Craft third, Henderson fifth at 6-AAAA cross country meet
Heritage junior Allison Craft, last year’s Region 6-AAAA individual cross country champion, was attempting to defend her title last Tuesday, but had to settle for third place at the region championship meet in Jasper.
Craft’s time of 21:40 put her 25 seconds behind Southeast Whitfield’s Guadalupe Martinez. The junior completed the Roper Park course in a time of 21:15, while both runners finished behind Gilmer junior Naomi Coombs, who claimed the region title in a time of 20:43.
Another Southeast runner, sophomore Marlene Paez, was fourth at 22:13, while Pickens senior Chloe Walker was fifth at 22:19.
The efforts by Martinez and Paez helped the Lady Raiders earn the team title with 48 points. Gilmer was second with 57 points, followed by Heritage (67) and Pickens (71). The top four teams automatically qualify for the state meet early next month in Carrollton.
Northwest Whitfield (115), Ridgeland (143) and Lafayette (196) rounded out the team scores.
Alexis Faul finished 11th for Heritage with a time of 23:28. Mia Callahan was 13th for the Lady Generals at 23:42 and Kalei Howard crossed the line in 18th place at 24:24 to give Heritage four runners in the top 20. Emily Woody (24:44), Allie Mifflin (24:45) and Emma Tennyson (26:23) rounded out the varsity lineup for the Navy-and-red.
Ridgeland was led by a 25:03 from Cate Voyles and a 25:18 from Emily Scott. Sydney Finch (25:43), Mary Scott (25:50), Trinity Deane (26:14), Maggie Dickson (26:24) and Macie Boren (26:38) completed the lineup for the Lady Panthers.
Natalie Ball paced Lafayette with a (25:03), followed by Hope Mcclure (28:24), Alethea Hendrix (28:37), Caitlyn Watson (29:00) and Zoe Haggard (29:32). Hannah Dearing, who has battled an injury over the last few weeks of the season, gutted out a 30:12.
In the JV girls race, Ridgeland’s
Olivia Blanchard was 10th at 28:55. Heritage’s Gracie Mccoy finished 11th at 29:44 and Ridgeland’s Riley Mcbee was 18th at 31:24.
In the boys’ race, Pickens put four runners in the top 10 and three runners in the top four as they won the team title with 31 points. Gilmer (58), Southeast (74) and Heritage (90) claimed the other four automatic bids for the state meet.
Ridgeland (124), Lafayette (137) and Northwest (183) rounded out the standings.
Junior Seth White crossed the line for the victorious Dragons in 17:17 to win the individual title by 22 seconds over sophomore teammate Connor Hedgpeth’s 17:39. Gilmer’s Dylan Byrd was third as the junior finished one second in back of Hedgpeth (17:40). Pickens junior Mason Ford was fourth at 17:48 and Lafayette senior Devin Henderson qualified for state as an individual for the second straight year as he finished fifth in a time of 17:54.
Gavin Chandler finished in 18:06 for the Generals to place seventh overall. Luke Shackelford’s 18:42 was good enough for 13th place, while Davis Justice finished 19th at 19:13. Joel Lewis (19:23), Collin Black (19:34), Gauge Sartin (19:37) and Cecil Bussey (19:46) rounded it out for Heritage.
Will Voyles Ridgeland’s top runner as his time of 19:10 was good enough for 17th place. A.J. Walker (19:17) finished one spot out of the top 20, while the rest of the Panthers’ lineup included Matthew Cole (19:26), Sam Dickson (20:01), Joseph Brown (20:34), Beau Baker (21:48) and Kevin Schmelzer (21:48).
Jack Wilson ran a 19:27 for Lafayette, followed by Josh Perea (19:50), Andrew Long (20:18), Steven Sanford (20:37), Crandale Jackson (21:16) and Gage Henderson (25:35).
Four local runners placed in the top 10 in the boys’ JV race. Heritage’s Jake Krajeskiy was second at 19:42. Ridgeland’s Sean Gifford was fifth at 20:34, followed by Heritage’s Ryan Walker in seventh (20:40) and Heritage’s Steven Burchard in eighth (20:46).