Brewer, Priceville teams secure spots for meet
Brewer’s girls and Priceville’s boys’ cross country teams qualified for the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s State Championships with solid performances in sectional races last week.
Brewer finished third behind Cullman and Lawrence County to advance to the state meet.
The top three teams in each sectional meet and six individual runners from teams not in the top three advanced to the state meet at Oakville next weekend.
Katie Brakke led the Lady Patriots with a seventh place finish after running the course at Heritage Christian University in 22:27.90.
Trina Badger was 14th at 23:13.04, followed by Bree Watkins (17th, 23:40.09), Elizabeth Ash (23rd, 24:02.56) and Whitney West (30th, 25:22.38).
Hartselle’s Anna Craig finished 10th overall with a time of 22:49.01 to qualify as an individual for the state championships.
Brewer’s Clay Oden won the sectional individual title with a time of 17:22.90. The win was Oden’s second straight overall title this season.
Hartselle’s Johnathan Duncan finished fourth overall to earn a spot in the state meet. He ran a 17:41.41.
The Patriots’ Sam Martin was sixth at 17:44.39 and Corey Phelps was 15th at 18:33.10 to earn spots in the state championships.
Brewer finished fourth as a team with 84 points, 12 points behind Cullman in the team standings.
Fernando Arellanes, Jordan Caudle and Kyle Brakke finished 29th, 34th and 36th respectively.
Hartselle’s Noah Battles just missed qualifying for the state meet with a time of 18:50.63. He was 20th overall.
Hartselle’s Alex Wilt, Cameron Cunningham and Chad Wallwork rounded out the Tigers’ runners.
Class 4A Section 5
at Scottsboro
Priceville’s boys qualified for the state championships after finishing third behind Catholic and DAR in the team standings in the section meet at Scottsboro High School.
The Bulldogs had three runners finish in the top 10 in the sectional meet – Tim Rayman (3rd, 18:19.63), T.J. Johnson (5th, 18:37.91) and Jarad Gunn (10th, 19:27.10).
Thomas Johnson ran a 21:58.68 to finish 29th overall, while Spencer Johnson was 30th at 22:04.87 to round out the Bulldog scorers.
Nathan George, Caleb Ward, Justin Dozier and Jackson Morris all finished in the top 40 spots for Priceville.
Priceville’s Paige Terry and Alisha Burchell both earned spots in the state championship with top 30 finishes in the section meet.
Terry was 16th overall after completing the course in 24:40.64, while Burchell finished 26th at 27:59.83.
The Lady Bulldogs’ Alice Gibson was 37th, followed by Lauren Clem in 38th place.
Class 1A/2A Section 3
at Cold Springs
Falkville’s boys finished fifth in the Section 3 meet last Thursday after placing five runners in the top 27 spots.
Heath Blanchard, Cade Wilemon and Michael Hopper all earned spots in the state championships.
Blanchard was 14th overall with a time of 19:32.40. Wilemon was 19th at 20:05.73 and Hopper ran a 20:22.41 to finish 20th.
Alex Tuttle was 21st overall for the Blue Devils, followed by Justin Zimmerman (27th), Austin Wilhite (36th), Evan Cottingham (39th) and Drake Hamilton (49th).
Falkville’s Katrinna Koeber finished 16th overall with a time of 26:05.82, while Sarah Ayre was 20th at 26:49.69.
Cold Springs won the girls’ sectional title with seven runners finishing in in the top 10. Gaston was the section runner-ups.