The Kentucky Track and Cross Country Coaches Association has named three local athletes to the all-state teams.
In class 1A, Augusta’s Grayson Miller was named as an all-state team member, for the third year in a row according to Augusta Independent.
Miller led the Augusta Panthers numerous times throughout the course of the season, picking up his first first-place victory of the season at the Buffalo Trace Conference Championship in late September, beating out skilled Mason County runners for the win with a final time of 17:28. Miller averaged in the 17-18 minute range for much of the season, with his quickest time all year being at the East Carter Last Chance race, where Miller carded a 17:10.
The Augusta runner has consistently been a go-to-guy for the Panthers, throughout the past three years. Having been named to the all-state team each year of his high school career, Miller has no plans of straying from the course heading into his senior year, and hopes to shorten his times even further as he leads the Panthers to the state championships once again.
In class 2A, two Mason County runners were named to the all-state team, Dashawn Overly, and Ed Brannon.
Overly was one of Mason County’s lead runners for much of the season, putting up low 17-18 minute finishes consistently throughout the 2023 season. The junior led Mason County time and time again throughout the season, and earned his spot on the all-state team.
In the Mason County Invitational early on in the season, Overly placed second overall just behind Paul Laurence Dunbar junior Noah Matthews, with a final time of 16:40.40. Matthews finished with a 15:47.50.
In the class 2A KHSAA state track meet, Overly continued to push himself and placed 16th overall with a 17:16.94 final time. It was his dedication and grit that helped allow Mason County to place second as a team in state competition for the first time in school history, to mark the end of the Royals historic cross country season.
Brannon finished 24th overall at the state competition, with a 17:44.76 final time, and was consistently in the top three for Mason County event after event. With a 17:17.99 final time for a fourth place finish at the Area 7 Championship, and a 17:41.30 at the Mason County Invitational, The Royals had excellent competitors all across the board throughout the 2023 season, and it should be no surprise that two of their runners were named all-state team members.
Each of these athletes have put in countless hours of work, extraordinary amounts of effort and dedication to get where they are today, and to help their teams place high in the rankings. Miller, Overly and Brannon each are incredible athletes, and are proud to have placed among the best of the best, as judged by the KTCCCA.
