The Johns Creek girls cross country team is ranked second in Georgia High School Association (GHSA) Class 6A with six meets left, including sectionals and the state championship.

The girls squad finished as the GHSA Class 5A state runner-up last fall and now competes in 6A. The early results suggest the jump in classification has not slowed the team down. At the season-opening Fowlkes Memorial Invitational at Legacy Park in Decatur on Aug. 16, the girls won the overall team championship with 23 points, beating runner-up Lakeside-DeKalb by 67 points.

Three Johns Creek runners swept the podium.

Senior Tasneem Ahmed finished first overall in 20:48.24. Freshman Isabella Skeens placed second in 21:07.78, and senior Ava Reames took third in 21:09.13. Skeens had already turned heads in August, running a 19:54.43 at the North Georgia Championships. That time landed on Georgia MileSplit's Top 50 All-Class list for the month, according to a Johns Creek Athletics post.

The boys finished fourth at the Fowlkes Memorial. Senior Lincoln Hipp led the way in ninth place (17:51.18), followed by senior Stryder Jones in 11th (17:52.89).

Both squads traveled to the Fleet Feet Warpath Invitational on Sept. 13, where heavy rain turned the course into a mud-soaked test. Hipp placed 15th overall in 16:32.31, a time the program said made him the third-fastest boy in Johns Creek High School history. The girls finished fourth, led by Reames in 10th (19:23.52).

As of Sept. 14, the girls were ranked second in 6A and the boys sixth, according to the program.

The remaining schedule takes the Gladiators across three states. Johns Creek races at John Hunt Park in Huntsville, Ala., on Saturday, Sept. 26, then returns to Foxhall Resort for the BSN/Alexander Invite on Saturday, Oct. 3. A Friday evening boys meet at Roper Park against Pickens High School follows on Oct. 9. The team heads to Horizon High School in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday, Oct. 17, before the two biggest meets of the year: GHSA Sectionals at Foxhall Resort on Saturday, Oct. 31, and the GHSA State Championship at Carrollton Elementary School on Saturday, Nov. 7.

All Saturday meets are scheduled for 7 a.m. The Oct. 9 meet at Roper Park begins at 6 p.m.