MOUNT BERRY - Harrison's girls cross country team got a big early-season win as it won the girls race Saturday at the Berry Invitational at Berry College.

Harrison was joined by Walton among the top-four finishers in the field of large-school teams. The Lady Hoyas scored 115 points to finish by a comfortable margin ahead of runner-up Mountain View (Ala.) (189). Walton scored 200 points to finish third, while Etowah (214) placed fourth.

Harrison and Walton was joined by Lassiter, Pope, Marietta and Wheeler in the large-school races, while Mount Paran Christian, Walker and Whitefield Academy competed in the small-school races.

The meet featured 88 teams from Georgia, Alabama and Tennesee competing on the 5K (3.1-mile) course that wound through the expansive Berry College campus.

The Lady Hoyas' finished ahead of favored Mountain View, an Alabama state powerhouse, came as a surprise for Harrison co-coach Kent Simmons.

"We're very surprised," he said. "I thought Mountain View was going to win it. This is a very exciting win for us. All the summer mileage we did is paying off."

Harrison placed three girls among the top 20 individual finishers. Ali Waterson finished 12th in a time of 19 minutes, 49 seconds, Kaylee Isaccs (20:08) was 17th and Maria Boff (20:10) was 18th.

"We did an awesome job," Waterson said. "We've been working really hard and we're going to continue to work hard to get better."

Wheeler's Allison Brackin was the top local finisher in the girls race with a fourth-place time of 19:30, while Pope's Molly Schenck was eighth in 19:38.

Walton, Lassiter and Harrison each finished in the top 10 of the boys large-school race, with Walton (269) seventh, Lassiter (298) eighth and Harrison (310) ninth.

Pope's Zach Tupper was the top local finisher in the boys race with an 11th-place time of 16:18.

"I was really relaxed," Tupper said. "I just wanted to go out and run my race. I had a rocky season last year, so I wanted to take a different view and not be so tense when I run."

Walton's Philip Laskey (16:27) and Michael Ayers (16:30) finished 12th and 13th, respectively, while Marietta's Andrew Nelson (16:32) was 16th.

Pope finished 21st in the large-school boys race, with Wheeler 23rd, McEachern 24th, Marietta 34th and South Cobb 47th.

In the girls large-school race, Lassiter was 15th, Pope 16th, Marietta 20th and Wheeler 22nd.

In the small-school boys race, Mount Paran was seventh, with Darryn Hutchinson running a 10th-place time of 17:12.

Walker's Ryan Ernstes (22:09) was the top local runner in the race.

Walker was 14th in the small-school boys race and 23rd in the girls contest, while Whitefield Academy was 25th among the boys.