The Chapel Hill girls cross country team finished first at the recent Region 4-AAA meet before finishing seventh in the state Class AAA meet last weekend.

Chapel Hill made a great showing at the region meet as they had eight girls place in the top 10, but finishing first overall was Ashton Lord.

This senior runner finished the race with a time of 18:52.45. Not only did Lord have the best time in her meet, but she had the best time of all female runners in Bartow, Douglas and Paulding Counties.

Lord went on to compete in the Georgia High School Association State Championship meet on Saturday and finished eighth.

Head coach Kelly Williams has coached Lord all four years of high school and said her running ability was strong from the beginning as it runs in the family.

“The whole family has good genetics for running as her older brother did and just as the younger one coming up,” said Williams.

Williams said Lord has developed significantly as a runner since she was a freshman.

“She’s matured and learned more about pace and timing, her form still needs a little work but she has gotten much better,” Williams said.

Now that the season is over, Lord can focus on getting to the next level. Williams said there are several schools interested in Lord, including Clemson, Georgia, Kennesaw and North Carolina.