By Chris McCarthy, Publisher/Editor
Glencoe junior Katie Giles (pictured above) picked up where she left off last season.
The defending Class 3A cross country state champion clocked in with a first-place time of 21:19.06 to help the Lady Yellow Jackets win the Class 1A-3A Wildcat Twilight 5K on Thursday, Aug. 19 at White Plains.
Giles’ time was almost three minutes faster than runner-up Elizabeth Edge of Hokes Bluff (23:53.52). Glencoe’s average time of 24:52.54 was almost a minute better than second-place Pleasant Valley (25:41.00).
Three other Glencoe runners finished in the top 15 – Sarah Ponder at sixth place (24:46.42), Chloe Douglas at ninth place (25:48.96), Jaxson Sizemore at 10th place (25:52.82) and Anna Grace Ponder at 14th place (26:35.44). Hokes Bluff’s Keira Johnson rounded out the top 20 finishers with a time of 27:14.94.
In the Class 4A-7A girls race, three Ashville runners finished in the top to help secure a third-place showing for the Lady Bulldogs, whose average time of 25:59.35 was only four seconds behind runner-up Alexandria.
Taylor Knight had a runner-up time of 21:31.42, followed by Kathleen McCarthy in sixth place at 23:22.52 and Emma Drinkard in eighth place at 23:54.36. Helping the Ashville cause was Emma Thompson (30:33.24), Sydney Worsham (30:35.21) and
Meghan Stewart (37:29.75).