Dalton State women’s XC team headed to nationals
For the past three years, the beginning of November has produced three things: The leaves on the trees are changing, the Southern States Athletic Conference has had its annual cross country championship race, and the Dalton State Lady Roadrunners find themselves at the top of the standings.
This year was the toughest battle of them all as William Carey (Miss.) brought their A-game on championship day at Oakville Indian Mounds. It was close for the entire race with the Roadrunners and Crusaders placing 11 runners total of the top 13 in the race.
Individually, junior Kathryn Vradenburgh won the overall title running away from the field and finishing in 18:34. She took control around the 1-mile mark and never looked back.
Last year’s SSAC Champion, sophomore Riley Jo Ford, finished fourth overall in a time of 19:08. She nearly equaled her winning time from last year, but it would only be good enough for fourth this year. William Carey placed runners in the Nos. 2, 3, and 5 spots to pull ahead in the meet.
But the Roadrunners have a strong back end to their team. Seniors Alex Gass (19:31) and Kay Vradenburgh (19:32) finished sixth and seventh overall to distance the Roadrunners from their rivals.
Gass, the Heritage High School alum, well the entire race, while Vradenburgh charged hard over the last half mile, passing several runners along the way, including her teammate, freshman Giselle Dominguez. Dominguez finished in the all-important fifth spot for
the Roadrunners, coming home in 19:40, which good enough for 10th overall.
She finished seven seconds ahead of William Carey freshman, Isabele Wheeler, to capture the Freshman of the Year honors. She joins Vradenburgh and Ford from the previous two seasons in winning that award.
Junior Kate Roberts also finished under 20 minutes when she crossed the line 12th, just in front of William Carey’s fifth runner. It was Roberts’ second consecutive sub-20 race.
Freshman Ella Coley was seventh for Roadrunners again (and 17th overall), running a new personal best of 20:36. She finished just eight
seconds ahead of teammate Kayla Mattox, another Ringgold native, who was 19th overall. Coley was the third freshman in the race, earning her an All-Freshman Team honor along with Dominguez. Mattox was only two seconds from a new personal best.
Junior Haley Tillery ran her fastest race of the year when she finished 21st overall in a time of 20:57. Junior Rebecca Poe was not far behind, finishing in 21:19, which was good enough for 22nd overall. It was Poe’s secondfastest time ever.
“Wow! That was nervewracking,” said head coach Dean Thompson. “We knew William Carey would bring
their best stuff and they did. They were really tough to beat today, but I was so proud of our ladies. We talked about running our race and not worrying about anyone else. We knew if we ran our best, we had a great shot at winning and that’s exactly what we did. It was a tremendous effort.
“We knew Kathryn was the best runner in the conference, and if she ran well, she could win the race. She was powerful, relaxed, and confident once the gun went off. She is only the third SSAC Individual Women’s champion from Dalton State. Kathryn is so professional in the way handles a race. Today was no different. One of her
rivals went out super-fast and she just relaxed, stayed calm and reeled her back in, and then just ran away from her. Poise and confidence
can go a long way. I was so happy to see her get the win.
“Alex has now been sixth
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