brown, finished 16th in a time of 24:35.35. Ella Burnett of Valwood won the region championship, finishing first in a time of 20:43.89.

Southland Academy Freshman Brianna Brown finished in 16th place in a time of 24:35.35 at the GIAA Region 3-AAA XC Meet.
ATR Archive

The next Lady Raider to cross the finish line was freshman Reese Graft. Graft finished in 22nd place in a time of 25:49.38. Other Lady Raiders who turned in strong performances included senior Maddie Godwin (32:29.66) and freshman Chelci Woody (33:41.88).

In boys’ action, junior Noah Sheff had the best finish of any of the Raiders. Sheff barely missed achieving a top 10 finish, as he finished in 12th place in a time of 20:27.13. Garrison Slaughter of Deerfield-Windsor won the boys’ individual region championship, finishing in first place in a time of 17:13.75.

Sheff’s Southland teammate, freshman William Kinney, finished in 16th place in a time of 21:02.01 and both senior Riley Herron and sophomore Matteson Debaise finished 18th and 19th respectively. Herron crossed the finish line in a time of 21:27.07 and Debaise finished right behind him in a time of 21:33.27. Southland senior Mitch Herron finished right behind Debaise in a time of 21:33.56.

Many of these Raiders and Lady Raiders will be competing in the GIAA State Meet on Saturday, October 29 at the Peake Cross Country Trail in Macon, GA.