Chickasaw Trails Cross Country
OAKVILLE, Ala.- With more than 1,000 athletes representing 111 schools from five southern states, the Chickasaw Trails Invitational cross country meet was one of the top events of its kind in the Southeast. Held at the Oakville Indian Mounds Park and hosted by Lawrence County High, the James Clemens Jets led the local entourage of squads with two top 10 team finishes of the four divisions.
The Jets finished 10th out of 39 schools in the Boys Large School division and a strong fourth place showing in Middle Schools Boys among 26 schools. Meanwhile, the girls completed the meet with a No. 21 placement among 32 schools while the Jets took a runner-up trophy in the Middle School Girls.
The remaining schools placements included- Boys Large: 18. Bob Jones, 28. Sparkman. In Girls Large: 25. Sparkman. In Middle School Boys: 20. Sparkman.
Individual performances were headed up by James Clemens senior Jet Elizabeth Holcomb with a time of 20-minutes, 18.27-seconds to place No. 13 among the 233 participants in the 5K distance race. Others placements included: 65. Hannah Thuss, 10, Bob Jones, 21:56.90, 141. Lauren Hill, 11, Sparkman, 24:23.56.
In boys, the final results from among the 274 runners were: 30. Patrick Neely, 12, James Clemens, 17:02.48, 32. Matthew Hill, 10, James Clemens, 17:04.68, 56. Jean Pierre LeRoux, 11, Bob Jones, 17:36.76 and 99. Omar Myers, 11, Sparkman, 18:20.80.
In Middle Schools Boys 2.1-mile distance, the top finishers, among the 371 participants, from the local schools included: 5. Isaul Rubio Montano, 9, James Clemens, 11:57.68, 6. James Garrison, 9, Bob Jones, 11:58.37, 35. Andrew Hoggard, 9, Sparkman, 13:12.08.
Middle School Girls, which featured 248 student-athletes: 202. Kristin Day, 11, James Clemens, 31:21.96, 222. Meredith Martin, 10, Bob Jones, 32:34.72, 228. Natalie Shellenbarger, 11, Sparkman, 33:16.99.
Race facts of note included: The second place trophy by the James Clemens Middle School Girls was the third trophy win of the season and featured six girls among the top 35; The Middle School Boys from James Clemens were led by a tight pack of five runners in the top 35; Five states participated- Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas; Holcomb’s finish time was a season best for the senior; Neely’s 17:02 was his personal best.
