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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor 

SCOTTSBORO – It was business as usual on Thursday, Oct. 21 for Chelsea’s Miles Brush and Cady McPhail at the Last Chance Invitational at Scottsboro’s John R Esslinger Trail of Champions.

The two runners, who are contenders for the Class 6A Cross Country State Championship this season, swept the race finishing first in the boys and girls race, respectively.

For Brush, it marked his fourth consecutive victory on the season. Since finishing sixth at the Southern Showcase to start the season, he has gone on to win the Jesse Owens Classic, the Randolph Invitational and now the Last Chance Invitational, running each race in less than 15:28.

At the Last Chance Invitational, Brush finished the race in 15:06.81, which was his second fastest time of the season and beat out second by 17 seconds.

He was joined in the top 10 by teammate Elijah Williams, who finished eighth with a time of 16:29.60. It marked a new personal record for Williams, who now has three finishes inside the top 10 this season.

In the girls race, McPhail didn’t just win, she dominated the event.

Thanks to a time of 18:33.01, she took home the top spot by close to 50 seconds with the next fastest runner clocking in at 19:21.02.

It marked her second-fastest time of the season and her second win of the season. McPhail has now finished inside the top 10 in four consecutive events and inside the top three in three of those four. She has finished inside the top 20 of all six of her events this season.

Those three Chelsea runners helped their teams finish highly as well. Chelsea’s boys finished third in the team standings, while the girls finished fifth.

Chelsea’s boys also got top-20 finishes from Tucker Brown, Thomas Ludwig and Camden Thomas. Brown finished 16th with a time of 17:00.23, Ludwig finished 17th with a time of 17:05.43 and Thomas finished 19th with a time of 17:10.98.

The girls got one more inside the top 25 thanks to Juliette Edwards finishing in 24th behind a time of 21:29.54.

Joining the Hornets inside the top five of both team standings were the Oak Mountain Eagles.

It was a particularly strong day for Oak Mountain’s girls, who posted six finishers inside the top 25 to claim third in the team standings.

Faith Scardino was the highlight with her fourth-place finish. The freshman ran the race in 19:41.78, which was a new personal record for her.

Behind her, Lauren Cole and Catarina Williams took 11th and 12th, respectively. Cole finished with a time of 20:45.13, while Williams finished two seconds behind.

Nina Evans and Rachael Whitley both added finishes inside the top 20. Evans took home 16th thanks to her time of 21:01.24, while Whitley finished 20th with her time of 21:16.73.

Haley Datema added one more in the top 25 for the Eagles. The freshman finished 23rd with a time of 21:26.98.

In the boys standing, the Eagles finished fourth one spot behind Chelsea thanks in large part to Josh Stidfole.

The senior set a new personal record with his time of 16:33.03, which earned him a top-10 finish of ninth

Not far behind was teammate Matthew Womak in 12th. The junior finished with a time of 16:40.18 for the Eagles.

Jack Rodgers and Noah Arrington added two more inside the top 30.

Rodgers took home 25th with a time of 17:28.83, while Arrington claimed 28th behind his time of 17:41.94.