On Saturday, the Georgia High School Association cross country state championships were held out on the 5K course at Carrollton High School and a little over a week after winning the region championship, Decatur’s Christian Gonzalez would cap is cross country season winning the GHSA 5A championship in a time of 15:56.91. In addition to Gonzalez winning the individual crown, his teammates would help the Bulldogs win the boys team 5A championship.
Following his win on Saturday, Gonzalez spoke briefly about finishing the course in under 16 minutes, something he had been wanting to do throughout his high school career. “It feels amazing. 16 was a big barrier on this course that I’ve been chasing my whole cross country career so it feels great to break it,” Gonzalez said after his finish on Saturday. The 2021 5A Boys state champion credited his teammates, coaches and supporters for helping him accomplish his win on Saturday.
In the girls GHSA 6A championship run, Simone Rojas of Evans would take the individual crown in a time of 18.55.33. The girls 6A team championship would go to the North Atlanta Warriors, who had two runners, Clara Heppner and Catherine Townsend, run a close race with Rojas throughout most of the course. In fact, through the first two miles, Heppner led the run, but would eventually finish in second in a time of 19:05 and Townsend would finish in third in a time of 19:07.
