BJHS boys, JCHS girls come out on top

James Clemens’ Rachel Seeley earned All-Metro honors at the Metro Championships held at Huntsville’s John Hunt Park last week. (Photo by Katy Solo)

By Mike Easterling

For the Record

HUNTSVILLE – James Clemens’ girls, barely on the high school cross country radar four years ago, led the way and took first place at the Metro Championships at John Hunt Park last week.

The Jets scored 63 points to edge Randolph, which had 64. Bob Jones was third with 68 points followed by Buckhorn (78) and Westminster (170).

Meanwhile, Bob Jones captured the boys division with 68 points. Sparkman was second with 77 points, followed by Westminster (83), James Clemens (89) and Randolph (92).

James Clemens’ Aaron Beane and Raleigh Schmidt earned All-Metro distinction. Jets freshman Liz Holcomb placed third and made All-Metro, as did teammates Elise Sheldrick and Rachel Seeley.

Bob Jones runners making All-Metro were Nate Santiago, Tim McCarter, Jean Pierre LeRoux, Chloe Smith, Lissa Miller and Lillie Robinson.

In the junior high division, the Jets swept to victories in both the girls and boys races.

The Jets girls scored 19 points ahead of Sparkman (44) and also beat out Columbia (80). James Clemens’ boys had 33 points, followed by Huntsville (38), Sparkman (56) and Bob Jones (114).

Jets freshman Alex Shah placed first and set a school record with a time of 11:03. He was joined on the All-Metro team by teammates Patrick Neely, Kody Shivley, Laith Qushair, Maxwell Perkins, Rajesh Patel and Nathan Hudson.

James Clemens freshman Audrey Blakely also placed first for the girls. Jets teammates joining her on the All-Metro team were Sarah Shirley, Reagan Kvicala, Ana Parker, Grace Williams, Emmy Mattingly, Sylvia Cortes and Alaina Burnham.