By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

HOOVER – The Chelsea Lady Hornets did not have a girl place in the top 10 of the 6A Section 3 cross-country meet, but are still headed to the state meet nonetheless. Behind the efforts of freshmen Teanna Cason and Madison Herndon, as well as senior Sarah Rabenau, Chelsea finished with 84 points and an average 5K time of 24:04.55, which placed them third overall in the section, easily snatching the last state-meet berth away from Shades Valley High School, who finished fourth in the meet with 122 points.

Homewood, as the Lady Patriots have done all season, ran away with the meet, as their top seven runners all finished in the top 10. John Carroll’s Bella Restrepo and Lindsey Granier were the only runners separating Homewood from a perfect score of 15, but the Lady Patriots still went low, accumulating only 22 points in the meet with an average 5K time of 20:36.76, a full minute and a half faster than John Carroll’s average time.

While Homewood and John Carroll were battling for spots inside the top 10, Chelsea’s freshman tandem of Cason and Herndon finished 11^th and 14^th among qualifying runners with times of 22:50.76 and 23:41.06. Cason’s 22:50 was the third-fastest time of her career, while Herndon’s 23:41 was the fourth-fastest of her career. Rabenau finished 18^th among qualifying runners with a time of 24:19.02, and Jessica Stevens rounded out the top-20 finishers for Chelsea, finishing in 20^th among qualifying runners with a time of 24:45.44.

Carolanne Fauer finished directly behind Stevens in 21^st with a time of 24:46.44 to round out the scoring five for the Lady Hornets.

Only two of the top 20 times in the meet came from schools other than Homewood, John Carroll and Chelsea, and the Lady Hornets had no trouble sliding into the No. 3 spot in the region. Chelsea will now move on to the 6A state championship meet, which will take place in Moulton on Nov. 12 at 11:50 a.m.