VALDOSTA — As Valwood’s David Keck stared down the finish line, he didn’t have to search far for his competition. Randolph Southern’s Slaton Whatley and Keck were dead even entering the final 50 meters, but a strong sprint allowed Keck to burst through for seventh place.

It was a small achievement, but a part of a big day for the Valiants at the GISA Region 3-AA meet.

“I really didn’t know what he had left, but I just did it,” the Valwood senior said.

So did the Valiants, as they placed all five runners in the top 10 to pull out a second straight region championship. The team goes for back-to-back AA state titles Saturday in Macon.

“It’s been a long season, they’ve worked really hard and we’re just going to take it easy this week, resting up for our last meet and then going for it,” Valwood coach Linda Burnett said. “With the state being Saturday, we don’t have a whole of time to improve on anything. We have what we have.”

Right now, that appears to be more than enough. Keck’s younger brothers, twins Marcus and Daniel, finished third and fourth respectively, while freshman Anson Swindle and junior Michael Bajalia rounded out the top 10. The Valiants won their third home meet of the season, and the sophomore twins posted their fastest times of the year on the Peeples Farm course.

They weren’t fast enough, though, to catch Brookwood’s Grant Stauffer. He set a blistering pace en route to a course record 18:20, winning the individual title in the 3.1 mile race by more than a minute.

Marcus Keck found out just how difficult it was keeping up with Stauffer. While he ran out with Stauffer for the first mile, Keck didn’t have the fuel to beat Randolph Southern’s Michael Gonsolus in a sprint in the final 50 meters, tumbling across the finish line two seconds behind Gonsolus in third.

“It makes you go faster because you have to stay up with (Stauffer), but I didn’t do a great job,” Marcus Keck said. “I couldn’t see real good for a little while because my eyes get real blurry.”

In the junior varsity race, Valwood seventh-grader Robbie Burnett easily lapped the field to win the two-mile race in 12:47.

Joining the boys at Stratford Academy on Saturday will be Jessica Marquardt. The Valwood senior doesn’t have a girls team to support her, but competing on her own Tuesday, she placed fifth (25:01).

Marquardt tried to take things out fast and although she finished strong, Tiftarea Academy’s Rue Chitwood ran off with the region title.

“I kind of listened to David,” Marquardt said. “I took hard on the first mile, then easy on the second and tried to finish hard again. Actually, the (Randolph Southern) coach kind of gave me words of encouragement and I was able to catch the sixth-place girl.”