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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

It was another busy Saturday of cross country action on Sept. 21 as the best runners in Shelby County looked to improve their times with the Shelby County Championships a week away on Saturday, Sept. 28, and this week saw teams split up throughout the Southeast.

The Thompson Warriors and Briarwood Christian Lions ran in the Dolphin Run in Foley, while the Oak Mountain Eagles, Pelham Panthers and Westminster School at Oak Mountain Knights took part in the Wingfoot XC Classic in Cartersville, Georgia.

Closer to home, the Spain Park Jaguars hosted the Spain Park Cross Country Invitational at Veterans Park in Hoover, with the Helena Huskies, Indian Springs School, Shelby County Wildcats and Vincent Yellow Jackets joining the Jags on the course.

 

Dolphin Run

It was a big day for Briarwood and Thompson at the Graham Creek Nature Preserve in Foley with some fast times posted down by the coast.

The Lions took the top two spots in the Girls Varsity 5K as senior Mary Grace Parker won with a time of 19:42.70 while sophomore Allie Hale came in second with a time of 20:55.01.

The Briarwood pair was joined in the top 10 by junior Lena Anne Parker, who finished in eighth with a time of 21:48.72. Other scoring runners included Anna Veal in 27th place with a time of 23:59.57 and Blakely Margene in 49th place with a time of 27:08.23, giving the Lions second place.

Coming in first place was the Thompson Warriors, which won the girls division with 60 points, 14 fewer than Briarwood.

Eighth grader Delaney Paganelli led the way for the Warriors with a seventh-place time of 21:45.13.

The Montiel-Duenas sisters finished behind her as senior Dia took 12th place with a time of 22:17.89 and freshman Luna earned 15th place with a time of 22:22.57.

Thompson’s remaining scoring runners included Alyssarae Bustamante in 18th place with a time of 22:42.94 and Christina McKinley in 22nd place with a time of 23:02.45. In addition, Daniela Rangel-Loredo came in 25th with a time of 23:36.21.

As for the boys, Briarwood’s Whit Thornton came in second place with a time of 17:24.65 to lead all county runners.

His teammates Kolby Day came in 14th with a time of 18:17.52 and Kaden Cawood finished in 82nd with a time of 24:14.65.

Thompson’s top finisher was Colby Prosser in 35th place with a time of 20:32.65. Parker Fradejas came in 50th place with a time of 21:42.29, Tanner Paganelli took 55th place with a time of 21:49.63 and Cole Henderson finished in 65th with a time of 22:27.18.

Graham Chenault rounded out the scoring runners in 67th place with a time of 22:32.59 as the Warriors came in 12th place.

 

Wingfoot XC Classic

Matched up with some of the fastest runners in the Southeast at Sam Smith Park in Cartersville, Georgia, athletes from Oak Mountain, Pelham and Westminster OM turned in fast times.

John Shoemaker, fresh off his first two wins of the season and a commitment to Ole Miss, finished in sixth place in the Championship Boys 5K with a time of 15:19.40, less than a second from a top five spot.

His teammates Cooper Jeffcoat came in 51st place with a time of 16:29.00 and Whitt Kilgore took 52nd place with a time of 16:29.90.

Other scoring runners included Zack Joyce in 66th place with a time of 16:41.90 and Sam Trammell in 78th place with a time of 16:51.90, giving the Eagles a fourth-place finish in the team standings with 225 points.

In the Classic Boys 5K, Westminster sophomore Daniel Vansant finished 23rd with a time of 17:41.10. He was joined in the top 50 by Weaver Caldwell in 30th with a time of 17.51.20 and Aiden McEachran in 38th place with a time of 18:11.60.

Combined with a 93rd-place finish from Caleb Pettagrue with a time of 18:49.40 and 94th-place finish from Liam Brabston with a time of 18:50.00, the Knights came in fifth place out of 56 schools in the Classic race with 266 points.

Levi Clardy led the Pelham Panthers in 131st place with a time of 19:25.30.

Other scoring runs for Pelham included Alex Cruz in 199th place with a time of 20:07.60, Kaleb Jones in 220th place with a time of 20:23.40, Robert Lewis in 226th place with a time of 20:26.60 and Cole Hollingsworth in 246th place with a time of 20:39.20.

In the Championship Girls 5K, Oak Mountain’s Ava Fields finished 23rd with a time of 19:15.70. Two other Eagles runners joined her in the top 100: Hayley Datema in 62nd place with a time of 20:02.70 and Catarina Williams in 90th place with a time of 20:38.80.

Faith Scardino finished in 104th place with 20:51.80 and Joy Damron claimed 126th place with a time of 21:18.20 to finish out the scoring runners. Oak Mountain finished in 13th out of 31 teams with 366 points.

Pelham had a pair of big finishes in the Classic Girls 5K as Janelle Ramos came in fourth place with a time of 19:54.60 and Emily Wester finished right behind her in fifth place with a time of 20:09.20.

Other scoring runs included Julia Reese Davis in 242nd place with a time of 26:18.10, Abigail Silwal in 269th place with a time of 27:01.00 and eighth grader Emily Garrett in 291st place with a time of 27:42.20.

Emily Mungai secured a top-10 finish for Westminster OM as she came in 10th place with a time of 20:20.80.

The Knights came in sixth place as a team thanks to McKenzie Bell’s 31st-place finish of 21:56.90, Sarah Adams’ 46th-place finish of 22:29.80, Pippa Hussar’s 71st-place finish of 23:08.20 and Jane Moody’s 137th-place finish of 24:25.20.

 

Spain Park Cross Country Invitational

Spain Park played host to Helena, Indian Springs, Shelby County and Vincent just down the road from its campus at Veterans Park in Hoover.

In the Varsity Boys 5K, the Jags’ Brody Ahlemeyer came in third with a time of 16:36.98.

All five scoring runners posted sub-20-minute times as Caleb Landers came in 36th place with a time of 18:30.77, Luca Zellner took 51st place with a time of 19:02.94, Stephen Schneider came in 60th place with a time of 19:17.28 and Finn Carter took 71st place with a time of 19:41.33.

As a result, Spain Park took fifth place in the team standings with 194 points.

Indian Springs also had a top-10 individual finisher as Quinn Conroy came in ninth place with a time of 16:53.84. Oliver Middleton joined him in the top 100 with a time of 20:17.30 in 79th place.

Shelby County finished just behind Spain Park in sixth place in the team standings with 203 points. Carter Wood led the Wildcats in 29th place with a time of 17:58.57 and Kevin Davis was right behind him in 30th place with a time of 18:04.01.

Rounding out the top five for Shelby County was eighth grader Zachary Hallmark in 56th place with a time of 19:14.47, freshman Brayden Hutton in 57th place with a time of 19:15.44 and MaKonnen Falcon in 59th place with a time of 19:17.10.

Camp Herndon led Helena in 42nd place with a time of 18:34.98. The Huskies also had top 100 finishes from William Trippany in 67th place with a time of 19:37.61, Gavin Dreher in 80th place with a time of 20:21.38 and Caleb Williford in 90th place with a time of 20:46.40.

Jackson Goodman rounded out the scoring runners for Helena in 103rd place with a time of 21:46.72.

Of Vincent’s three entrants in the race, seventh-grader Colton Davis had the best time of 32:57.67.

Over on the girls side, Madison Harvey finished in ninth in the Varsity Girls 5K, earning a time of 20:09.25 for the Jags.

Spain Park’s other scoring runners were Mackenzie Colbaugh in 25th with a time of 21:43.56, Caroline Barlow in 46th with a time of 24:21.32, Reese Williams in 47th with a time of 24:22.48, Rebecca Stafford in 55th with a time of 24:52.22 and Lily Livingston in 60th with a time of 25:24.33.

That gave the Jags a sixth-place finish in the team standings with 161 points, the best showing of any county team in the race.

Helena’s best finish came from seventh-grader Aldrie Ridgon, who came in 20th with a time of 21:28.94. Freshman Jaid Spears came in 61st place with a time of 26:04.78, and Elizabeth Awtry took 63rd with a time of 26:36.25.

Kylie Scoggins and Rosalie Rhodes finished out the scoring runners for the Huskies as Scoggins came in 65th with a time of 26:43.57 and Rhodes was right behind her in 66th with a time of 26:44.94. Aubrey Kennedy made it three Helena runners in a row in 67th with a time of 26:47.16.

The Huskies took seventh place as a team with 231 points, and Shelby County was right behind them in eighth with 249 points.

The Wildcats’ two best finishes came from freshmen as Josie Payne took 50th place with a time of 24:30.49 and Gracie Wible came in 51st with a time of 24:32.53.

Other scoring runners for Shelby County included Jennie Owens in 59th with a time of 25:17.47, freshman Kathryn Peterson in 62nd with a time of 26:05.80 and seventh grader Lorelei Hallmark in 80th with a time of 28:41.72.

Indian Springs’ best finish came from Savannah Shubert, who came in 54th as a freshman with a time of 24:42.91.

Vincent’s lone entrant was freshman Kaleigh Wills who came in 89th place with a time of 31:19.70.