WATKINSVILLE, Ga. — Out of a field with 13 teams, it was the Eastside Eagles who reigned victorious at the top of the Westminster Christian Academy Lions Invitational on Oct. 6. 

Eastside narrowly defeated Westminster with a 39 final score compared to the Lions’ 41. 

Head coach Michael Jorgenson expressed how proud he was of this year’s team’s success.

“The team seems to be peaking at just the right time as we face our most important race of the season in two weeks at the 5A Regional in Winder on Oct. 22,” Jorgenson said. “Hopefully, we can build on the momentum of the past few weeks, and qualify for the State Championship in November.” 

The Eagles’ win was assisted by multiple top individual finishes, too. 

At the top of the list was Grayson Poynter. The junior runner placed first in the varsity boys 5000m with a 18:27.94 final time, exactly nine seconds better than the second place finisher and six seconds slower than the course record. 

Sophomores Henry Meller and Malachi Scharf finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the varsity boys 5000m. Meller had a 20:08.55 finish with Scharf less than 15 seconds behind with a final time of 20:23.00

Finishing right outside of the top 10 in 11th place was Addison Hunt with a 21:07.00 finish. Rounding out top 20 finishers for the Eagles’ boy squad was Jack Baker with a 22:03.00 final time placing him 19th. 

But the girls team contributed to the team’s overall first place finish. 

Amaiah Clayton, who finished 20th in the girls varsity 5000m, recorded a 35:03.27 final time with Jasmine Everett placing 23rd with a 35:48.83 finish.