Photo: Ashville’s Joe Stephens and Wyatt Knight and Gadsden City’s Tanner Rice (pictured, from left) finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, at the JSU Foothills Invitational 5K last Saturday (Sept. 4) in Oxford. (Chris McCarthy/Messenger)
By Chris McCarthy, Publisher/Editor
Ashville won the boys race and Glencoe and Ashville took second and fourth place, respectively, in the girls’ run at the JSU Foothills Invitational 5K last Saturday (Sept. 4) at Choccolocco Park in Oxford.
The Ashville boys’ average time of 18:24 was 13 seconds faster than runner-up Lincoln. Joe Stevens (17:25.57) and Wyatt Knight finished fourth and fifth, respectively, to pace the Bulldogs. Ashton Vann (18:20.36) and Clayton Knight (18:35.40) came in 15th and 16th, respectively.
Gadsden City’s Tanner Rice placed sixth at 17:33.06, while teammate Dhruv Patel finished just outside the top 10 at 18:10.66. The Titans finished sixth overall in a field of 16 teams.
The Lady Yellow Jackets were paced by Katie Giles’ third-place time of 20:58.08. Sarah Ponder finished 14th at 22:53.90.
Three Ashville girls placed in the top 10 – Taylor Knight (fifth, 21:36.97); Kathleen McCarthy (ninth, 22:16.12) and Emma Drinkard (10th, 22:17.16). Sardis’ Barit Snead came in 17th at 23:48.44.
Helping the Ashville boys win the first-place trophy were Bruce Pantoja (20:12.39), Walker Griffith (20:23.05), Greyson Simpson (20:30.00), Carter Jones (21:31.18), Kanyon White (21:52.90), Maddox Vann (23:26.33), Tyler Ebner (24:50.79) and Austin Reynolds (30:15.63).