When the girls 5K of the 2024 Bulldog Dash reached the straight path parallel to the parking lot of the Council Farms courses, Hannah Erickson had a pretty good gap between her and Central Fellowship senior Abbie Forbus. Only, Erickson was the one trailing by that gap.

But when the runners appeared down the stretch towards the finish line Thursday, something had obviously happened. Erickson, last year’s region cross country champion for Putnam County High and a top 10 runner in the GHSA Class AA championships as a sophomore, completely flipped that gap. By just over 11 seconds, Erickson won the Bulldog Dash for the first time.

“A little bit after the two-mile mark, I pushed a little bit harder,” she said afterwards. “I was able to catch up with (Forbus). I think she slowed down a little bit, and I was able to make that gap a little larger towards the finish.”

Erickson’s winning time was 21:13.14, and Forbus came in second at 21:24.61. Northside’s Faith Thompson was an even greater distant third at 21:52.64. The race featured 124 runners from about 21 schools.

“This is the easiest course of the season,” she said. “We’ll go to Morgan (County). We’ve been to Gray before. Cochran in middle school for the state meet

Erickson began her competitive running career for Putnam schools at the middle grades level, and she was top 10 in every race except her first one.

When she won Thursday, she bettered her time from winning her region championship for the War Eagles, 21:17.22, at Washington County High, and even from her state meet run, which was 21:21.39. That, however, was at the more challenging course at Carrollton High School last November.

“A lot of hills,” she recalled. “We had to do two laps, so it ended up being six uphill pushes.”

Things will be a bit different for Erickson later in the season. Putnam County High is now in Class A Division I and a region with several different schools competing like Jasper County, Lamar County, Social Circle, Towers and McNair. Her goal, though, is to return to the state championships and place in the top five. Lamar freshman Scout Woodall ran the Bulldog Dash Thursday and placed fifth at 22:31.13.

“Six days a week usually,” she said about her training schedule. “One rest day. I do one long run each week and two speed workouts and about three easy runs.”

Georgia Military College Prep hosted the Bulldog Dash, and from the Lady Bulldogs senior Meadow Roberts placed 12^th. Not far behind her in 14^th place was Pierce Moore, a John Milledge Academy freshman.

The team championship for girls went to Stratford Academy at 63 points, 20 in front of fellow GIAA member Deerfield-Windsor. GMC Prep placed seventh and Putnam County 10^th.

In the boys Bulldog Dash 5K, Jesus Gutierrez of Northside High (Warner Robins) won with a time of 16:38.9. Two others ran the race under 17 minutes, including GMC Prep’s defending state champion Julian Council. He was third at 16:53.36 behind runner-up Ethan Newsome of Deerfield-Windsor.

Grady Meier, also of GMC Prep, finished in the top 20. There were 179 boys in the 5K, and Northside was the top team with five in the top 15 for 36 points. Deerfield-Windsor was second and GMC Prep seventh.