Decatur Boys, St. Pius Girls Win Cross Country Region Championship

On Wednesday, the Georgia High School Association Class 5A Region 5 championships were held at Legacy Park in Decatur, Georgia. The boys would hit the 5K course first and about a mile and half into the run, things would be fairly close as runners from Northview, St. Pius and Decatur were all still in a pack. However, Decatur’s Christian Gonzalez would kick into gear heading into the final 500 meters of the run and would go on to take the boys region championship in a time of 16:40.06. The Decatur boys team would win the boys region title.

Over on the girls side of the run, by the midway point of the race, St. Pius’ Grace Biberstein and Decatur’s Gabriella Malerba would have themselves established at the front runners, with Chamblee’s Olivia Tabron about 10 meters behind in third place. But as the run came near it’s end, it would be Biberstein down the stretch about 14 seconds ahead of the rest of the runners as she would cross the finish line in a time of 19:23.07. Malerba would take second (19:37.94) and the St. Pius girls teams would win the girls region title.

Following their wins, both Gonzalez and Biberstein spoke about preparing for state next. “Honestly, I want the team to win as we go for the state title and I also want to win the state title,” Gonzalez said. For Biberstein, she acknowledges that competition in Carrolton will be tough, however that isn’t stopping her from hopes of taking it all. “I just want to have a great race and we’ll see how the race plays out,” Biberstein said after her win on Wednesday.