The Heritage girls and Trion boys finished third in their respective classifications Saturday in the GHSA State Cross Country Championships at Carrollton High School.
The Lady Generals entered Saturday's Class AAAA meet confident of their chances to finish no worse than second. They slipped only so slightly, as favorite Marist ended up the champion, while St. Pius defeated Heritage 117-135 in the final tally.
Emily Poole was Heritage's top runner, placing fifth. She and Caitlin Craft are the team's two seniors.
"It wasn't a bad race," Heritage coach Jeremy Wynne said. "It wasn't what we'd hoped for, but third place is nothing to be ashamed of. We didn't run our best race when it counted, but we're young and in need of some experience.
"I'm proud of the overall season we put together; we had a solid race, but it wasn't our best."
Heritage was the Chattanooga Cross Country League girls' team champion as well as the Region 7-AAAA titleist.
The Generals were 14th in the boys' state meet and return their entire lineup next season.
"We ran toe to toe with the state's most elite private schools," Wynne said. "We didn't reach our goal of another state championship, but our seniors have left quite the legacy."
Northwest Whitfield's girls were 14th in the AAAA meet, while the boys were 19th.
Ethan Young was Trion's top runner, placing third in the Class A public division. The Bulldogs -- who entered the race as favorites -- finished behind champion Jenkins County and Towns County. Jenkins was ranked seventh entering the race.
Coahulla Creek's boys were sixth in the AAA meet, while the girls were 10th. Walt Douglas was the Colts' top runner, placing fifth.