The intense years-long rivalry for the AAAAA boys’s GHSA State Championship in cross country was decided with a huge win for Starr’s Mill last Friday in Carrollton.  The Mill’s Panthers have traded places with McIntosh High School for the team win throughout the season.  The matchup was the race to watch at State as the bitter battle had been raging since the massive upset last year that ended with a Chief win after a stomach flu felled a key runner from Starr’s Mill the night before the 2017 championship race.

This year was a huge vindication for the team that lost a hard-fought Region 3-AAAAA Championship to the McIntosh Chiefs two weeks before.  That title was so tight that a sixth-runner tiebreaker was required to determine the winner between the two county rivals.  The seasoned seniors of Nick Nyman, Harrison Fultz and Ty Duben anchored the team’s win with finishes at numbers 3, 5, and 6, respectively.  Senior Rhett Perry and junior Matt Norton ran stellar races placing 22nd and 35th.  All five runners needed to run the races of their lives on the legendarily hilly Carrollton course that has been known to break the most well-trained runners.  That was in evidence as one Starr’s Mill athlete collapsed several times near the finish and ended by crawling over the finish line.*

On this episode of “Coach’s Corner,” Staff Writer Ty Odom sits down with cross country coach Kelly Rock after the state championships. The two discuss each team’s championship performance, individual runners, and the future of the program.

Click the video above to watch the full interview.

*Recap submitted by Amy Nyman.