Messenger file photo by Chris McCarthy
Gadsden State had several runners qualify for the National Junior College Athletic Association cross country meet at the Alabama Community College Meet on Friday, October 28 at Choccolocco Park in Oxford.
The GSCC women qualified as a team with a fourth-place finish in the 5K event. Jordan Clark (pictured above) paced the Lady Cardinals with an eight-place time out of 22:01.5 out of 45 runners. Mallory Rich finished in 17th place at 23:27.0, followed by Lacey Rich in 19th place at 23:55.7, Camryn Bell in 23rd place at 24:19.4, Gabrielle More in 27th place at 25:11.8, Kiera Johnson in 30th place at 25:45.2 and Chloe Davison in 31st place at 25:58.9.
Ashton Vann and Javier Soto qualified for nationals as individuals in the 8K event. Vann finished 14th out of 58 runners with a time of 29:25.70, while Soto came in 26th place at 30:35.80.
Other local runners who qualified for the national meet were 2022 Southside High graduates
Ryan Maudsley (27:50.70) and Luke Holcombe (28:15.70), who finished fourth and eight, respectively, for the first-place Wallace Hanceville men.
For the first-place Wallace-Hanceville women, 2022 Southside graduate Alexis Valentine finished in 12th place at 22:22.50, while fellow 2022 Southside graduate Sydney Hughes came in 35th at 27:15.20.
2022 Gadsden City High graduate Hannan Griffith came in 13th place at 22:36.50 for Marion Military.
The NJCAA Division II National Meet is set for November 12 in Tallahassee, Florida.