Photo: Southside High’s Marlee Tucker crosses the finish line to win the Rainbow City Invitational girls 5K run on Thursday, Sept. 5 at the Vivian Maddox Sports Complex in Rainbow City. (Chris McCarthy/Messenger)
By Chris McCarthy, Publisher/Editor
The Southside High girls cross country team finished first and the boys came in second at the Rainbow City Invitational 5K on Thursday, Sept. 5 at the Vivian Maddox Sports Complex in Rainbow City.
Helped by six runners placing in the top 10 in a field of 76 competitors, the Lady Panthers’ point total of 22 was 18 points lower than runner-up Sand Rock. Marlee Tucker paced Southside with a winning time of 21:10.83. Payton Ridley finished third at 22:27.44, followed by Lydia Kay in fifth place at 23:56.13, Taylor Dortch in sixth place at 24:06.35, Lucy Valentine in eight place at 24:14.53 and Adalyn Phillips in ninth place at 24:15.41.
West End finished in third place out of six teams. Karlee Tarpley led the Lady Patriots with a fourth-place time of 24:01.07. Posting top 20 times were Hokes Bluff’s Emma Godfrey (12th, 24:35.33), Southside’s Madelyn Chandler (13th, 24:45.25), Southside’s Riley Hulsey (16th, 25:23.85), Southside’s Mallory Tucker (17th, 25:25.97) and Southside’s Hannah Stanfield (19th, 25:29.99).
In the boys’ race of 100 participants, Hokes Bluff’s Ethan Patterson paced local runners with a runner-up time of 17:40.55. Three Southside runners placed in the top 10 – Tanner Griggs in third place at 18:25.28, Jackson Brown in third place at 19:05.63 and Levi Kay in ninth place at 19:49.31.
Local top 20 showings included Westbrook Christian’s Luke Pilotte in 11th place at 19:55.41, Southside’s Jonathan Russell in 12th place at 20:03.02, Southside’s Braxton Sloan in 13th place at 20:17.62, West End’s Jarrin Vaughn in 15th place at 20:27.10, Westbrook’s Joseph Minkin in 16th place at 20:27.68, Southside’s Pranjal Sharma in 17th place at 20:32.35 and Southside’s Keaton Yingling in 20th place at 20:55.97.
Hokes Bluff, Westbrook and West End finished fourth, fifth and eighth place, respectively, in the team standings.
