This week, Atlanta Track Club announced the list of local athletes that it has selected for its 2023 All-Metro High School Cross Country Team, with 12 Fulton County runners making the cut.
Each year, the Atlanta nonprofit organization selects elite high school runners from different state counties and honors them with an awards ceremony, with two of the athletes coming away from the evening’s festivities with the coveted Runner of the Year awards.
Runners are picked based on their respective performances at major invitationals, head-to-head competitions and the state meet, according to Atlanta Track Club.
42 athletes from six different counties were selected as All-Metro honorees this year, which features a total of 10 state champions among them.
Out of the 10 state winners announced, four of them reside in Fulton County, including Zahara Bernal (junior, Pace Academy), Joseph Jaquot (senior, Westminster School), Sanam Rangaraj (senior, Cambridge High School) and Jacob Pullen (senior, Maynard Jackson High School).
Other Fulton County-area runners named to the prestigious roster were Esfan Daya (senior, Westminster School), Haris Flynn (sophomore, Mount Vernon School), Christian Jimenez (senior, Roswell High School), Teddy Meredith (senior, North Atlanta High School), Caroline Hood (senior, Pace Academy), Claire Shelton (senior, Dunwoody High School), Olivia Resnick (junior, Pace Academy) and Claire Petersen (senior, Blessed Trinity High School).
“Atlanta may be Running City USA, but the future of running is strong across the entire state of Georgia,” said Rich Kenah, CEO of Atlanta Track Club. “It’s inspiring to see not only the runners who are being honored for the second, third or even fourth time, but also first-time honorees experiencing this life-long memory.”
All of the selected athletes will be recognized during an invitation-only banquet in Midtown Atlanta on Dec. 5.
Held annually since 1964, the All-Metro Cross Country and Track and Field Banquets serves as Atlanta Track Club’s oldest tradition, honoring over 5,800 high school athletes since the club’s founding.
Voting for this year’s Runner of the Year awards is currently underway and can be completed online here.