Jets’ Power At Jesse Owens Classic
DANVILLE, ALA.- The James Clemens boys varsity cross country team posted its best team average of the season of 17:29 and took home the runner-up trophy in the 20th annual Jesse Owens Cross Country Classic held at the Oakville Indian Mounds Park in Danville. The Jets scored 145 points to trail only team champion Pearl High of Mississippi, which posted 93 points, and won the event for the sixth consecutive year.
Three Jets finished among the top 30 in the Silver Division, which included 51 schools, and were named to the All-Elite Team.
Leading James Clemens was No. 14 Matthew Hill, a sophomore, with a time of 17 minutes and 7 seconds. Next in the finish order for James Clemens were 21. Patrick Neely, 12, 17:16, No. 23 Alex Shah, 12, 17:18, No. 42 A.J. Sheldrick, 12, 17:49 and No. 51 Elliott Kliesner, 11, 17:53.
In the Boys Gold Division, Bob Jones came in at No. 33 among the team scores and was led by No. 38 Jean Pierre LeRoux, 11, 16:43 and No. 171 Shafi Muhammed, 12, 18:22.
In varsity girls, James Clemens came in 11th among 42 schools with a team score of 329 behind division winner Fort Payne with 74 points.
Liz Holcomb, 12, was tops for the Lady Jets with a No. 8 finish of 20:15 and was named to the All-Elite Team. Additional finishes for James Clemens included No. 46 Sydney Freeman, 9, 21:35, No. 66 Sarah Shirley, 10, 22:09, No. 109 Nikki Lipski, 9, 23:00, No. 118 Kaija Sorenson, 9, 23:09, No. 130 Emmy Mattingly, 10, 23:25 and No. 137 Hannah Einhorn, 12, 23:40.
The Junior High Boys Division was won by Homewood with 51 points while James Clemens/Liberty was fifth with a score of 157 and Bob Jones/Discovery sixth with 202 points.
James Garrison of Bob Jones/Discovery posted a seventh place finish with a time of 11:43. Adan Brinkley of James Clemens was No. 12 with a time of 11:48. The remainder of the top finishes for the two programs were No. 17 Tyler Gohlich, James Clemens, 11:55, No. 23 Mateo Santiago, Bob Jones, 12:05, No. 43 Noah Kliesner, James Clemens, 12:36, No. 45 Zach Williams, James Clemens, 12:37, No. 48 Isual Rubio Montano, James Clemens, 12:37, No. 49 Ryan Bender, Bob Jones, 12:40 and No. 59 Nathan Bublitz, Bob Jones, 12:47.
In Junior High Girls, Bob Jones had two top finishers with sisters No. 84 Madi Digges, 16:11 and No. 113 Anna Digges, 16:41.
James Clemens chose not to participate in the junior high competition, but instead moved their runners up the Red Division. Leading the Lady Jets were No. 42 Brittain, 7, 24:17, No. 62 Harley Samsil, 8, 24:42, No. 71 Sophie Plummer, 7, 24:53, Katie Gudgen, 8, 25:29, Ragan Sanders, 11, 27:04.
The James Clemens cross country program is taking on three huge upcoming events with Palmer Park the host site. The Jets will host 16 teams as part of the Huntsville Metro Championships on Oct. 16, the Last Chance Invitational for 30 teams on Oct. 20 and the Sectional Meets for Classes 1, 4, 6 and 7A on Nov. 1 as 43 teams and close to 900 athletes participating.
