The North Atlanta High School cross country team has yet again thrashed the record book on its way to two top 10 team finishes at the Darlington Cross Country Festival.

The morning of Oct. 1 started with the team arriving, seemingly sleepwalking, to North Atlanta to catch a 2-hour bus ride to Rome. With less than an hour to warm up and be at the starting line, the girls were the first to go. They led off the record-breaking event with the fourth best total team time in school history, 1:49:52. This put them in seventh out of 21 teams in the competition. Individually, sophomore Ellie Hankin finished first out of the team, 9th overall, and set a personal record. Not only that, but her finish gave her the 5th best time and put her as the third best all time runner in school history behind Madeleine Pearce and Glenda Tutt.

The impressive overall perform team performance was rounded off by great finishes from sophomores Sarah Hetzel, Kate Breeden and Sarah Pearl, and freshmen Aubrey Miller. “Overall, everybody pushed themselves and each other to get a lot of PRs,” said Hankin.

The boys followed the girls with an even more impressive performance led by senior captain Jackson Pearce. Pearce over took the leader in the last mile of the race and crossed the finish line in first, setting his new personal record of 16:16. “I felt that the season was coming close to an end, so I had to perform well,” he said. “It added pressure to the race, but once I was racing, I became focused on the goal and knew I would have a good race.”

This performance made Pearce the third best runner in school history in the sport’s standard 5K event.

The Warriors had four runners place in the top 15 and broke the team time record it had set just the weekend before. Senior Matthew Self and sophomores Matthew Aspinwall and Mac Bloodworth, finishing 12th, 13th, and 15th respectively, all achieved personal records. “They finished right next to each other in a great show of pack running, and that was key to our team’s success,” said Pearce.

With freshman Alden Sweatman finishing in 59th, the top five Warriors scored 100 points landing them a second place finish as a team, tying the best overall team finish at an invitational in school history.

Season Update: Both girls varsity and boys varsity failed to qualify for the state meet after not reaching the top four at the region meet on Oct. 26 at Grant Park in Atlanta. The boys’ team collectively finished a heartbreaking eight points away from qualifying. However, Pearce won the Regional Championship and Hankin came in fourth, earning them both entry into the State Meet on Nov. 5 in Carrollton. Team Coach George Sanderlin noted the impressive results of the season. “It’s been a great season for both the girls’ and the boys’ teams,” he said.

The longtime cross country coach emphasized that while both Warrior cross country teams were ranked in the top 20 going into region, the teams were competing within a very strong and competitive region and that advancing to state was never a given. “But our program continues to advance ahead every year and this year was no exception,” he said.