LED Lights Shine On Last Chance Twilight Cross Country Meet
MADISON- Madison’s Palmer Park was lit up like at no other time for the James Clemens’ Last Chance Twilight Invitational cross country meet as 30 teams from across Alabama and nearby Tennessee made an attempt to make top spots in the meet highlighted by action taking place under the new LED lights at Madison’s premier athletic park. James Clemens also provided additional portable LED lights to encase the entire course in lights for the 5K races.
The State’s No. 1 overall ranked girl’s squad from James Clemens continued its dominance over the competition by finishing top five in each of the three divisional races. In Girls A, the Lady Jets finished fifth while in Girls B they were fourth and then a third place finish in Girls C.
In boys, James Clemens claimed a fifth place finish in Boys A, a fourth place ticket in Boys B and a second place finish in Boys C.
In Girls A, top runner for James Clemens was eighth grade sensation Kylie Gero who finished 11th among mostly senior runners finishing with a time of 19 minutes, 30.88 seconds. She was the only local runner to finish among the top 15. Team scores showed Franklin, Tenn. winning the division with 50 points and an average time of 19:30.88, while James Clemens scored 114 points and a 20.09 average along the well-kept course. Bob Jones was 12th with 397 points and an average time of 24:30.
Sparkman’s Samantha Menikheim was runner-up in the Girls B race. The freshman Senator posted a time of 20:29.97 to lead the local participants who finished among the top 15. The Senators had three finish in the top 10. The remaining local participants to compete and finish among the top 15 finishers included 8. Jenna Duncan, 9, Sparkman, 21:57.57; 9. Addie Doggett, 9, Sparkman, 21:58.25; 10. Andie Howard, 8, James Clemens, 22:00.67; 15. Rachel Pennell, 8, Bob Jones, 22.57.54. The scoring for teams had 1. Franklin, Tenn. 53, 22:12; 2. Sparkman, 60, 22:04; 4. James Clemens, 108, 23:07; 6. Bob Jones, 162, 24:18.
James Clemens had three runners finish among the top 15 and finished runner-up to Father Ryan in the team scoring for the Girls C event. The winner scored 30 and had an average of 25:03. The Jets were second scoring 61 points and posted an average of 26:35. Individual results had 6. Abigail Taylor, 7, James Clemens, 25:00.59; 9. Brooks Bogardus, 8, James Clemens, 25:32.16; 11. Lani Jarrell, 9, Sparkman, 26:43.31; 14. Kendall Lugos, 7, James Clemens, 27:13.24.
Boys A was won by Franklin, Tenn. which scored 55 points and posted an average of 16:15. Fifth place was won by James Clemens, 122, 16:42 while Bob Jones was No. 12 with 377 points and an 18:27 average time. Only local runner to complete the course among the top 15 was Tyler Gohlich of James Clemens. The junior finished at 16:27.22.
In Boys B, Jayden Walden was the lone local participant to post a finish time (18:11.85) among the top 15. The junior Jet finished 13th. Team scores featured 1. Father Ryan, 31, 17:32; 4. James Clemens, 108, 18:23; 10. Sparkman, 274, 19:22; 12. Bob Jones, 321, 19:48.
In Boys C, Father Ryan was tops in team scoring at 15, 18:36. James Clemens was second (53, 19:47) and Bob Jones took fifth (150, 25:19). In individual results, the top 15 included 9. Jacob Velez, 8, James Clemens, 19:10.79; 11. Anthony Kosinski, 11, James Clemens, 19:25.64; 12. Ethan Brewer, 8, James Clemens, 19:43.62.