West Laurens’ Dailey signs to run cross country at Georgia College

As an athlete, you’re often at your best when you’ve got a chip on your shoulder. 

And for West Laurens High School’s Levi Dailey, there was a bit of a point to prove as he took to the Carrollton High School course for the last time at last November’s GHSA state championship race. 

“MileSplit released an article predicting their top 5 and how they thought it was going to go, and they left me out of that,” he said. “I just kind of wanted to prove somebody wrong, so getting that done, it meant a lot to me.”

Thanks in part to the extra boost of motivation, Dailey ran a time of 17:21.17 to conclude his remarkable senior season with a third-overall finish, beating one more set of the projections that he’d exceeded right and left throughout the fall.

And it was a fitting way to cap off a high school career that, in a picture of dedication and perseverance, saw a steady progression from year 1 through 4. 

After finishing 80th at state as a freshman, Dailey worked his way up to 60th as a sophomore, then into the top 20 – 18th overall – as a junior. Early in his senior season, he’d elevate a personal target in the race’s top 10 up to the top five as his times – good enough to break school two-mile and 5K records – began to really take off in in September and October. 

“It’s perhaps one of the best individual seasons of any runner I’ve had,” said West Laurens head coach Danny Johnson. “Capping it off with a third-place finish at state, winning region before that, he placed second at our state sectional meet, stayed healthy. It was just a great overall year for him. 

“He kind of finished on a strong note; he ran his best race at the end of the season.” 

With his focus at the time on races still at hand, Dailey was unsure back in the fall about his intended next steps once another senior season, running distance events for the Raiders’ track and field squad wraps up this spring. 

But after some time to think things over between the end of one and the start of the next, he settled on a decision he’d long kept in mind to continue running cross country at the next level. Dailey made it official early last month as he signed with Georgia College Feb. 12. 

He’d had eyes on the Bobcats since some early conversations with head coach Alexander Bruno began some time ago, but a visit to campus back during the fall was what confirmed the NAA Division II school was the right fit 

“I did a tour just to kind of see what it was like, and I really loved the campus,” Dailey said. “It’s big enough to have that college feel, but also small enough to where you get to know everybody and meet your professors and have that home feel.” 

He also hit it off really well with his future teammates. 

“They were all really encouraging and really uplifting, and just a great group of people to be around, and the coach was super encouraging,” he added “I just felt like it’s a great place that I could grow.” 

And there’s a definite feeling that Dailey has a lot more potential to explore after picking up this craft fairly late in life, as he only began to run seriously late in middle school. 

When considering all his
options for the future, he felt it important to make the most of the uncommon gifts he has the chance to continue to maximize. 

“That’s something a lot of people don’t get to do, having that ability to run and do those things,” Dailey said. “I thought that I had that God-given talent, and that I shouldn’t waste it, that I should take it as far as I can and do the best to my ability to do that.” 

And if the trajectory of his high school career is any indication, there will be a lot of good strides – both athletic and personal – ahead of him in Milledgeville. 

“He’ll be one of our top three runners of all time in school history,” Johnson said. “And to top that all off, he’s a great kid, a great student-athlete. Georgia College is getting a great individual student, a great individual person and their campus is better off for him going there.”