By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

OAKVILLE – Both the Briarwood boys and girls cross country teams were in exceptional form on Saturday, Nov. 9, as they hit the trails at Oakville Indian Mounds Park looking to bring home a Class 5A State Championship.

While neither won the title, both claimed third in the overall team standings with the boys posting eight finishers inside the top 50 and the girls seven inside the top 50.

The girls team also had three runners inside the top 20 and five inside the top 31, while the boys had two in the top 20 and four in the top 30.

The highlight of the day was seventh grader Mary Grace Parker, who finished in eighth to lead the girls with a time of 19:53.87. Just behind her in 13th was teammate Adrienne Goolsby, who finished with a time of 20:23.75. The final top-20 finisher for the girls was another eighth grader in Brenner Statt, who claimed 19th with a time of 20:46.98.

Morgan Harris and Bela Doss finished 25th and 31st, respectively. Harris finished the race in 20:54.91, while Doss finished in 21:12.67.

Joseph Bell was the highest finisher for the Briarwood boys after finishing the race with a time of 16:46.43 to claim the 12th position. Just five spots behind him was fellow junior Trent Malloy, who finished 17th with a time of 17:02.82.

Those two were the only two top 20 finishers, but Jay Greene and Ford Thornton finished 29th and 30th, respectively, to complete four finishers inside the top 30. Greene finished with a time of 17:33.09, while Thornton finished with a time of 17:33.11.

Matthew Earnest, Luke Thompson, Patrick Hnizdil and Luke Baldwin were the final top 50 finishers, while Joseph Hopkins was one spot outside of that in 51st.

Earnest finished the race in 39th with a time of 17:48.91 to close out his senior season, while Thompson finished in 43rd with a time of 17:51.78. Hnizdil claimed 48th with a time of 18:00.27, while Baldwin and Hopkins finished 50th-51st with times of 18:02.02 and 18:13.12, respectively.

Emma Tarence and Luci Williams were the other two girls to finish inside the top 50 for the Lions. Tarence finished 38th with a time of 21:23.95, while Williams finished 47th with a time of 21:51.36.