Photo courtesy of Alex Chaney
Three local cross country teams finished second and one area runner placed first at the AHSAA sectional cross country meets on Thursday, Nov. 2. The top four teams at each sectional along with wildcard qualifiers will compete at the AHSAA state meet on Nov. 11 in Oakville.
Helped by the first place showing of Paten Battles (pictured above), the West End girls finished runner-up at the Class 1A-2A Section 2 Meet at Bremen.
Battles’ time of 19:26.66 out of 60 runners was 11 seconds faster than runner-up Reagan Parris of Cold Springs.
Three other Lady Patriots placed in the top 10 – Kaylee Tarpley in seventh place at 21:30.70, Karlee Tarpley in eight place at 21:32.93 and Kennedi Nix in 10th place at 21:56.29.
Carolina Rainey helped West End’s cause with a 14th place time of 22:40.38.
Also qualifying for the state meet were Jada Wright, (24th, 23:51), Toree Chaney (25th, 24:50.43), Sadie Umphrey (44th, 27:29.43) and Tyree Chaney (45th, 27:38.73).
For the West End boys, Justin Smith qualified with a 21st place time of 19:41.80.
The Southside girls came in second at the Class 5A Section 3 Meet at Tuscaloosa.
Marlee Tucker paced the Lady Panthers with an eighth-place time of 21:07.13 out of 84 runners. Mallory Tucker finished in 14th place at 21:27.85, followed by Taylor Dortch in 17th at 21:42.47 and Adalyn Phillips in 22nd at 22:01.90.
Also qualifying for state were Lucy Valentine (29th, 2:33.82), Payton Ridley (36th, 23:04.50), Madelyn Chandler (40th, 23:13.47), Zoie Menk (43rd, 24:00.09), Riley Hudson (44th, 24:05.35) and Hannah Stanfield (24:09.22).
For the SHS boys, Evan Christopher’s time of 15:29.38 out of 101 runners was good for third place. Max Valentine ran a 17:00.63 time for 14th place, followed by Tanner Griggs (28th, 17:43.25), Matthew Battles (38th, 18:12.82), Jackson Brown (18:13.37), Levi kay (51st, 18:59.30), Grant Matthews (20:13.61), Keaton Yingling (65th, 20:19.54), Harrison Pierce (84th, 21:56.33) and Mason Borgersrode (93rd, 22:59.06).
The Ashville boys claimed second place at the Class 4A Section 3 boys meet at Hoover. Ryan Matthews led the Bulldogs with at third place effort of 18:07.23 out of 61 runners. Following close behind was Bruce Pantoja in fifth place at 18:39.98.
Colby Caswell clocked in 13th place at 19:33.13 13, followed by Drew Gargone (20th, 20:19.94), Maddox Vann (21st, 20:24.01) and Owen Whiteman (24th, 20:38.06).
The Lady Bulldogs finished third in a 63-runner field. Taylor Knight led the way with a fourth -place time of 21:41.21, followed closely by Allie Cone in the fifth spot at 22:38.18.
Molly Northam finished 15th at 23:39.67, while Anzlee Farmer placed 24th at 24:58.64 23.
Hokes Bluff’s Emma Godfrey and Glencoe’s Sarah Ponder finished in the top 10 out of 54 runners at the Class 3A Section 3 meet at Scottsboro. Godfrey placed fourth at 20:53.77, while Ponder came in sixth at 21:02.13.
In the boys’ 5K, Westbrook Christian’s Luke Pilotte, placed 14th at 19:12.15, followed by Hokes Bluff’s Samuel Neal in 15th at 19:18.79, Glencoe’s Owen Beason in 16th at 19:20.56 and Hokes Bluff’s Micah Brasher in 17th at 19:21.50.
