South Forsyth might not have emerged as the best in Region 7-AAAAA Saturday, but the War Eagles did live to race another day.

The South boys came in third as a team in the region championship at the River Green Complex in Duluth, advancing to this weekend’s state meet in Carrollton.

Sophomore Allie Schaich also kept her season alive, earning a fifth-place finish in the girls 5K to grab an individual state berth.

“That was just a great day for our overall team,” South coach Jerry Edmondson said Sunday, describing the top-four finish for the boys as “incredible.”

Edmondson pointed out that the War Eagles ran without one of their top athletes, senior Tyler Curtin, who was running a temperature of 102 degrees the night before the event.

“In spite of missing a guy, it still was a very [impressive] team effort,” Edmondson said.

The War Eagles finished with an average time of 16:44, coming in third to Collins Hill (16:23) and Peachtree Ridge (16:30).

Junior Dylan Walker (16:11) and senior Gator Jackson (16:14) led the South boys, finishing fourth and fifth.

“Those two guys have just been tremendous leaders,” Edmondson said. “They have really led by example, both of them have just been great leaders for our boys.”

Trevor Grant (12th), Austin Smith (24th) and Ben Miles (46th) were the other scoring finishers for the team.The result beat the all-time school record in any varsity 5K  race, which had previously been set at 16:48.

South’s girls finished seventh as a team, but Schaich’s fifth-place finish with a time of 18:21 allowed her to move on to state.

“Certainly Allie is just an incredible runner, so she definitely proved herself to be one of the best ... in the region. She’s very consistent with her training,” Edmondson said.

The coach said the runners will take on some hills in practice this week, in preparation for the hilly course at Carrollton High School.