Photo courtesy of Southside cross country
On Thursday, Oct. 31, a number of high school runners qualified for the AHSAA state cross country meet. The top four teams at each sectional along with qualified individual runners will compete at the state meet on Saturday, Nov. 9 in Oakville
At the Class 6A Section 5 Meet at Scottsboro, the Southside girls placed four runners in the top 10 to edge Fort Payne, 43-50, for first place. For Southside, Lydia Kay finished fourth out of 49 competitors with a time of 20:38.59, followed by Marlee Tucker in eighth place at 21:10.72 and Payton Ridley in ninth at 21:22.97. Taylor Dortch came in 12th at 21:48.66, while Lucy Valentine finished 14th at 22:06.72.
In the boys’ race of 64 runners, Southside’s Evan Christopher took first place with a time of 15:55.54, almost eight seconds ahead of runner-up River Richard of Pell City. Finishing in the top 25 for the Panthers were Jackson Brown (21st, 18:17.88) and Tanner Griggs (22nd, 18:21.79). Southside finished fourth in the team standings.
The West End girls finished fourth at the Class 1A-2A Section 3 Meet at Pisgah. Placing in the top 10 for the Lady Patriots out of 70 runners was Kennedi Nix in sixth place at 23:04.25 and Emma Franklin in ninth at 23:08.27. Jada Hill came in 20th at 24:43.29.
In the boys’ field of 86 runners, West End’s Justin Smith (20:43.95) and Jarrin Vaughn (21:09.81) finished 17th and 19th respectively, to qualify for state.
Six area runners posted top 10 times at the Class 3A Section 2 at Lineville. Glencoe’s Dakota Ensminger won the boys’ race of 43 participants with a time of 18:39.52, followed by Westbrook Christian’s Joseph Minkin (19:41.99) and Luke Pilotte (19:43.17) in seventh and eighth place, respectively. Helping Glencoe clinch second place in the team standings were Owen Beason, (11th, 20:06.90), Braxton Fortenberry (12th, 20:22.50) and Brayden Clifton (13th, 20:30.47).
Westbrook’s Keidy Morski placed fifth in the girls’ race of 27 runners at 25:21.41, while Glencoe’s Marie Giles (27:07.7) and Crosby Smith (27:17.48) came in eight and ninth, respectively.
Out of 97 competitors at the Class 4A Section 4 Meet at Scottsboro, Hokes Bluff’s Ethan Patterson took the bronze medal in the boys’ run with a time of 17:08.25. Ashville’s Allie Cone time of 21:08.89 in the girls’ race of 74 runners was good for ninth place.
