<p><strong>CARROLLTON, Ga.- </strong>The boys cross country team placed first out of 45 schools at the OrthoWest Invitational in Carrollton, Ga. on Saturday morning.</p> <p>Anderson Mathias and Everett Griffin finished top-10 in ninth (18:15.22) and tenth place (18:22.36), respectively.</p> <p>The group recorded 122 points to win the meet with four runners placing in the top-20 including Mathias, Griffin, Josh Graves, and Javi Silva. </p> <p>On the girls side, the team placed 15th out of 33 teams and Lindsay Buchanan was the top finisher for the girls with a time of 22:42.74. The top seven finishers were Amber Smith, Kate Dyson, Hannah Sommers, Hannah Hopkins, Hailey Hopkins, and Hayley Redrick. </p> <p>"Every single HCA runner who ran down in Carrollton on Saturday ran their hearts out and improved as individuals and as a team," said head coach Mike Taylor. "Cross Country is a lot harder than some people realize and it is really gratifying to see our kids get better due to a lot of hard work. Our varsity boys team truly ran as a team and ran the best race by an HCA cross country team since the boys won state back in 2017."</p> <p><strong>Up Next:</strong> The team travels to the Gwinnett County High School Cross Country Championship next Saturday at Georgia International Horse Park. Start time is set for 8 a.m.</p>