Photo: The Ashville High boys cross country team gathers for a photo after winning the Class 1A-4A division of the Lake Guntersville Invitational 5K last Saturday (Oct. 2). Pictured, from left: Carter Jones, Bruce Pantoja, Ashton Vann, Clayton Knight, Joe Stevens, Wyatt Knight, Walker Griffith, Maddox Vann, Greyson Simpson, Kanyon White. Not pictured is Austin Reynolds. (Chris McCarthy/Messenger)
Helped by five top 10 finishes, the Ashville High boys won the Class 1A-4A division of the Lake Guntersville Invitational 5K last Saturday (Oct. 2). The Bulldogs’ average time of 17:46 was almost two minutes faster than runner-up Pisgah (19:30).
Joe Stevens (16:55.22), Wyatt Knight (17:21.79) and Ashton Vann (17:51.84) finished 1-2-3 out of 130 runners, followed by Clayton Knight in fifth (17:54.70). and Bruce Pantoja in 10th (18:50.56). Greyson Simpson helped the Ashville cause with a 23rd place finish of 20:02.58.
A pair of Hokes Bluff runners posted top 15 times – Bryer Morrison in 11th place at 18:53.50 and Mason Miller in 15th place at 19:12.01.
Also running for the Bulldogs were Walker Griffith (20:26.64), Carter Jones (20:59.55), Kanyon White (21:06.69), Maddox Vann (21:26.55) and Austin Reynolds (25:05.78).
In the 5A-7A event, Gadsden City’s Tanner Rice came in eighth place with a time of 16:31.66, while teammate Dhruv Patel finished 14th at 16:59.96.
In the Class 1A-4A girls run, Ashville and Hokes Bluff finished fourth and sixth, respectively. Ashville’s Taylor Knight came in third at 20:45.94, followed by Ashville’s Kathleen McCarthy at 12th (22:54.56), Hokes Bluff’s Elizabeth Edge at 13th (23:02.11) and Ashville’s Emma Drinkard at 18th (23:34.45).