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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

TRUSSVILLE – Several teams competed at the 2021 Husky Challenge on Saturday, Oct. 16 at Hewitt-Trussville High School, and each had their share of highlights.

Helena, Indian Springs and Pelham were three of those teams, and all three had finishers inside the top 20 of either the boys or girls race, while the Shelby County Wildcats and Montevallo Bulldogs also competed in the event.

The highest finisher from an individual runner in the event came from Indian Springs’ Elise Picard in the girls race. The junior took home 11th in the event thanks to a time of 20:14.23.

Behind her, Helena’s Mallory Barton and Pelham’s Janelle Ramos were the two highlights as top-30 finishers. Barton finished the event in 22nd thanks to a time of 21:11.57, while Ramos, an eighth grader, took home 29th with a time of 21:33.79.

Helena had two others finish inside the top 40 with Ashlynn Beery taking 34th and Lindsey May claiming 37th, while Madison Tsimpides finished 45th.

Pelham’s Nathalie Gonzalez-Esquivel and Ana Bravo finished back to back in 43rd and 44th as highlights for the Panthers, while teammate Mikayla Leftwich was the final runner inside the top 50 thanks to her finish of 50th.

In the overall team standings, the Huskies finished fifth, while Pelham was just behind in sixth.

In the boys race, Helena was the main highlight with three runners finishing inside the top 25.

Caden Blackman and Aspen Warren finished on each other’s heels with Blackman taking 18th behind a time of 17:34.60 and Warren finishing 19th with a time of 17:34.80.

Drew Cook, a sophomore, also finished inside the top 25. He took 23rd thanks to a time of 17:51.

Helena also got top-50 finishes from Braden Burch, Gage Pritchard, Larkin Watters and Barrett Draiss, while Josha Morris, Mitt Boatman and Trent Palladina closed out the Huskies’ performances with top-60 finishes.

Due to the balance, Helena finished fifth in the team standings with a point total of 124.

Pelham was a few spots lower in the team standings in eighth, as the Panthers had three runners finish inside the top 70.

Thompson Gennari was the highlight with his finish of 54th behind a time of 19:59.40, while Nathan Thau and Carter Milling finished 63rd and 64th, respectively.

Indian Springs had two inside the top 70 with Henry Spradlin finishing 66th and Hayes Blackstone claiming 71st.

The Shelby County Wildcats had seven runners finish inside the top 100 of the event, but it was Gabriel Arias and TJ Minton who were the highlights. Arias finished 74th with a time of 22:00.70, while Minton finished 76th with a time of 22:10.60.

Montevallo also had five finish inside the top 100. The Bulldogs were highlighted by Devin Colbert and Aiden Glenn in 90th and 91st, respectively. Colbert finished with a time of 24:06.90, while Glenn finished with a time of 24:08.70.